Ask most business owners whether they have backups and the answer is "yes, I think so." Ask when they last restored something from them and the room gets quiet.
Backups are only valuable if they work when you need them. Here's a simple checklist to find out where you stand.
The 3-2-1 rule
The standard for reliable backups is easy to remember:
- 3 copies of your data (the original plus two backups)
- 2 different types of storage (for example, a local device and the cloud)
- 1 copy off-site, and ideally immutable, meaning it can't be changed or deleted, even by ransomware
The checklist
Work through these questions honestly:
- Do we know everything that needs backing up? File servers, yes. But what about laptops, Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace mailboxes, your accounting database, and line-of-business apps?
- Is Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace backed up separately? Many people assume Microsoft or Google keeps backups of their data for them. Their retention is limited; a third-party backup protects you from deletion and ransomware.
- Is at least one copy off-site and immutable? A USB drive plugged into the server will be encrypted right along with it.
- How often do backups run? If they run nightly, you can lose up to a day of work. Is that acceptable?
- Who gets alerted when a backup fails? If the answer is "nobody," failures go unnoticed for months.
- When did we last test a restore? Pick a file, a mailbox, and a whole machine. Restore them. Time it.
- How long would a full recovery take? Knowing whether it's two hours or two days changes how you plan.
Two numbers worth knowing
- RPO (Recovery Point Objective): how much data you can afford to lose, measured in time.
- RTO (Recovery Time Objective): how long you can afford to be down.
Decide these with your team, then design backups to match. A law firm and a landscaping company will have very different answers.
Make it routine
Backups aren't a one-time project. Put a recurring reminder on the calendar to review backup reports monthly and test a restore quarterly. Or hand it to a managed IT provider who monitors every job and tests restores for you.
At IT Pro Network, backups are included in our managed IT service and monitored through our RMM platform, so a failed job opens a ticket immediately. Ask us for a free backup review and we'll tell you exactly how protected you are.