The Backup Test: Why Untested Backups Are a Hope, Not a Plan

The uncomfortable question

Ask any business owner 'are your systems backed up?' and you will usually get a confident yes. Ask them 'when did you last restore from a backup and verify the data?' and the confidence drains away. Backups you have never tested are a hope, not a plan.

We see the same failure modes repeatedly: backup software that stopped running months ago, drives that filled up silently, exclusions that accidentally skip the folder that matters most, and ransomware that encrypted the backup along with the systems it was protecting.

What a proper test looks like

A real backup test restores a file, a mailbox and a full system to a clean location, verifies the data opens and makes sense, and records the result in writing. It is not clicking 'backup successful' in a dashboard - it is proving the restore works end to end.

For most businesses we recommend testing at least quarterly, and always after significant changes: new software, new staff roles, new data sources, or a provider change.

Ransomware changes the rules

Modern ransomware targets backups deliberately. The protection is immutable and offline copies - versions attackers cannot reach or modify. If your backup lives on the same network as the systems it protects, it can be encrypted too.

Know your numbers

Every system should have two numbers written down: RTO (recovery time objective - how long recovery takes) and RPO (recovery point objective - how much data you can afford to lose). If you cannot say both numbers, your backup plan is not finished yet.