IT ISSUE · BACKUP AND RECOVERY
Representative restore test
A green tick says a job ran. It does not say anybody could restore from it under pressure.A backup reporting success every night tells you a job ran. It doesn't tell you that what came back is usable, that it is current enough to matter, or that anybody knows how to do it under pressure. Those are separate questions and only one of them is answered by a green tick.
What a test should establish
- That the data comes back, intact and openable.
- How long it actually took, not how long it should take.
- Who performed it, and whether they are the only person who could.
- What was missing that nobody expected to be missing.
- Whether the recovered version is recent enough to be useful.
Test something representative, not something convenient
We restore a meaningful sample rather than the easiest file, record how long it took and what it required. We note anything that wasn't covered.
Be careful what a successful test lets you conclude. Recovering one file proves one file. It doesn't prove you could run the business on Tuesday after losing a server on Monday, and the gap between those two statements is where a lot of businesses are sitting without knowing it. If you want the second one answered, that is a different and larger exercise, and it is worth being clear which you have bought.