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If your server died tonight, could you get it all back?

Most businesses have backups. Far fewer could restore from them on a bad day. Answer ten quick questions to find out where you stand and what to fix first.

  1. 1Is everything backed up: computers, the server, email, and cloud files like Microsoft 365 or Google?

    Microsoft and Google keep your service running, but they don't promise to bring back files you or a hacker deleted.

  2. 2Do backups run automatically every day, without anyone remembering to do it?

    Backups that depend on a person plugging in a drive stop happening the first busy week.

  3. 3Does someone get an alert when a backup fails, and fix it?

    Backups fail quietly for months. Most people find out on the day they need them.

  4. 4Is at least one copy kept somewhere other than your office?

    A fire, flood or hurricane that takes your office takes the backup drive sitting next to the server too.

  5. 5Is one copy locked or offline, so ransomware can't delete it?

    Ransomware looks for backups and encrypts them first.

  6. 6Have you actually restored files or a whole computer from backup in the last 6 months?

    A backup you've never restored from is a guess, not a backup.

  7. 7Do you know how long it would take to be back up and running after losing your server?

    Downloading everything from the cloud can take days. Knowing the time tells you if it's good enough.

  8. 8Do you keep older versions, so you can go back weeks or months?

    Sometimes a mistake or an infection isn't noticed for weeks. A backup that only keeps yesterday won't help.

  9. 9Are backups encrypted and protected with their own login?

    A backup holds a copy of everything. If it's easy to open, it's the easiest way to steal it all.

  10. 10Is there a written plan for who restores what, in what order?

    During an outage, people make better decisions with a checklist than from memory.

Good to know

Questions people ask

Doesn't Microsoft 365 back up my email?

Microsoft keeps the service running and keeps deleted items for a short time, but it doesn't promise long-term backups of your data. Most businesses add a separate backup for email, OneDrive and SharePoint.

What is the 3-2-1 rule?

Keep three copies of your data, on two different kinds of storage, with one copy somewhere else. Today we add one more: one copy that ransomware can't change.

How often should I test my backups?

Restore a few files every quarter and a whole computer or server at least once a year, or after any big change.

Not sure your backups would work?

Book a 15-minute call. We'll ask a few questions and tell you whether your backups would hold up.

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