If you have a Managed IT Services Provider like FlexITechs, chances are good your backups are not only being monitored for failures but also being tested on a regular basis to ensure that files restore successfully when needed.

There would be nothing worse than finding out after a natural disaster, a fire, or a Ransomware attack that has encrypted all of your files that your backups either were failing or that they won’t restore properly.

If testing your backups was not discussed when you signed up for an automated backup plan or you simply don’t know if they are being tested, ask your backup provider or backup software company if they are being tested and if not, how to do this.

In general, to test your backups, perform the following procedures:

• At least once a month, pick a random backup date and restore a handful of files to see if they restore successfully (be careful not to restore over the current version of those files)
• At least once a quarter, perform a deeper restore operation of numerous files from different backup dates, again being careful not to overwrite the current versions of your files
• At least once a quarter, check all files in the most recent backup to be sure that you are backing up all files that you would need to restore
• On a daily basis monitor your backups for failures. Any good backup software will let you know whether the backup succeeded or failed with an email or within the software itself
• If you see errors at any stage of the backup or restore processes, resolve those issues or have your IT or backup service resolve them for you.

Keep in mind that if your data is critical to the operation of your business, you should perform the steps above more frequently to minimize the risk of partial or complete data loss when you need to restore from your backups.

For help implementing a backup testing program or an automated backup program if you don’t have one, call 302-537-4198 or email me personally at ericm@flexitechs.com.