Insights · Published 8 November 2026
Ask most business owners whether they have backups and they will say yes. Ask when they last restored something from them, and the room goes quiet. That gap is where businesses lose years of accounts, client files and records.
A backup only matters on the day you need it. If you have never tried to get data back, you do not know whether it works. It might have stopped running months ago. It might be copying the wrong folder. It might be on a drive that was sitting next to the server when the server was stolen. A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a backup.
Why backups fail quietly
Backups rarely fail loudly. They fail in ways nobody notices until it is too late.
- The backup software stopped after an update, a password change or a full disk
- A new folder or a new accounting system was added, but never included
- The external drive was unplugged to charge a phone and never plugged back in
- Errors were emailed to someone who left the company
- The backup copies files, but the database it copies was open and the copy is damaged
- Ransomware encrypted the backup drive too, because it was always connected
Run a restore drill
A restore drill is simple. Once a month, pick something and get it back from the backup, to a different location so you do not overwrite the original. Then open it and check it is correct.
Vary what you test. One month, restore a single file someone deleted last week. Another month, restore a whole shared folder. Every few months, restore the accounting data to a spare computer and confirm the software opens it and the figures look right. At least once a year, try restoring a whole server or a key laptop, and time how long it takes.
That last number is important. If a full restore takes two days, can the business wait two days? If not, you need a faster plan, and it is far better to find that out on a quiet Tuesday than in the middle of a crisis.
Write down what you tested, the date, whether it worked and how long it took. A short log is enough.
The 3-2-1 rule in plain words
A simple rule that has served businesses well for years: keep three copies of important data, on two different types of storage, with one copy somewhere else.
In practice that means the live data on your server or cloud service, a local backup in the office for fast recovery, and a second backup off site, for example a cloud backup service. If the office floods, catches fire or is burgled, the off-site copy survives. If the internet is down and you need one file quickly, the local copy is there.
Keep one copy offline or locked
Modern ransomware looks for backups and destroys them before it shows itself. If your only backup is a drive that is always connected to the server, or a network folder any staff account can reach, assume it will be lost along with everything else.
At least one copy should be out of reach. That can be a drive that is physically disconnected and taken home, rotated weekly. Better still is a cloud backup with immutability or retention lock, which means even someone with your password cannot delete it for a set number of days. Ask your provider whether this is switched on.
Get alerts when a backup fails
Every backup system can send a message when a job fails or does not run. Make sure those alerts go to a person who will act on them, and to a shared address, not only to one staff member. A daily success message that nobody reads is no use. A failure alert that goes to the right person the same day is.
If no alert ever arrives, that is worth checking too. Silence can mean the alerting itself has broken.
What to back up
Start with what would hurt most to lose: accounting data, client and student records, shared folders, email, and anything on the one laptop the owner uses for everything. Cloud services like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace keep your data available, but deleted or encrypted files can still be lost, so check what your plan actually keeps and for how long.
Your checklist
Do these over the next two weeks.
- Restore one file and one folder today, and confirm they open
- List what is backed up and compare it with what the business actually uses
- Confirm there is an off-site copy as well as a local one
- Make sure one copy is disconnected or locked against deletion
- Check failure alerts go to a person and a shared address
- Restore the accounting data to a spare machine and check the figures
- Keep a simple log of each test, with the date and how long it took
If you would rather not do this alone, Dalysie Ghana can set up local and off-site backups with failure alerts, and run restore tests with you.