So you’re backing up your data every day and sending backups off-site. Good for you! That’s a good first step.
What else should you do? Test your backups!
Just because you are making backups, don’t assume that everything is OK. Lots of “bad” things could affect your backups. Things like a) a tape drive not working correctly, b) bad tape media, or c) the backup software not working as you expect. If you need backup data and the restoration process does not work, you are in the same situation as if you had never done any backups at all.
To protect yourself and your data, test your backups. Make sure to:
- Review some backups to make sure you are actually making backups of the data files you chose to back up. (I.e. make sure the backup tape has files on it and they are the correct dates and sizes.)
- Try to restore a few files. Erase the original files from your servers and then attempt to restore the files. Note: Do this on files that you can afford to lose if the test fails.
- After the files have been restored, test to make sure that they can be used normally (I.e. they open up, print, etc.)
If your tests succeed, you can sleep a little easier – your data is safe.
