Backups are useless if recovery is untested
Many teams think they are safe because backups exist. Real safety comes from verified restore time and data integrity.
Practical DR baseline
- daily encrypted database backups
- versioned file backups for uploads and critical assets
- off-site backup copy in a separate provider or region
- recovery runbook with exact command sequence
- monthly restore test in isolated environment
Define RPO and RTO clearly
- RPO: maximum acceptable data loss window
- RTO: maximum acceptable downtime window
If these are undefined, recovery quality cannot be measured.
Conclusion
Disaster recovery is a business promise. Test your restore path regularly, or your backups are only assumptions.
