Backup and disaster recovery (DR) ensure your business survives data loss, system failures, or disasters. Without a plan, a single incident can end your business.
The Difference
- Backup. Copies of your data stored safely
- Disaster recovery. The plan to restore operations after a disaster
- Business continuity. Keeping the business running during and after
Key Metrics
RPO (Recovery Point Objective)
- How much data can you afford to lose?
- Measured in time. RPO of 1 hour means you lose at most 1 hour of data
- Lower RPO requires more frequent backups or replication
RTO (Recovery Time Objective)
- How long can you be down before serious damage?
- Measured in time. RTO of 4 hours means systems must be back in 4 hours
- Lower RTO requires faster recovery infrastructure
Backup Strategies
3-2-1 Rule
- 3 copies of your data
- 2 different media (disk, tape, cloud)
- 1 copy off-site
Backup Types
- Full. Complete copy of everything. Slow, storage-heavy
- Incremental. Only changes since last backup. Fast, small
- Differential. Changes since last full backup. Middle ground
Backup Targets
- On-site. Fast restore, vulnerable to local disasters
- Off-site. Safe from local disasters, slower restore
- Cloud. Scalable, durable, accessible anywhere
- Immutable. Cannot be modified or deleted, even by ransomware
Disaster Recovery Plans
Risk Assessment
- What disasters could happen? (fire, flood, cyber attack, power, human error)
- What is the probability of each?
- What is the impact of each?
Recovery Priorities
- Critical. Must be back first (e-commerce, customer-facing)
- Important. Back within a day (internal tools, reporting)
- Non-critical. Can wait (archives, old data)
DR Plan Components
- Contact list. Who to call, in what order
- System inventory. What needs to be recovered
- Recovery procedures. Step by step for each system
- Data locations. Where are backups stored?
- Communication plan. How to inform stakeholders and customers
Testing Your Plan
- Tabletop exercises. Walk through the plan on paper
- Partial tests. Restore one system from backup
- Full DR test. Simulate a real disaster
- Test at least twice a year
Common Failures
- Backups that have never been tested
- Backups on the same system as the data (ransomware encrypts both)
- No off-site backup (fire takes everything)
- No one knows the recovery process
- Backups too old to be useful
How Switch 2 One Helps
We design backup and disaster recovery plans that keep your business running. Book a free strategy session.