Everyone says they have backups. Fewer people have restored one on purpose. The gap is where a ransomware week or a dead disk turns into a closed sign.
A backup you have never restored is a rumor. Restore time should be a known number.
Why “we back up nightly” is not enough
Nightly jobs fail quietly: full disks, expired tokens, a NAS that filled with camera footage. If nobody checks the report, you find out during the emergency.
Restore-minded backup
A copy plus a written path to get a file, a mailbox, or a site back — including who has the keys and how long it takes.
What to copy (scope beats “the universe”)
- The live website and its database (not just the theme files)
- DNS / registrar notes so you can rebuild email authentication
- Exportable SaaS data when the vendor allows (invoices, CRM)
- Local shares that would halt the shop — see NAS / Synology-class storage
Off-box copies
Copies on the same disk as production fail together. Off-box means another building, another cloud, or an offline disk that is not always plugged in.
Storm season in Florida is a reminder: a NAS in the shop is useful and still not enough if the suite floods. Pair local speed with something that survives the room.
Prove it with a drill
A 20-minute restore drill
- Pick one real artifact: a page, a mailbox, or a single shared folder.
- Restore it to a staging place — not over live — and time the steps.
- Write who did it, what broke, and the actual minutes elapsed.
- Fix the first friction (wrong password, missing tool, stale snapshot).
- Repeat quarterly, or after any hosting / NAS change.
If the drill is impossible, the backup is not real yet. Ask Orlando Web & IT to scope a restore-minded plan instead of another unread status email.