Backups, disaster recovery and failover
When the server dies, the line goes down or ransomware gets in, what matters is how quickly the business is working again. We design for that, test it, and write it down.
A backup nobody has restored is a hope rather than a plan. Disaster recovery starts with two questions only the business can answer: how long can each system be down, and how much work can you afford to lose? We turn the answers into backups that live somewhere other than the thing they protect, a second internet connection that takes over by itself, systems that can run from somewhere else, and a written plan that says who does what. Then we test it on a schedule, and keep the evidence.
The work, named
- Backups that are tested
- Three copies, on two kinds of storage, one away from the office, including a copy that ransomware cannot change. Restores tested on a schedule rather than assumed.
- Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace backup
- Email, files and Teams or Drive backed up separately, because a platform's own retention is not a backup.
- Recovery targets in plain English
- For each system, how long it can be down and how much data you can afford to lose, agreed with you and written down.
- Failover for the connection
- A second line, or a 4G or 5G router, that takes over when the main connection drops, so phones, card payments and the cloud keep working.
- Failover for the systems
- Key servers and services able to run from the cloud or a second site, with a rehearsed way to switch over and back.
- Power and spares
- Battery backup on the equipment that matters, and spares or a plan for the parts most likely to fail.
- A recovery plan people can follow
- Who does what, in what order, with the contacts and access they will need, kept somewhere that still works when the office does not.
- Rehearsals and evidence
- Recovery drills on a schedule, with the results written down for you, your insurer and your customers.
Signs this is the one you need
- Nobody has restored a file from the backups this year
- The backups sit in the same building, or the same account, as the systems they protect
- One internet line carries the phones, the card machines and the cloud
- An insurer, an auditor or a customer has asked for your recovery plan
- You have read about ransomware and are not sure what would happen to you
Four stages, same for every service
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Review
The free review: what you run, what is exposed, and where the risk actually sits, written down. The document is yours regardless of what happens next.
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Plan
A prioritised plan, sized to your business rather than pulled off a menu, with the quick wins named first.
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Price
A fixed price in writing, with what is included named: monthly for a plan, once for a project. Nothing starts before you have seen it.
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Revisit
The plan is revisited as the business changes, rather than left to drift out of date.
The things people ask
How long would it take us to recover?
That depends on the targets you choose and what it costs to meet them, which is why they are set together. The plan states a target for each system, and the drills show whether it holds. We do not quote a recovery time that has not been tested.
Is OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive a backup?
Not on its own. Sync tools copy deletions and encrypted files as faithfully as everything else. A backup is a separate copy, with history, that the sync cannot overwrite.
Does this make sense for one office?
Yes. The same thinking scales from one office and a handful of laptops to several sites with their own servers. The free review sets what is worth doing first.
Sectors with their own requirements
Related, and the rest of what we run
- Business backups: 3-2-1 and disaster recovery
- Backup and recovery plans that fail when you need them
- Writing a business continuity plan
- Microsoft 365 backup: why you need it
- Protecting your business from ransomware
- Managed IT support
- Cyber security
- Network engineering
- Telecoms and VoIP
- Data cabling
- Remote support
- Security for AI-built apps and websites
- PHP and WordPress security
- Sectors we cover
- How pricing works
Not sure which of these you need? That is exactly what the free review is for. Book the free review.