--- title: Day 19/30: A backup you have never restored is a... description: Backups are worthless unless the restore process is regularly tested. Key questions to answer include what is backed up, how often, retention period, who has... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/day-19-30-a-backup-you-have-never-restored-is-a-motivational-theory-4vi0s2wb0 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Day 19/30: A backup you have never restored is a motivational theory | daily.dev og:description: Backups are worthless unless the restore process is regularly tested. Key questions to answer include what is backed up, how often, retention period, who has... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/day-19-30-a-backup-you-have-never-restored-is-a-motivational-theory-4vi0s2wb0 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/4Vi0s2WB0.png og:image:alt: Day 19/30: A backup you have never restored is a motivational theory og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Day 19/30: A backup you have never restored is a motivational theory **[Ezile Mdodana](https://daily.dev/sources/7vb9selrkhohgnzepmfvq)** · [@ezilemdodana](https://daily.dev/ezilemdodana) · 1 min read · 18 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Backups are worthless unless the restore process is regularly tested. Key questions to answer include what is backed up, how often, retention period, who has access, and whether it can actually be restored - discovering gaps during a real incident is like finding a flat spare tyre after a blowout. ## Content Creating backups is only the first step. You must also know: - What is being backed up? - How often? - How long is it retained? - Who can access it? - Can it actually be restored? Test the recovery process regularly. Discovering that a backup is incomplete during a real incident is like testing the spare tyre after the tyre has already burst. Backups are not about storing data. They are about recovering it. #AWSWithoutTheFluff #Backup #DisasterRecovery ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [World Back Up Day 2026 – What are the takeaways?](https://daily.dev/posts/world-back-up-day-2026-what-are-the-takeaways--8yvz8hsv0) · IT Security Guru · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Backups vs Disaster Recovery 2026: The Difference That Costs You](https://daily.dev/posts/backups-vs-disaster-recovery-2026-the-difference-that-costs-you-oipyfbvil) · Medium · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [How to Properly Protect Your Data With Backups I Arctic Wolf](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-properly-protect-your-data-with-backups-i-arctic-wolf-ndljm0sor) · Arctic Wolf · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [SPONSORED: Schrödinger's backup: not actually recovered until you try to restore IT](https://daily.dev/posts/sponsored-schr-dinger-s-backup-not-actually-recovered-until-you-try-to-restore-it-ivzsh28n2) · The Register · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#aws](https://daily.dev/tags/aws) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/day-19-30-a-backup-you-have-never-restored-is-a-motivational-theory-4vi0s2wb0) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/day-19-30-a-backup-you-have-never-restored-is-a-motivational-theory-4vi0s2wb0","headline":"Day 19/30: A backup you have never restored is a motivational theory","text":"Backups are worthless unless the restore process is regularly tested. 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