The Restore Drill: A Monthly Habit

A Pensacola CPA firm ran backup software for six years. The backup job ran every night. Green checkmarks. Successful completions. No errors. When they needed to restore after a server failure, they discovered the backup had been incomplete for three years. The backup destination had filled up in month four. The backup software reported "success" because it backed up what it could.

Three years of client tax records, 870 client files, gone.

Green checkmarks are not proof of working backups. Successful backup jobs are not proof of restorable data.

The restore drill exists to catch this before you need to restore.

What the Restore Drill Is

The restore drill is a monthly test that proves you can actually restore data from your backups. It's simple. It takes 15 minutes. It catches most backup failures before they become data loss.

The drill:

1. Pick a file.
2. Delete it.
3. Restore it from backup.
4. Verify it worked.

That's it. If you can do this successfully, your backup system is working. If you can't, you've just discovered a problem while you still have time to fix it.

Why Monthly

Why not weekly? Weekly is better if you can maintain the habit. Monthly is the minimum frequency that catches problems before they become unrecoverable.

Why not only when you need to restore? Because by then it's too late. If your first experience with your restore process is during an emergency, you're already in crisis mode. You don't know the interface. You don't know the gotchas. You don't know if it actually works.

Why monthly? Monthly catches most problems:

• Backup destination filling up (usually takes weeks to months)
• Credential expiration (usually quarterly or annual)
• Software configuration drift (usually gradual)
• Backup job silent failures (usually one missed backup before symptoms appear)

The Step-by-Step Drill

Step 1: Schedule it.

Put it on your calendar. First Tuesday of every month, 9am. 15 minutes. Recurring. This is a business appointment.

Step 2: Choose a test file.

Pick a file that:

• Exists right now
• You can verify the content of
• Contains data you'd notice if it was wrong

A Word document with real content works. A spreadsheet with numbers works. Don't pick a system file or a file you can't verify.

Step 3: Write down what you're testing.

On a sticky note or in a document:

• Date
• File name and location
• Approximate size

You'll need this for verification.

Step 4: Delete the file.

Delete it normally. Empty the Recycle Bin. The file is gone from your computer.

Step 5: Open your backup software.

Find the restore function. The location varies by software:

• Backblaze: web.backblaze.com > Restore Files
• Carbonite: Carbonite app > Restore
• Veeam: Veeam Backup & Replication > Home tab > Backups > right-click > Restore
• Time Machine: System Preferences > Time Machine > Enter Time Machine
• NAS backup: Usually web interface at the NAS IP address

Step 6: Navigate to the deleted file.

Find the file in your backups. You're looking for the version from before you deleted it.

Step 7: Restore to a different location.

Restore to a test folder or desktop. Don't restore to the original location — if something goes wrong, you don't want to overwrite the backup with the deleted version.

Step 8: Verify the restored file.

Does it exist? Is the size approximately right? Does the content match what you remembered?

Step 9: Clean up.

Move the restored file back to its proper location if it's good. Or keep it in the test location until next month. Either way, you're done.

Step 10: Document the result.

In your test log or calendar invite:

• Date
• File tested
• Success or failure
• Any notes (problems found, things to improve)

What to Do If It Fails

If you can't find the file in backups:

• Your backup might not be capturing that folder
• Your backup retention might have already passed
• Your backup might not be working at all

Check backup settings. Check backup size. Run a manual backup. Try again.

If you can find the file but can't restore it:

• Permission problem
• Backup destination issue
• Software configuration problem

Contact your backup software's support or IT person.

If the restored file is corrupted or empty:

• Backup destination might be failing
• Backup might be incomplete
• Media might be degrading

Run a full backup. Check backup destination health.

If you discover your backup isn't working:

• Fix it immediately
• Run a full backup
• Test again after fixing
• Document what went wrong and what you did to fix it

What Can Go Wrong

You pick a file that's cached somewhere. Some cloud storage services keep local copies. If the file still exists locally even after deletion, you didn't really test anything. Pick a file that you know exists only in the cloud.

You forget to empty the Recycle Bin. Files in the Recycle Bin aren't deleted. Your backup might still be capturing the file from the Recycle Bin. Empty it.

You restore to the original location and overwrite the backup. If the restore is somehow different from the original, you've lost your comparison point. Always restore to a different location.

You pick a file that's too small to verify properly. A 1KB text file isn't a good test. Pick something substantive.

You don't document the result. Without documentation, you won't know if problems are new or old, recurring or one-time.

Vendor Questions (Copy/Paste)

Ask your backup vendor:

1. "Can I restore a single file without calling support?"
2. "Can I restore to a different location without overwriting my current files?"
3. "How long does a typical restore take?"
4. "If my restore fails, what's the support process?"

Minimum Viable Implementation

1. This week: Do one restore drill. Right now. Pick a file. Delete it. Restore it. Verify it works. Takes 15 minutes.

2. Put monthly restore drill on your calendar. First Tuesday, 9am. Recurring. 15 minutes.

3. Keep a simple log. Date, file, result. Just a few lines. This documents that testing happened.

4. If it fails: Fix it immediately. Don't wait. A failed restore test is a problem you're discovering before it becomes a disaster.

5. Quarterly: Review your backup settings. After each restore drill, take 5 minutes to verify backup settings are correct. Did anything change? Should anything change?

When to Hire Help

• Your restore drill fails and you can't figure out why
• Your backup software doesn't have an accessible restore function (you need to call support to restore)
• You've had a restore failure and need to audit your entire backup strategy
• You've never done a restore drill and don't know where to start
• Your backup software doesn't allow individual file restores (only full system restores)

The Pensacola CPA firm now does the restore drill on the first Tuesday of every month. They keep a simple log in a shared folder. They've caught one issue in two years — a backup destination that was 90% full.

It took 20 minutes to fix. The alternative was what they experienced before: discovering their backup wasn't working when they actually needed it.

Monthly restore drills won't prevent every backup failure. But they'll catch most of them while you still have time to fix them.

Do the drill.