Backups for small teams

It comes up on almost every project, usually later than it should. Most advice about backups assumes a team that does not exist at your size. Here is the version that does not.

The realistic threat for most small businesses is automated and opportunistic, not targeted. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.

What to keep

An untested backup is a hope, not a backup. It is worth being explicit about, because assumptions differ quietly. It rarely shows up as a line item, which is exactly why it slips.

What to drop

Process that exists to coordinate ten people is overhead when there are two of you. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped.

Where to start

Know how long a restore actually takes. The teams that handle this well are rarely the ones with the biggest budgets. Doing this properly once is usually cheaper than doing it approximately three times.

What this looks like day to day

Security is a maintenance habit rather than a purchase, which is why it drifts. Three things worth confirming about backups before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Know how long a restore actually takes — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

If any of that sounds like a description of your current setup, it is fixable.