Restoring

It does not matter if you are using an online backup service or doing onsite backups one of the things you should always do is a restore. There are several reasons to do a restore from your backup:

• To test the process so you know how to do it. It is great to have a backup but you also need to know how to restore that backup when the time comes to recover from a hard drive failure or other disaster.
• To check and see if your most important files are correctly being backed up. Financial documents such as Simply Accounting databases and Quicken databases can be tricky sometimes. Do a restore of those databases and that you know how to restore them into the software.
• You can double check that the files you want backed up are actually being backed up. This can be harder to do with an online backup because you may not want to download your entire backup if it is large, but you can perform some smaller restores to check your most important files.
• Every backup software is a little different and every online backup provider is a little different on how restores are done. Most offer the ability to restore through a web browser. Some offer the option to order DVD’s of your backup data. By doing a restore you will know what your options are when you need them.

When your hard drive dies or your computers are stolen or destroyed by some disaster you will have a lot of things to deal with. The last thing you want to worry about is your backup. By doing a test restore and knowing how to do it your stress level will be considerably lower.