Verify Data Backup

The last step of planning a data backup routine is to decide how to verify that everything works correctly. After you have scheduled backups for automatic performance, you need to make sure that everything will be backed up successfully, standalone and not requiring special attention.

Data backup verification

Different data backup utilities perform backup verification in different ways. Some of them simply check if all contents of the destination storage media are readable, physically, suggesting that the very procedure of copying is always done error free. Others conduct bit-by-bit comparison of original data and data backed up, or calculate CRC checksums and compare them. While the latter two approaches are more thorough, they can hardly be used for "interactive" types of data, such as database backup or MS Exchange backup.

Notifications about data backups

Once the data has been verified, you may be sure that your backup will be restored smoothly, without any problems. However, there is one more thing that can be done to make your backup routine even more convenient: enabling notifications about results of all processes, via e-mail or SMS. This feature is supported by many data backup software and is of great use, as it lets you always be sure that you have a backup a verified backup! without accessing the PC at all.

Manual backup verification

If notifications about task results appear, for some reason, unsuitable for you, you can try to verify your backups manually. For example, you may pick a random file, restore it, and check if it matches the original file. Or you can use a third-party utility to check if the medium is readable and or contains read/write errors of any kind. If you are backing up with compression, you can also use special utilities for checking archive integrity if the archive is OK then its contents must be fine too.

Generally, that's all there is to it. We've sorted out all logical and technical aspects of backups, and now building a backup strategy in practice should be a task of no little difficulty for you. Go ahead and start creating your own routine! And do remember the best backup is the one that is never used.

Please read the conclusion: how to organize the best backups?