Cloud backup for your business: check what is covered

A file being in the cloud does not, by itself, tell you how it can be recovered. Your business may have version history, a recycle bin, retention policies or a separate backup service. Each serves a different purpose. Find out what is protected, for how long, and whether you can restore it when needed.

Start with the work you cannot afford to lose

List your accounts data, quotes, customer correspondence and working documents. Record where each lives, who owns the account and who can authorise a restore. Include laptops, shared drives and cloud applications; checking one computer does not establish coverage for the whole business.

For each system, agree how much recent work the business could afford to lose and how quickly it needs to become usable again. These are requirements to test against, not promises supplied by a backup product.

Check Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace separately

Cloud providers offer recovery and retention features, but the available options depend on the service, licence and configuration. Microsoft also offers Microsoft 365 Backup for supported workloads; it should not be confused with a retention policy or assumed to be active in every subscription.

Google Vault supports retention, holds, search and export for supported Workspace data. Coverage depends on licensing and configured policies. An export or retention rule is not evidence that your intended operational restore has been tested.

Ask your provider which mailboxes, sites, drives and accounts are included, which are excluded, what happens when an account is deleted, and how a restore is requested. Keep the answer with your account ownership records.

Separate the recovery copy from everyday access

Synchronisation is useful for working across devices, but unwanted changes can spread to synchronised copies too. A backup design needs to consider compromised accounts as well as broken hardware. Check who can change retention or delete copies, and whether the recovery route depends on the same account or device that might be unavailable.

CISA’s ransomware guidance recommends protected backups and regular checks of their availability and integrity. The right combination of offline, separate or immutable copies depends on your systems. No single control guarantees recovery from every incident.

Run a small, safe restore test

1. Agree a non-sensitive sample and a separate destination. Do not overwrite live work.
2. Record the backup date and the version you expect to recover.
3. Restore through the approved process, using an authorised account.
4. Open the recovered files and check that the contents and permissions are appropriate.
5. Record the time, result, problems, owner and next test date.

Use our free editable backup restore log. It helps record evidence and follow-up work; a successful sample does not prove every system or a complete business recovery will work.

Give the checks an owner

Agree who reviews failed jobs and who checks coverage after a new laptop, shared drive or staff change. Choose a test schedule based on business risk, and repeat relevant checks after material changes. Keep recovery instructions available if normal email or files are down, with credentials held separately in an approved secure store.

For a wider outage, our IT disaster recovery planning guide connects backup tests with system priorities, contacts and recovery targets.

Get the scope checked

hostme.ie offers business backup and recovery services in Ireland. We agree the systems, responsibilities and work before starting. Backup setup, ongoing checks and incident recovery are distinct pieces of work; the written scope explains which are included.

Ask about your backup coverage on WhatsApp.