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Testing Your Data Recovery Procedures
To keep your information systems operational and safe from data loss, regular backups are important but they can only do half the job. Never demonstrating the ability to actually restore data from backup is like filling fire extinguishers and never pulling the trigger. Maybe they work, maybe they don't. Only an emergency will show if your backup systems actually work and by that time, it's too late to correct a failure.
Regularly scheduled 'fire' drills to restore information from backup are a necessity, not a frill. If you currently have no drill system or it has gotten rusty, then it might be only fair to notify everyone involved that 'no excuses' exercises are on the way. It sounds easy, but it can be a tall order, because lots can go wrong, all along the chain of events needed to perform a complete backup and restore. No matter how they are 'sold' to the team, there is no point in conducting fire drills if there is any tolerance for excuses.
A drill should not be an invitation to a finger-pointing exercise but rather a way to identify the bolts that need tightening. Nor should they become a regularly scheduled nuisance, because in today's environment people, software, hardware and procedures change very quickly and something that worked last month may not succeed this time.
The only way to be sure is zero tolerance for excuses and drills that are repeated until they are done right, every time.