Don’t find out your backups don’t work during a disaster.
Automated, offsite backups and a disaster recovery plan you’ve actually tested, so a server crash, ransomware attack, or human error doesn’t turn into a business-ending event.
Backup and disaster recovery, answered directly
By Joe Engelking, CEO. Updated October 2026.
What is the 3-2-1 backup rule?
The 3-2-1 rule means keeping three copies of your data, on two different types of storage, with one copy offsite. It protects you from a single failure, whether that is a dead drive, a fire, or ransomware that encrypts everything connected to your network. Many small businesses have only one copy, and it sits in the same building.
How often should a business back up its data?
Most small businesses should back up at least daily, and automatically, so nobody has to remember. The right frequency depends on how much recent work you can afford to lose. Systems that change constantly, like a line-of-business database, may need more frequent backups than a shared folder of finished documents.
How do you know if your backups actually work?
Only a test restore proves it. A backup job can report success for months while the data is unusable or incomplete. Real verification means monitoring the jobs for failures and periodically restoring real files or a full system to confirm they come back intact and in the time you expect.
What are RTO and RPO?
RTO, the recovery time objective, is how long your business can be down before it hurts. RPO, the recovery point objective, is how much recent data you can afford to lose. Together they set how often you back up and how fast you need to restore, and they should be written down before a disaster, not during one.
| External drive | Cloud sync (OneDrive, Dropbox) | Managed backup and recovery | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the copy lives | Usually the same building as your computers | In the cloud, mirroring your folders | Offsite, replicated, and versioned |
| Ransomware | Often encrypted along with everything else if left connected | Can sync encrypted or deleted files unless versioning is set up | Versioned, ransomware-resistant copies |
| Restore tested | Rarely | Rarely | Periodic test restores |
| Who notices a failure | Usually nobody until you need it | Usually nobody until you need it | We monitor the backup jobs |
| Recovery plan | None | None | Documented RTO and RPO |
When ransomware hits and there is no usable backup
We regularly get calls from business owners who have just been hit by ransomware and want us to recover their files. Often there is no backup at all, or the newest one is three months old. We tell them plainly that there is nothing we can do about what is already gone. Whatever changed since that last backup is lost.
Going forward, we can put a real solution in place, with automated backups that are tested so the next bad day is a restore and not a disaster.
Joe Engelking, CEO
What is the difference between disaster recovery and backup?
A backup is a copy of your data. Disaster recovery is the plan and capability to get the business working again using those copies: which systems come back first, how long it takes, who does it, and whether it has been tested. Backups without a tested recovery process are how businesses learn too late that a restore does not work.
A backup you’ve never tested restoring isn’t a backup plan. It’s a guess.
Managed IT services companies like LME implement backups as a coordinated system, not a single checkbox: automated, versioned backups of your servers and workstations, cloud backup for the Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace data that Microsoft and Google don’t fully protect on their own, and documented recovery procedures for every core business tool you depend on. Instead of hoping a backup job silently succeeded, we monitor it, test it, and can tell you exactly how long recovery takes before you’re ever in a real disaster.
Automated, offsite backups
Your data is backed up on a schedule you don’t have to think about, replicated offsite so a fire, flood, or hardware failure at your office can’t take everything with it.
Tested recovery, not just backup
We periodically test actual restores, not just confirm a backup job “completed,” so you know it will work when you need it.
A real disaster recovery plan
Documented recovery time and recovery point targets, in plain language, that you’ve reviewed before you ever need them, not improvised at 2am during a ransomware event.
Coverage for the disasters that actually happen.
- Automated daily backups of servers, workstations, and cloud data
- Offsite / cloud replication
- Ransomware-resistant, versioned backups
- Documented recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO)
- Periodic test restores
- Microsoft 365 & Google Workspace backup (not just on-prem servers)
Every industry we serve, one bad day from data loss.
Real businesses, real relationships.
“LME Services has managed the IT and networking for our company for quite a few years now. Their availability, knowledge and integrity is not something you see every day. I highly recommend them for all your IT needs!”
“LME Services manages all our IT needs comprehensively. They monitor our systems to ensure everything runs smoothly and provide ongoing maintenance support, allowing us to reach out whenever we encounter issues.”
Common questions about backup & disaster recovery
An external drive is a single point of failure sitting in the same building as everything else you’re trying to protect. Our backups are automated, versioned, and replicated offsite, and we actually test that they restore.
Yes. Cloud platforms like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace don’t fully protect you from accidental deletion or ransomware on their own. We back up that data separately.
A backup is the data. A disaster recovery plan is the documented, tested process for actually getting your business back online, including how long it takes and what order systems come back up in.
Yes, that’s one of the most common things we’re asked to review. Start with a free 15-minute assessment and we’ll tell you honestly where you stand.
Don’t wait for a disaster to find out your backups don’t work.
Backup & Disaster Recovery, Explained
What actually separates a real backup plan from false confidence, and what happens when businesses find out the difference the hard way.
"One call we get too often is from an owner who has just been hit by ransomware and wants their files back, and there is no backup, or the newest one is three months old. I have to tell them there is nothing I can do about what is already gone. A backup nobody has tested is just a hope, not a plan. The businesses that sleep well at night are the ones where we test restores on a schedule, not just run the backup and assume it worked."
— Joe Engelking, CEO