Backup and Disaster Recovery in Reno
Backup and disaster recovery means keeping safe copies of your business files, servers and Microsoft 365 data, plus a tested plan for getting back to work after a hardware failure, ransomware or a disaster. Computer Services Reno sets up, monitors and test-restores backups for businesses in Reno, Sparks and Carson City.
What is the difference between backup and disaster recovery?
A backup is a copy of your data. Disaster recovery is the plan and the tooling to turn that copy back into a working office. You can have backups and still be down for a long time if nobody has worked out how to restore them, onto what, and in which order.
| Question | Data backup | Disaster recovery |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Copies of files, servers and cloud data | A plan and setup to restore systems and resume work |
| Question it answers | Do we still have the data? | How do we get working again, and how soon? |
| Measured by | Recovery point objective (RPO) | Recovery time objective (RTO) |
| Typical use | A deleted folder, a corrupted spreadsheet | A dead server, ransomware, a flooded office |
| Tested by | Restoring sample files | Restoring whole systems and timing it |
| Who decides priorities | Mostly technical | The business, with IT advice |
What is the 3-2-1 backup rule?
The 3-2-1 rule is the standard starting point for business backup solutions: keep three copies of your data, on two different types of storage, with one copy off-site. A server, a local backup device and a cloud copy is a common way to meet it.
Ransomware has added a refinement. Many businesses now make one copy immutable or offline, so it cannot be changed or deleted from the main network even with stolen admin credentials, and they check that backups complete without errors. You may see this written as 3-2-1-1-0.
Does your backup meet the basics?
- Three copies of the data that matters, including the original
- Two kinds of storage, so one failure type cannot take both
- One copy off-site, out of reach of a fire or flood at the office
- One copy that cannot be altered from your everyday network
- Backups encrypted, with MFA on the backup console
- Failed backup jobs alerted and followed up, not ignored
- A restore tested recently, with the date written down
How should a small business define RPO and RTO?
Two numbers turn "we need backups" into a plan you can test. They are business decisions first and technical settings second.
Recovery point objective (RPO)
How much recent work you can afford to lose, measured in time. A nightly backup means up to a day of work could be gone. An accounting firm in tax season may want copies every hour or two; a file share that changes little may be fine with daily.
Recovery time objective (RTO)
How long a system can be down before the cost becomes serious. A dental office that cannot see its schedule or patient charts has a short RTO for that software. An archive of old projects can wait. Short RTOs need more preparation, and they cost more.
Setting these for each key system is part of planning with IT consulting. Servers that hold the most important data are covered by server support and maintenance, which looks after the health of the servers themselves.
Does Microsoft 365 need its own backup?
Usually, yes. Microsoft keeps its service running and protects its data centers, but under its shared responsibility model, protecting your content is largely up to you. Deleted emails and files are kept only for limited retention periods, and a deletion or ransomware change that syncs through OneDrive or SharePoint can spread before anyone notices.
A separate Microsoft 365 backup keeps copies of mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams data outside the account, so you can restore a mailbox for a departed employee, a folder someone wiped or files encrypted through a synced laptop. Account settings and licensing sit with Microsoft 365 support.
How do you know a backup will restore?
A backup that has never been restored is a hope, not a plan. Testing on a schedule catches the backup that silently stopped, the drive that was never included, and the password nobody can find.
Check the reports
Review backup job results and follow up on failures and warnings, so a gap does not run for months.
Restore sample files
Pull back individual files and emails from different dates to confirm the data is readable and complete.
Restore a whole system
Bring a server or workstation back in a test environment, separate from your live network, and confirm it starts and works.
Time it and write it down
Record how long the restore took and compare it with the RTO you set. If it is too slow, change the setup, not the target.
Can backups help a business recover from ransomware?
They give you options. Verizon's 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report put the median ransom paid at $115,000, and found that 64% of ransomware victims did not pay.1 A business with clean, separate, tested backups is in a far better position to be one of them. Backups do not undo a data theft or remove the attacker, so restoring goes hand in hand with cleanup and small business cybersecurity controls.
What to avoid: backups reachable with the same admin password as everything else, a backup drive left plugged into the server, and cloud backups without MFA.
What is a disaster recovery plan?
A disaster recovery plan is a short document that says what gets restored, in what order, by whom and from where. It should be readable by someone under stress, and stored somewhere you can reach if your own systems are down. Most small business plans include:
- A list of key systems with an RPO and RTO for each
- Where each backup lives and how to reach it
- The restore order, starting with what staff need first
- Who makes decisions and who to call, inside and outside the business
- How staff will work if the office is unusable
- When the plan was last tested and updated
What about data recovery from a failed drive?
If a computer's drive has failed and there is no backup, recovery may still be possible, sometimes from a drive that still responds and sometimes only through a specialist lab. It is never certain, and it costs far more than a backup would have. We will tell you honestly what the options look like. See business computer repair for failing computers.
Backup monitoring is part of managed IT services, quoted at one flat monthly price with no contract. See managed IT pricing, or book a free on-site IT assessment and we will look at your backups with you.
For a short checklist you can run yourself, see our guides.
Backup and disaster recovery FAQ
See where your IT stands, at your office.
Book a free on-site IT assessment. A local technician comes to you, looks at your setup, and gives you a plain-English list of what to fix first. No cost, no contract.