Make Every Friday the 13th Day of Checking Backups
Your backups are only good if you can recover data from them, but too often we don’t test our backups to make sure they actually work. One way to remember: set aside dates throughout the year to check. Let’s say Friday the 13th.
It’s a memorable date with a tinge of superstition, so it’s perfect to make sure you’re out of luck if you ever need to use your backups. Adam Engst, who invented this fun holiday, says:
If you are reading this article on a different day, I would suggest that you check your backups right away and then move on to your Friday the 13th schedule.
Take a few minutes to identify some important files and see if you can successfully restore them from your backups. If a bootable backup is part of your backup strategy, make sure you can actually boot from it. (If you don’t have a good backup to restore from right now, let me recommend the latest version of one of our most popular e-books, Joe Kissel’s “Take Control ofYour Mac Backups. ”)
That’s all. No costumes, obligatory greetings or special dinner expected. If you feel the need to make sure your test goes well, well, a little holiday drinking of your favorite drink is never inappropriate.
In 2016, the next Friday, the 13th, will be in May, and in 2017, it will be in January and October. You can set a more frequent check schedule, for example, at every season change or when we need to set the clock for daylight saving time. In any case, do not forget that checking the backup is the most important part of backing up your computer.
International Day of Verification of Backups | TidBITS via Katie Floyd