Episode 100: Backup Strategies and Best Practices (Part 1) (Domain 3)

Backups form the last line of defense when everything else fails, and a good strategy turns potential disaster into a recoverable event. In this episode, we discuss core backup principles and best practices, including the 3-2-1 rule—keep three copies of your data, on two different media types, with one stored offsite. We cover the strengths and trade-offs between full, differential, and incremental backups, and explain when to use each based on recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO). We also explore the importance of backing up not just data, but system configurations, application states, and security controls, so that a restored system is truly functional and compliant. Backup strategies must also account for secure storage, encryption, and testing—because an untested backup is a false sense of security. Whether it’s ransomware, hardware failure, or human error, having a robust and well-documented backup plan is your insurance policy against irretrievable loss.