Everyone has a backup, if you ask. Look closer and it's an external drive plugged into the very PC it's meant to protect, updated when someone remembers, never once tested. Copying files is the easy part — the work is everything else: noticing the job stopped running three months ago, keeping a version the ransomware can't encrypt along with the original, finding the invoice your accountant asks for three years on. And holding up under the real question: if the server is gone tomorrow morning, how fast are you back, and from which copy?
The service builds the backup a business can show, not just describe: the 3-2-1 rule — three copies, on two different media, one off-site —, versions that survive ransomware, your email and cloud accounts backed up too, and a continuity plan written on a single page. And a precise definition of what managed means here: a backup is only real once you've watched it come back — at handover we actually restore a sample of your data, and the written report that closes every job shows exactly that: the restore that worked, and what needs watching.
It starts with a site visit and two questions we settle together: how much work you can afford to lose, and how long you can afford to stand still. From there, a clear quote before we start — one-off jobs go by hourly rate, with the quote by email; backup watched over time is an ongoing support contract, priced case by case in the quote. And the boundaries, stated up front: we are not a cleanroom data-recovery lab, and a backup doesn't replace your antivirus — it's the safety net for the day everything else has already failed.
Three copies, two media, one off-site: the good rule fits in one line. It's the 3-2-1 rule, and we didn't invent it: CISA, the US cybersecurity agency, recommends it to small businesses as "a trusted guideline" — "3 copies of important files", "2 different types of storage media (like a hard drive and the cloud)", "1 copy stored off-site, away from your business location". Each piece covers a different failure: the second copy for the drive that dies, the second medium for a shared family defect, the off-site copy for the theft, fire or flood that takes original and backup together. The external drive permanently plugged into the same PC is none of the three — it's a second disk inside the same accident. How the copy leaves the building — encrypted cloud or a drive rotated elsewhere — is decided in the quote, on your case.
A backup that's always connected is ransomware's first victim. Modern ransomware doesn't stop at the documents on the server: it goes looking for every copy it can reach — the USB drive that never leaves the port, the shared network folder — because a business left with no backup pays more willingly. The defence isn't a product, it's a shape: versions that step back in time, so today's encrypted file doesn't overwrite yesterday's healthy one; a copy kept offline or immutable, writable once but not rewritable; backup credentials separate from everyday ones. CISA puts it plainly: "Backups are your best hope of recovery from a ransomware attack." We build them that way — and prevention, antivirus and updates included, is a trade of its own: that's the IT security page.
Restoring isn't an IT nicety: it's written into a law that already applies to you. The GDPR, in Article 32, lists among appropriate security measures "the ability to restore the availability and access to personal data in a timely manner in the event of a physical or technical incident" — and, in the next point, "a process for regularly testing, assessing and evaluating the effectiveness" of those measures. Translated into our trade: having a copy is not enough — you must be able to come back, and prove it now and then. That is the test restore: at handover we restore a real sample — a folder, a mailbox, a database — and it goes in the report; on ongoing contracts the test repeats on schedule. The other Article 32 measures — encryption, access control, defences — belong to the security chapter: this page answers for the restore line.
"It's in the cloud" does not mean "it's backed up". Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace run on solid infrastructure, but recycle bins expire, a compromised account deletes or encrypts there too, and a closed subscription takes the mailboxes with it. Microsoft itself, in its Services Agreement, warns that "all online services suffer occasional disruptions and outages" and recommends that you "regularly backup Your Content and Data that you store on the Services". For a business the translation is one line: email, calendars, shared files and cloud-hosted records also go into an independent copy, outside that subscription — on a company server or NAS, or in a second cloud. So the day a mailbox disappears, the answer doesn't depend on someone else's recycle bin.
Business continuity is not a binder: it's one written page and two numbers you choose before the bad day. The two numbers need no acronyms: how much work you can afford to lose — an hour, half a day, a week — and how long you can stand still before the downtime costs more than the cure. We settle them together, calmly, and they drive everything else: how often copies run, what kit is needed, and the quote. The plan we hand over fits on one page: where the copies are, who calls whom, what comes back first, in what order. At handover the page gets tested, not filed. And if you want someone keeping it alive — test restores on schedule, copies watched, response times in writing — the right chapter is ongoing IT support; the house's engagement formulas live on the business services page.
| What gets saved | server, PCs, management software, email and shared folders: the starting inventory sets space, tools and hours of work |
|---|---|
| Acceptable loss | an hour or a day of work redone: how often copies run is settled together, and it moves the quote |
| Tolerable downtime | restarting within the hour takes more kit than restarting tomorrow: the standstill you can absorb decides the means |
| Off-site copy | encrypted cloud or a drive rotated elsewhere: how the third copy leaves the building changes costs and habits |
| Email and cloud | mailboxes, calendars and files on Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: how many accounts to save, and where their copy lives |
| Test restore | included at handover; repeated at a fixed interval on ongoing contracts: that interval is a line in the quote |
What genuinely moves the quote for this service: how many workstations and people, what is already in place, what must stay up. Agreed together before we start — and the quote, numbers included, arrives by email: one-off jobs by the hour, ongoing support priced to fit.
ElectrONIK Lab is an independent workshop: it is not an authorised service centre and is not affiliated with the manufacturers. The trademarks named here belong to their respective owners and are used only to identify the devices we work on. Your statutory consumer rights towards whoever carries out the repair are unaffected.
A free consultation, a clear quote up front and a written report after every job.