Free template
Free, ready-to-use data backup and recovery SOP template. Protect critical systems with consistent backup procedures and tested recovery plans. Copy, customize, or create it in Folge with screenshots.
A Data Backup & Recovery Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a documented process that IT teams follow to regularly back up critical data, verify backup integrity, and restore systems when data loss occurs.
This template ensures your organization has a reliable, tested backup strategy that protects against hardware failures, ransomware, accidental deletion, and natural disasters. It covers backup scheduling, storage management, integrity checks, and step-by-step recovery procedures.
Standardize backup procedures across servers, databases, and cloud services
Ensure your team can restore operations quickly after any data loss event
Document backup procedures for SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and other compliance frameworks
Provide consistent backup management across multiple client environments
Purpose: To ensure critical data is backed up consistently, stored securely, and can be recovered reliably when needed
Scope: All IT staff responsible for server, database, and cloud backup operations
Time Required: 30-60 minutes for daily verification; 2-4 hours for recovery testing
Tools Needed: Backup software (Veeam, Acronis, AWS Backup, etc.), storage infrastructure, monitoring dashboard
Action:
Expected Outcome: Complete inventory of systems with assigned backup tiers and schedules
Action:
Expected Outcome: All backup jobs configured, scheduled, and sending notifications
Action:
Expected Outcome: All backups verified as successful or failures documented and resolved
Action:
⚠️ Important: A backup that hasn't been tested is not a backup. Monthly recovery tests are essential to ensure your backups actually work.
Expected Outcome: Recovery test completed, time logged, and any issues documented
Action:
Expected Outcome: Data restored to the most recent clean state, verified by the requesting team
Action:
Expected Outcome: Incident documented, storage reviewed, and SOP updated with lessons learned
Keep at least 3 copies of your data on 2 different media types with 1 copy stored offsite or in the cloud. This protects against single points of failure.
Run a full recovery test at least monthly. Rotate through different systems so every critical system gets tested at least once per quarter.
Encrypt backup data both at rest and in transit. Store encryption keys separately from the backup media to prevent a single breach from compromising both.
Set up alerts for backup failures, storage capacity thresholds, and replication lag. Don't wait for a disaster to discover your backups have been failing for weeks.
Use immutable or air-gapped backups that cannot be encrypted or deleted by ransomware. Keep at least one backup copy completely disconnected from the network.
Clearly define how much data loss is acceptable (RPO) and how quickly you need systems back online (RTO) for each system tier. These drive your entire backup strategy.
Stop copying and pasting templates. Create interactive, screenshot-based SOPs that your team will actually use.
It depends on your Recovery Point Objective (RPO). Critical production databases may need backup every 4-6 hours or even continuous replication. Standard file shares typically need daily backups. Development environments can be backed up weekly. Match your backup frequency to how much data you can afford to lose.
The 3-2-1 rule means keeping 3 copies of your data, on 2 different types of media (e.g., local disk and cloud), with 1 copy stored offsite. Some organizations extend this to 3-2-1-1-0: adding 1 immutable copy and 0 errors (verified by testing).
Perform a full recovery test in an isolated environment. Restore a system from backup, verify it boots correctly, check data integrity (file counts, checksums, database consistency), and test that applications work. Record the recovery time and compare it to your RTO target.
Use Folge to capture your screen as you configure backup jobs, check monitoring dashboards, and perform recovery tests. Folge takes screenshots at each step and lets you annotate them with arrows, highlights, and instructions. Export the finished guide to PDF, Word, or HTML.
Use immutable backups that cannot be modified or deleted for a set retention period. Store at least one copy on air-gapped media (disconnected from the network). Enable MFA on backup management consoles, and restrict backup admin access to dedicated service accounts.
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