✅ SHA-256 Integrity 🔎 Presence at Destination 🧪 Restore Drills 🚨 No Silent Failure ✅ SHA-256 Integrity 🔎 Presence at Destination 🧪 Restore Drills 🚨 No Silent Failure
Backup Verification

Does Your Backup Actually Work?
Integrity · Presence · Restore Drills

"I have a backup" and "my backup works" are not the same statement. Most companies that lose data did have a backup — it simply would not open. A corrupted archive, an incomplete dump, a file that never arrived at the destination: all of these can display as "successful". That is why verification is a separate step.

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Four Layers

How We Verify Your Backup

One check is never enough; each layer catches a different kind of failure.

#️⃣

Integrity checksum

A SHA-256 digest is computed and stored for every backup, revealing any corruption.

📦

Archive consistency

The archive is checked for a clean close and readability, catching half-finished packaging.

🔎

Presence at destination

We confirm the file genuinely exists in the storage target — the "recorded but missing" case is flagged.

🧪

Restore drills

Sample restores are attempted periodically so problems surface before the bad day does.

Silent Failure

Typical Cases We Catch

Every one of these can hide behind a "successful backup" label.

0️⃣

Empty component

If an expected component comes back empty the backup is not marked successful. "0 files backed up" is a warning, not a success.

💽

Disk quota full

When the server runs out of space, packaging is cut short — and that is reported separately.

🔌

Database unreachable

If the dump could not be taken, the backup is incomplete; a files-only backup is not silently substituted.

📭

Mailbox returned nothing

If IMAP connected but returned zero messages you are told, rather than losing data quietly.

Missed backup

If a scheduled run did not happen an alert is raised, so you are not left unprotected for weeks.

☁️

Upload cut short

If writing to the destination did not complete, the backup is not counted as finished.

Why we care about this so much

The most insidious bug in backup software is a check that reports success while doing nothing. Such a check gives you confidence without protection — and delays the moment you notice a real problem.

So our principle is this: "0 problems found" and "0 records scanned" are never the same thing. If a check could not verify anything, it does not report success; it marks the state as unknown.

FAQ

Backup Verification — Frequently Asked Questions

The only conclusive method is attempting a restore. Short of that there are three intermediate checks: the file's SHA-256 integrity digest matching, the archive being verified as complete and readable, and the file being confirmed to exist at the destination. Yedekalma performs all three automatically and runs periodic sample restore drills.
No. The most common disaster in this field is not the absence of a backup but a backup that will not restore. A corrupted archive, an incomplete database dump, a half-finished upload or a file that never actually arrived — all of these can appear as "successful" in a panel.
Technically yes, and it is a common problem — usually caused by a full disk quota, a permission error or a database connection failure. Our approach is not to pass over it: if an expected component came back empty, the backup is not marked successful and you are notified.
It is a periodic automated attempt to confirm that the backup opens, that the database dump inside is readable and that the archive is consistent. The point is to surface problems without waiting for a real incident.
Yes. Even when an upload appears to succeed, the file's existence in the storage target is verified separately. If a backup record exists but the file does not, that state is flagged rather than going unnoticed.

Do Not Assume Your Backup Works — Know It

Integrity, presence and drill checks are enabled on every plan. 14 days free.

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