A user stores all important files in Google Drive, which automatically syncs to their laptop. They accidentally delete a critical folder. The deletion syncs to Google Drive within seconds. What does this reveal about their backup strategy?
ANothing — Google Drive is a proper backup and can restore the deleted folder
BTheir strategy was sound but they were unlucky; this failure mode is extremely rare
CSync services are not backups — accidental deletion propagates to both copies, violating the core goal of having an independent copy
DThey needed a second cloud service, not a different backup method
A sync service mirrors changes instantly — including deletions and corruption. If you delete a file, the sync deletes it everywhere. True backups must be independent: a change or deletion in one location must not automatically propagate to the backup copy. The 3-2-1 rule requires 3 copies, but cloud sync + laptop often counts as just one effectively linked copy, not two independent ones.
Question 2 Multiple Choice
A home server uses RAID 1 (mirrored drives — every write goes to both drives simultaneously). Ransomware encrypts all the data on the server. How does the RAID help recover the data?
ARAID fully protects against ransomware because the encrypted data is only on one drive while the mirror holds the clean copy
BRAID allows rolling back to the state before the attack using the drive that was written to last
CRAID does not help — both drives receive every write simultaneously, so both are encrypted by the ransomware
DRAID automatically quarantines suspicious writes before mirroring them
RAID mirrors every write in real time — that's its purpose. When ransomware encrypts files, those encrypted writes go to both drives simultaneously. The 'mirror' holds identically encrypted data, not a clean backup. RAID protects against hardware failure (if one drive dies, the other is intact), but it provides zero protection against ransomware, accidental deletion, or file corruption, because all changes — including destructive ones — replicate instantly.
Question 3 True / False
If backup software runs without errors and reports a successful completion, your data is protected.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
A successful backup run proves only that the software executed without crashing. It does not prove the archive is readable, complete, or restorable. Backup software can silently produce corrupted archives; cloud sync can replicate corrupted or deleted files; encryption keys can be lost; tape drives can fail on restore even when writes appeared clean. The only proof of a working backup is a successful restore test. An untested backup is a hypothesis, not a guarantee.
Question 4 True / False
The '1 offsite' requirement in the 3-2-1 backup rule specifically addresses the risk of a physical disaster destroying all local copies at once.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: True
A hard drive and a laptop stored in the same room can both be destroyed by a fire, flood, theft, or power surge. The offsite requirement breaks this correlation: if one copy is in a separate physical location (cloud, a relative's home, an office), a single disaster cannot reach it. Each element of the 3-2-1 rule targets a different failure mode: multiple copies guard against accidental deletion; different media guard against media-specific failures; offsite guards against physical colocation risks.
Question 5 Short Answer
Why is testing your restore the most critical and most commonly skipped step in a backup strategy? What specific failure modes does a successful backup run fail to protect against?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: Backup software can run successfully while producing unreadable archives (corruption during write), syncing already-deleted or corrupted source files, or creating encrypted archives whose keys are then lost. The only way to know a backup is usable is to actually restore a file from it. A successful backup run confirms that the process ran — it does not confirm that the output is complete, uncorrupted, or accessible.
This is the most actionable insight in backup strategy. The asymmetry is important: a working backup is proven in seconds by restoring a single test file; a failed backup is discovered at the worst possible moment — when you actually need recovery. Testing restores periodically (when first set up, then every few months) costs almost nothing compared to the catastrophic alternative of discovering silent failures after data loss.