Most people only think about backups on the day they need one. This article explains, in plain terms, what a backup actually is, what it is not, and what you can reasonably expect when you ask us to get something back.
This is the single most important idea here, and it catches almost everyone.
Services like OneDrive, SharePoint, Dropbox and Google Drive are sync services. Their job is to make sure the same files appear on every device. That is genuinely useful, and it does protect you if a laptop is dropped in a car park, because the files also exist in the cloud.
But sync does exactly what it is told. If someone deletes a folder on Monday morning, the deletion syncs. Within seconds the folder is gone everywhere. If a file is overwritten with a bad version, or encrypted by ransomware, that change syncs too. Sync copies your mistakes just as faithfully as your work.
A backup is different. It is a separate copy, kept somewhere the live system cannot reach and change, and it is kept as a series of points in time. That is what lets us go back to how things looked yesterday, or last week, after something has gone wrong.
Both are worth having. They do different jobs.
Retention is how far back the copies go. If a backup keeps daily copies for a period, then during that window you can ask for a file as it looked on a particular day. Older copies are eventually rolled off, because keeping everything forever would cost more than it is worth to almost every business.
Retention matters because some problems are noticed immediately and some are not. A deleted file is usually spotted the same day. A quietly corrupted spreadsheet or a mailbox someone stopped checking might not be noticed for a month. The longer your retention, the further back you can reach — and the more it costs.
We do not publish one retention period here, because it is set per client. What is backed up, how often, and how long copies are kept are all decided for your business and recorded in your own service record. If you want to know exactly what yours is, ask us and we will confirm it in writing. It is a fair question and a good one to ask before you need the answer.
The process is straightforward:
Honestly: it depends on how much data. A single document or a mailbox item is usually quick. A large project folder takes longer. A whole server is a different order of task again, because every byte has to physically travel from the backup storage back onto working storage, and that takes as long as it takes.
The rough rule is that restore time is proportional to the amount of data, not to how urgent it is. We cannot make a large restore small by hurrying. What we can do is start with the part you need first — if you can work with three folders while the rest comes back, say so and we will prioritise those.
The honest promise a backup makes is "we can get yesterday back", not "nothing is ever lost". Work done between the last backup and the moment of the failure is the gap, and closing that gap entirely is possible but expensive. For most small businesses, losing a fraction of a day and knowing you can recover the rest is the right trade.
Knowing that in advance is worth a lot. It means that on a bad day the conversation is about which point to restore from, not about whether anything survived.
If you want your own backup arrangement confirmed — what is covered, how often it runs, how far back it goes — email support@yougrowit.com.au and we will send it to you in writing. For changes to what is covered, or a quote to extend it, email admin@yougrowit.com.au.
If you need something restored right now, log a ticket at portal.yougrowit.com.au, or call 03 9028 4358 if it is stopping work.
Support hours are Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:30pm Melbourne time, excluding Victorian public holidays.