Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
✴️ Your backup software says everything's there, but is it? Too many discover the truth only after disaster strikes. I'll walk you through practical, low-risk ways to test your backups so you can trust that your files will really be there when you need 'em.
✴️ Testing backups
- A full restore is the ultimate test, but it’s impractical to carry out.
- Test the rescue media by booting from it and preparing for a restore, but don’t start it.
- Test a backup image by restoring individual files from it.
- Test a backup image by viewing its contents and making sure all expected files are present.
- You can perform a complete test by replacing the hard drive and restoring an image.
Updates, related links, and more discussion: askleo.com/14556
🔔 Subscribe to the Ask Leo! YouTube channel for more tech videos & answers: go.askleo.com/ytsub
✅ Watch next ▶ Creating an EaseUS Todo Emergency Disk ▶ youtu.be/3fpzGxeYu-Y
Chapters
0:00 How to test backups
1:04 A full restore is the ultimate test
2:01 Use the rescue media, prepare for a restore, and stop
3:04 Extract files
4:02 Check the image
4:54 Bonus- A complete test, done safely
❤️ My best articles: go.askleo.com/best
❤️ My Most Important Article: go.askleo.com/number1
More Ask Leo!
☑️ askleo.com to get your questions answered
☑️ newsletter.askleo.com to subscribe to the Confident Computing newsletter.
☑️ askleo.com/patron to help support Ask Leo!
☑️ askleo.com/all-the-different-ways-to-get-ask-leo for even more!
#askleo #backup #restore
✴️ Your backup software says everything's there, but is it? Too many discover the truth only after disaster strikes. I'll walk you through practical, low-risk ways to test your backups so you can trust that your files will really be there when you need 'em.
✴️ Testing backups
- A full restore is the ultimate test, but it’s impractical to carry out.
- Test the rescue media by booting from it and preparing for a restore, but don’t start it.
- Test a backup image by restoring individual files from it.
- Test a backup image by viewing its contents and making sure all expected files are present.
- You can perform a complete test by replacing the hard drive and restoring an image.
Updates, related links, and more discussion: askleo.com/14556
🔔 Subscribe to the Ask Leo! YouTube channel for more tech videos & answers: go.askleo.com/ytsub
✅ Watch next ▶ Creating an EaseUS Todo Emergency Disk ▶ youtu.be/3fpzGxeYu-Y
Chapters
0:00 How to test backups
1:04 A full restore is the ultimate test
2:01 Use the rescue media, prepare for a restore, and stop
3:04 Extract files
4:02 Check the image
4:54 Bonus- A complete test, done safely
❤️ My best articles: go.askleo.com/best
❤️ My Most Important Article: go.askleo.com/number1
More Ask Leo!
☑️ askleo.com to get your questions answered
☑️ newsletter.askleo.com to subscribe to the Confident Computing newsletter.
☑️ askleo.com/patron to help support Ask Leo!
☑️ askleo.com/all-the-different-ways-to-get-ask-leo for even more!
#askleo #backup #restore
