A backup plan is only theory until someone uses it

I can have a backup of every file and still not know which one I'm supposed to send the client.

Say their work is due this afternoon and the tool I normally use to deliver it won't open. The files are saved somewhere else, but the client's approval is in the tool I can't get into, and there are a few versions of the work.

I'd want to test a backup by trying to finish that job, not just checking that I can download the files.

I haven't run this drill yet. I'd start with a made-up client job, take it through the usual process, then try to get the finished work to a test recipient without using the normal delivery tool. Nothing gets switched off. No real customer gets pulled into it.

I'd keep going until they can open the right file without needing that tool either. If I stop at finding the folder, I haven't checked the part the client needs.

And wherever I get stuck tells me what to fix. Maybe I need a way to identify the approved version outside that tool. Or my alternative delivery link might still send the recipient back to the same service.

Another copy of the files wouldn't solve either problem.

That exercise wouldn't prove the whole business can recover from an outage. It would tell me whether I can finish that job without using that tool, and what I'd have to sort out if I can't.