By The KTech team · Published 10 November 2026
Backup and disaster recovery for small businesses in Devon works when three things are true: every important system has at least one copy kept away from the main systems, someone knows how long a restore takes, and a restore has actually been tested. KTechnology Solutions designs, sets up and tests backup and recovery for shops, offices, trades, holiday-let businesses and professional firms across the South Hams and Devon, from our base near Kingsbridge.
This guide explains how to decide what to protect, which backup layers a small business needs, how cloud services such as Microsoft 365 fit in, and how to check that your plan will hold when a laptop fails, a server dies or ransomware locks your files.
What is the difference between backup and disaster recovery?
A backup is a copy of your data. Disaster recovery is the plan for getting the business working again: which systems come back first, where they are restored to, who does it and how long it takes. A business can have backups and still be stuck for a week because nobody has tried a restore, the copy is too old, or the only copy was on the machine that failed.
Our operational resilience work covers the full recovery plan. For most small firms, the steps below deliver the essentials.
How do I decide what needs backing up?
Start with the work, not the technology. List what the business could not operate without for a day, then find where each item actually lives.
- Accounts and invoicing: the accounting software or its data files.
- Email, calendars and shared files: usually Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
- Customer and booking records, including any line-of-business system or database.
- Documents saved on individual laptops and desktops, including the desktop and downloads folders people forget.
- Server or network storage, if you have one in the office.
- Configuration you would need to rebuild: router settings, software licences and admin passwords kept in a secure password manager.
Which backup layers does a small business need?
No single backup covers every failure. A sound set-up combines layers, so the loss of one copy never means the loss of the data.
- Whole-computer or system backups for machines that would take a long time to rebuild, so a failed drive means a restore rather than a reinstall.
- Versioned cloud file backup, which keeps earlier versions of each file, so a deleted or encrypted document can be rolled back to yesterday's copy.
- Independent backup of cloud services such as Microsoft 365 mailboxes, OneDrive and SharePoint, held outside the service itself.
- One copy kept offline or immutable, such as a rotated external drive kept off site or cloud storage that cannot be altered, so ransomware cannot reach every copy.
- Monitoring, so a backup that silently stops is noticed within days, not discovered months later.
Does Microsoft 365 back up my business data?
Microsoft 365 keeps your service running and stores data resiliently, and it offers recycle bins and retention features. That is not the same as an independent backup under your control. If a mailbox is deleted, a sync spreads a mistake, or an attacker removes files, you want a separate copy you can restore from on your own timetable. We review your subscription, configure retention sensibly and add a dedicated Microsoft 365 backup where the business needs one. Our Microsoft 365 help page covers the wider set-up.
How long can my business afford to be down?
Two simple questions set the standard for the whole plan. First, how much recent work could you afford to lose: an hour, a day, a week? That decides how often backups run. Second, how long could you operate without a system before customers or cash flow suffer? That decides how quickly a restore must be possible, and whether you need spare equipment or a cloud fallback.
Write both answers down for each important system. They turn a vague wish for good backups into a clear specification we can build and test against.
How do I know my backup will work when I need it?
Test it. A recovery plan is only proven once data has been restored and opened. We carry out and record test restores as part of every backup set-up and review.
- Restore a single file and open it, to prove the basic routine works.
- Restore a full mailbox or shared folder to an alternative location.
- Rebuild one computer from its system backup, and time how long it takes.
- Check the offline or immutable copy is current and readable.
- Record the date, what was restored, how long it took and anything that needs fixing.
What does a recovery look like after ransomware?
Isolate first: disconnect affected computers from the network, keep them powered on and call for help before anything is wiped. Once the cause is understood and accounts are secured, clean systems are restored from a copy taken before the attack, starting with the systems the business needs most. Having an offline or immutable copy is what makes this possible without paying. Our ransomware help page explains the first steps, and our ransomware guide for Devon covers what to do if files are already locked.