A backup job that reports success proves that a file was written, which is a different claim from the data being recoverable.
# weekly, automated, against the most recent backup
$ ./bin/restore-drill --latest --into=scratch
restored 41,204,118 rows in 18m22s
$ ./bin/restore-verify scratch
row counts match: 14/14 tables
checksums match: 14/14
latest order: 2022-06-13 23:58:41 ← ~2h old
RTO measured: 18m22s (target: 30m)Measuring the recovery time objective rather than assuming it is the part that changes decisions — the first drill on this system took four times the estimate, which was a capacity conversation rather than a backup one. Automating the drill is what keeps it happening; a manual one is scheduled quarterly and performed annually.