Backup and restore A backup counts only when you have proved you can restore it.
Short answer. Backup is making copies of data and settings; restore is proving you can put them back and get working again. The restore is the part that fails: NIST advises testing backups regularly to ensure the data was stored correctly and the files can be retrieved without errors. Two numbers set the plan. The recovery point objective is how much recent work you can afford to lose, and the recovery time objective is how long the system may stay down. CISA advises offline, encrypted backups, because many ransomware variants try to find and delete any accessible backups. India’s DPDP Rules, 2025 list data backups among the reasonable measures for continued processing.
01
What an AI box needs saved
Item
Why it matters
Note
Documents and uploads
The source material staff rely on
Often the largest item
The search index built from the documents
Answers depend on it
Can usually be rebuilt, but re-indexing a large library takes time
Chats, drafts, minutes and approvals
The work product and the record of who confirmed what
Includes anything awaiting approval
Accounts, roles and settings
Without them nobody can sign in
Small, but vital
The activity log
Evidence of who did what
Keep a copy on a different system
Model files
Models can be downloaded again
An offline site needs a local copy
Encryption and recovery keys
Encrypted backups are useless without them
Store apart from the data, in a place two people can reach
02
RPO and RTO in plain words
NIST SP 800-34 defines the recovery time objective as the maximum time a system resource can remain unavailable before there is an unacceptable impact. It defines the recovery point objective as the point in time, before a disruption, to which data can be recovered given the most recent backup. In plain words: how long can we be down, and how much recent work can we lose?
A nightly backup means a recovery point of up to a day: everything since last night is gone. If that is too much for meeting minutes approved at 4 p.m., back up more often.
03
Rules of thumb that hold up
Keep at least one copy offline, out of reach of the system’s own sign-ins. CISA says many ransomware variants try to find and delete any accessible backups.
Encrypt backups. NIST SP 800-111 says backups should be secured at least as well as the original.
Keep a copy off-site. NIST SP 800-34 calls offsite storage a good business practice and says to consider whether the storage site could be hit by the same disaster as the primary site.
Test restores on a schedule, to a spare machine, and time them. A backup that has never been restored is a hope.
Write the restore procedure down, and keep it where it can be read when the system is down.
Protect the backup credentials as carefully as the system’s own.
04
Backups and privacy duties
Backups hold personal data too, so the duties that apply to the live system apply to them. Section 8(7) of the DPDP Act requires a data fiduciary to erase personal data when consent is withdrawn or the purpose is no longer served, unless retention is necessary for compliance with a law, and to cause its processors to erase it. Plan how an erasure reaches backups: letting copies expire on a fixed rotation is one approach, and the cycle should be documented. Location matters as well, because a backup stored in another country can undo a data residency promise. See the data retention and data residency pages. The Act and Rules are being phased in over 18 months from November 2025, so these duties apply from about May 2027. This is general information, not legal advice.
05
Where ANVE stands
ANVE’s backup design is a question to settle in writing before a paid pilot. Its security page (/security) says everything sits in one database on the box. Our question page on how to back up a private AI system covers the practical steps.
06
Questions people ask
How often should we back up?
As often as your recovery point objective demands. NIST says backup policy should set a minimum frequency and scope, such as daily or weekly, incremental or full, based on how critical the data is and how often new information arrives.
What do I do if the AI box fails completely?
Restore the latest backup to replacement hardware, then check the index, accounts and logs. Our question page on what happens if the AI box breaks covers the steps.
Do backups need to be in India?
That depends on the data and the rules that apply to it. A backup copy is subject to the same location rules as the live data. See data localisation and data residency.
Is a copy on the same machine a backup?
Not in any useful sense. If the machine is stolen, burned or encrypted by ransomware, both copies go together. Keep copies on separate media and in a separate place.
07
What is not real yet
No sealed ANVE unit exists; every image of the appliance on this site is a labelled render. The software runs today on a development machine. No customers yet, no certifications, no delivery date, and the final price is not announced.
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