Companies which have a disaster recovery system such as online backup ought to ensure their system is checked regularly and thoroughly, an expert has warned.

Dan Blacharski of ITworld drew parallels between data recovery and smoke alarms, explaining that many people will regularly leave their fire defences alone until the battery needs replacing, though this may not get done for a couple of weeks.

The expert noted that while they are only supposed to kick into action when disaster strikes, "beyond knowing that it's there, we need to know that it's actually working".

Mr Blacharski said that best practice is to go above and beyond regular testing and ensure that automatic data recovery testing is available in order to sustain periodic examinations of the system, as this extra expense could save thousands, if not millions, further down the line.

According to Disaster Recovery World, the creation of a sound business continuity or online backup plan requires complex planning, such as the prioritisation of sensitive documents and more cogent storage methods.

New research from Connect found that, on average, it takes businesses that use backup tapes take 11.6 hours to retrieve and restore files. Connect is now recommending that SMEs switch to online backup.