Small-business backup: Set it once, stop worrying

“Too small to matter” is a myth. Attackers target small companies because defenses are thin and downtime hurts. If you run a small business, you likely don’t have an IT team. You also don’t have hours to manage backup jobs or learn new tools. You need something you set up once that protects your devices and your cloud email, then runs without daily care. 

This article gives you a simple plan. You’ll learn what goes wrong, what “good” looks like, and how to put a reliable backup in place before trouble hits. The goal is clear: avoid extended downtime and data loss from cyberattacks or human mistakes. 

Many owners discover the difference between “we thought it was backed up” and “we could actually restore it” only after a crisis. A laptop dies. Someone deletes a shared folder. Ransomware scrambles files. In the rush, you open the backup tool and … there’s nothing recent, or the backup never finished, or it was only syncing — not backing up. Hours turn into days. Work stops. Bills still come due. 

Three traps cause most failures: 

First, syncing isn’t backup. OneDrive or Google Drive keeps files in step across devices. It also propagates deletions and encrypted files if ransomware hits. You need independent copies that don’t change when the source changes. 

Second, cloud email isn’t automatically “your backup.” Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace run the platform, but recovery of your data is your job. Accidentally deleted mailboxes purged OneDrive content, or a compromised account can leave you with gaps unless you back those services up. 

Third, untested backups fail. A job can look “green” for months while quietly skipping a folder, a mailbox or an entire device. The only proof is a test restore. If you haven’t restored something recently, you don’t know if it works. 

The fourth trap is softer but just as costly: no runbook. When something breaks, nobody knows who has admin credentials, what gets restored first, or where the recovery points live. You lose time and make mistakes you could have avoided with a one-page plan. 

A good setup doesn’t need an IT team. It runs automatically. It covers your laptops and desktops, any small server or NAS and your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace data. It stores at least one copy off-site (cloud counts), gives you a clean version to restore if ransomware hits, and it’s written down in a short recovery plan your team understands. 

Think about it this way: if your main laptop dies at 10:00, you should be working again the same day from a clean copy — without calling a consultant. 

1. Follow 3-2-1. Keep 3 copies of your data on 2 different types of storage, with 1 copy off-site. It’s simple and it works. 

1. Verify on a schedule. Pick a date (for example, the first Monday of each quarter) and do a small test restore. Make it a habit. 

1. Write a one-page recovery plan. Who leads? What gets restored first? Where are the credentials? How do you contact customers if email is down? 

That’s the baseline for small business data backup. Now let’s make it real with a tool built for small businesses. 

Acronis Cyber Protect combines backup with built-in anti-ransomware and fast recovery. You manage devices and SaaS data from one console. It’s designed to run in the background so you can focus on your business, not on backup screens. 

Start simple: 

List what matters: your laptops and desktops, maybe a small server or NAS and your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace (mail, files, collaboration). Choose storage targets: a local drive or NAS for speed, and Acronis Cloud for your off-site copy. Install once, add your devices and connect your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace tenant. Create a protection plan: what to back up (entire device or selected files), how often, and where to store copies. If you need step-by-step guidance, consult the following: How to create a protection plan in Acronis. 

Set the schedule. Daily is a good default for files, with one weekly image backup so you can recover a whole machine quickly. Pick retention that fits your world — many small firms keep daily versions for 30–90 days and monthly versions for a year. Turn on anti-ransomware and immutability so recovery points can’t be altered and enable auto-protection for new Microsoft 365 users so nobody gets missed when you hire. 

Next, prove it works. Restore a file and a folder from one laptop and one mailbox to a scratch location. Note the steps and timing in your runbook. This takes minutes and gives you real confidence. 

A local bakery with nine staff runs a point-of-sale PC, the owner’s laptop and Microsoft 365 email. They installed Acronis, set image backups for both PCs to a NAS and Acronis Cloud, and protected Exchange Online and OneDrive. Immutability is on. Each quarter they restore a file to check. They’ve had one accidental deletion, and one ransomware scare. Both times they restored clean copies and kept serving customers. 

A three-person design studio works on large project files across three Macs. They back up files every two hours to local storage for quick restores and run nightly copies to the Acronis Cloud. They also take full weekly machine copies and protect SharePoint and Teams. When a laptop failed, they restored a 20GB project from the cloud while the tech replaced hardware. No missed deadlines. 

A 12-person clinic runs front-desk PCs and lives in Microsoft 365. They do weekly image backups with daily increments for the PCs, protect all mailboxes and OneDrive accounts and keep immutable cloud copies. Once a month they restore one mailbox item to prove the process. When their cyber insurance renewal came due, they passed the control asking for tested backups by showing logs and screenshots. 

None of these setups took a specialist. Each company started small, wrote down a few steps and kept the habit. 

Backup feels like overhead — until there’s a bad day. A day of lost billing, missed orders or rescheduled patients often costs more than a year of backup. Hardware fails. People misplace files. Attackers don’t skip small firms. The cost of not being ready is higher than the cost of getting ready. 

You get one console for everything. You protect PCs, Macs, servers and Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace without juggling tools. You get integrated anti-ransomware and support for immutable off-site copies so you can restore cleanly. You can recover full images for speed or single files and messages for precision. It’s designed to be set once and left alone. 

If you’re heavy on Microsoft 365, protect Exchange Online, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams. Cloud-to-cloud backups avoid local bottlenecks and let you restore a single message, a folder or an entire mailbox — fast. Turn on automatic inclusion so new employees are covered on day one. 

Want the full feature overview? Read the Acronis Cyber Protect product page. 

 Ready to act? You can purchase online and protect your devices and cloud email today. 

 New to backup basics? Here’s a quick primer on the 3-2-1 backup rule. 

Bottom line: Don’t wait for a crisis to “figure out backup.” Set up Acronis Cyber Protect, follow 3-2-1, test restores and keep a one-page plan your team can run without an IT specialist. That’s how small businesses stay open when bad things happen.