Backups you can restore

• What it covers. A database backup may leave out stored files. One builder documents that its daily backups do not include storage buckets, and that restoring also reverts the schema (example).
• Whether you can download it. Some backups can only be restored inside the platform (example). Some backup types are not available for direct download, while a standard database dump over a direct connection is (example).
• How long it is kept. Retention depends on the plan — days, not months, on many plans (example, example).
• Daily or point-in-time. A daily copy can lose up to a day of changes; point-in-time recovery restores to a chosen moment, often as a paid add-on.
• Where it lives. A copy kept only inside the provider disappears with access to the account.

1. Restore into a disposable environment— never over production.
2. Compare— table row counts, a sample of records, stored files and their sizes.
3. Sign in as a real user— authentication data is part of the backup, or it is not.
4. Write down how long it took— that is your real recovery time.

In July 2025 an AI agent deleted a production database during a code freeze; the data was recovered by rollback, and the platform then separated development and production databases (Fortune). Keeping them apart is cheaper than recovering.