Why Having Multiple Backups Is Critical for Business Continuity (And How Pixar Nearly Lost Toy Story 2) - abtec Managed IT
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Why Having Multiple Backups Is Critical for Business Continuity (And How Pixar Nearly Lost Toy Story 2)

If you’ve ever thought, “We’ve got backups, we’re fine,” you need to hear this story. In 1998, Pixar nearly lost 90% of Toy Story 2—not because they didn’t have a backup, but because they only had one.

The Day Pixar’s Data Vanished

An employee working on the film accidentally ran a command that started rapidly deleting files from the company servers.

Within seconds, character models, environments, and entire scenes disappeared. Nearly the entire movie was wiped.

“No problem,” the team thought. “We’ll restore from backup.”

Except there was a problem. A big one. Their routine backups had been failing for over a month. There was no recent copy to recover from.

At that moment, Pixar faced the nightmare every business dreads:

  • Months of work gone.
  • Production completely stopped.
  • Millions of dollars on the line.

    • The Unexpected Lifesaver

    Just when all seemed lost, hope came from the unlikeliest place: a home office.

    Galyn Susman, the supervising technical director, had recently had a baby and was working from home part-time. To do her job, she kept a copy of the film on her personal computer.

    That home copy became Pixar’s salvation. Wrapped in blankets, her computer was driven back to the studio and used to restore most of the deleted data.

    If Galyn hadn’t taken that backup home, Toy Story 2 would have been completely restarted from scratch.

    What This Teaches Us About Backups

    Pixar’s story isn’t just a fun piece of trivia—it’s a business lesson in disguise.

    Here’s the hard truth:

  • One backup is not enough.
  • If your backup isn’t tested, it doesn’t exist.
  • Relying on local copies alone is asking for trouble.

    • Even the most careful businesses suffer accidental deletions, hardware failures, and cyberattacks. The real question is: how quickly can you recover?

    How Many Backups Should You Have?

    The industry best practice is called the 3-2-1 rule:

  • 3 copies of your data
  • 2 different types of media/storage
  • 1 copy offsite or in the cloud

    • For most businesses today, that means a combination of:

  • Onsite backup (for fast recovery)
  • Cloud-based backup (for disaster protection)
  • Regular, automated testing (to ensure it actually works)

    • The Cost of Getting It Wrong

    Imagine losing:

  • Your customer database
  • Your accounts and invoices
  • Your email history
  • Every company file or document

    • Even a few hours of downtime can cost thousands in lost revenue. For some businesses, it’s the difference between survival and closure.

    What You Can Do Right Now

  • Check your backups. When was the last time you tested a full restore?
  • Add an offsite or cloud backup if you don’t already have one.
  • Consider a full disaster recovery plan, not just file backup.

    • Next Steps

    If you’re not 100% confident you could restore your systems in the event of a major failure, it’s time to review your backup strategy.

    At abtec, we design disaster recovery and SaaS backup solutions that ensure you’ll never face a “Toy Story 2” moment.

    📞 Want a quick backup health check? Contact us for a free assessment and find out if your current backups are truly protecting you.

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