The Restore Path Is the Most Neglected Part of Backup Design

The restore path is where backup architectures fail — not the backup job, not the retention policy, not the storage tier. This is not an operations failure. It is a design omission. Most architectures are designed to write data — not to get it back. The Backup Job Is Not the Goal Most backup architectures are designed around the protection plane — backup jobs complete, retention windows are enforced, replication targets are confirmed. Dashboards go green. SLA reports are generated. The architect