<b>Restoring onto the same server proves nothing. Restore to a stranger's box or stop calling it a test.</b>

<b>Restoring onto the same server proves nothing. Restore to a stranger's box or stop calling it a test.</b>
When you 'test' a restore back onto the live machine, you're borrowing its existing config, packages, paths, and permissions — all the things a real disaster takes away.
The only honest test is a bare, clean box you've never touched, with only the backup and your runbook.
That's where you discover the missing dependency, the hardcoded path, the cert that was never in the archive.
If your restore only works on the machine that already worked, you haven't tested anything. Change my mind.