Recovery objectives worksheet

Compare RPO and RTO targets with a proposed recovery scenario and your own restore-test evidence. Free, account-free arithmetic on this page.

Targets are not test results

RPO (recovery point objective) is your tolerable data-loss window. RTO (recovery time objective) is your tolerable time to restore usable service. Neither proves a backup can be restored.

Inputs stay in memory and are not saved, sent or added to the URL. Printing uses your browser’s print dialog; choose a printer or save as PDF locally.

Unit for all inputs

Changing the unit reinterprets every number. Use nonnegative decimals, up to 6 decimal places and 36,600 fixed days per field. No dates or daylight-saving adjustments. Results display in minutes.

Your objectives

Target RPO

Target RTO

Proposed backup scenario

Backup interval

Additional recovery-point gap

Interval must be greater than zero. Missed backups, asynchronous replication and off-site lag are excluded unless you enter their additional gap here. Add only non-overlapping time beyond the interval; do not count the same lag twice.

Sequential recovery stages

Detection delay

Restore duration

Validation duration

From disruption to detection, then restore, then validation of usable service. Include handoffs and other waiting in the appropriate stage. Parallel work needs its own critical-path analysis.

Restore-test evidence (optional)

Enter results from a real test separately. Leave unknown values blank; zero means a measured zero, not unknown. This worksheet cannot verify your evidence.

Test data-loss window

Test elapsed recovery

Compare equivalent scopes: age of the recovered data at disruption, and elapsed time from disruption to validated usable service.

Worked example: hourly backups, no additional gap; detection 30 minutes, restore 60 minutes, validation 10 minutes.

Scenario comparison

Target RPO: 60 min. Target RTO: 120 min.

Calculated scenario and user-entered test evidence
Scenario	Data-loss window	Elapsed recovery	Against RPO	Against RTO
Proposed (simplified)	60 min	100 min	At target	20 min within target
Restore test (user-entered)	Not entered	Not entered	Not entered	Not entered

Proposed recovery timeline

Detection 30 min + restore 60 min + validation 10 min = 100 min.

Disruption detected30 min elapsed
Restore complete90 min elapsed
Usable service validated100 min elapsed

Backup interval 60 min + additional gap 0 min = 60 min.

This is a planning estimate, not measured backup health, a recovery guarantee or a compliance certification. Test evidence is supplied by you. Displayed values are rounded.

Formulas and assumptions

Simplified potential data-loss window = backup interval + additional recovery-point gap. This assumes regular successful backups with a usable restore point available immediately. Failure just before the next successful backup approaches a full interval of data loss. Detection delay is part of recovery time, not automatically extra lost data.

Elapsed recovery = detection delay + restore duration + validation duration. The example is 30 + 60 + 10 = 100 minutes from disruption to usable service. With a 120-minute RTO, it is 20 minutes within the target.

Missed backups, asynchronous replication and off-site lag are excluded unless entered explicitly as an additional gap. Corruption, incomplete backups, retention limits and unavailable recovery infrastructure can invalidate this estimate. A zero gap does not establish that those risks are absent.

One minute is 60 seconds; one hour is 60 minutes; one fixed day is 1,440 minutes. This tool has no calendar, dates or DST model. A smaller target does not change your backup policy or actual restore capability.

Check the evidence behind the numbers

Keep a dated restore-test record outside this page: service scope, recovered data age, detection, restore and validation times, dependencies and what failed. Re-test after meaningful changes. Printing preserves only this comparison, not proof of a successful restore.

ObserveifyNow offers free, account-free infrastructure reads and local connection management. Native Proxmox Backup Server reads show visible backup snapshots and recent tasks; they do not prove recoverability. Native distribution is still in development.

Explore free infrastructure connections or calculate an uptime budget.