Backup reliability

Everything saved on disk could be somehow broken or unreadable. That's why SQL Server provides you with two features to improve backup reliability. The first option is to use backup with the CHECKSUM option. This option of backup is very simple to use and causes computation of checksum value on backup completion. This value is saved in the backup and, when we prepare for the restore process, we can test backup readability using the CHECKSUM option:

BACKUP DATABASE <database name> TO DISK = '<path to file>'
WITH
CHECKSUM

Another option is to distribute backups across more devices. It's called mirrored backup. Mirrored backup is an enterprise feature of SQL Server and, when it's used, two identical backups are written synchronously to two backup devices. When backup mirroring is used, the syntax looks as follows:

BACKUP DATABASE <database name> TO
DISK = '<path to file>'
MIRROR TO DISK = '<path to file>'
WITH <additional options like CHECKSUM>