Datto Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery

Datto BCDR is a purpose-built Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery platform that protects your servers, workstations, and virtual machines through image-based backups with instant local and cloud virtualisation. Immutable, air-gapped, and verified — ensuring your business keeps running regardless of ransomware, hardware failure, or site disaster.

 

< 1 hour

Recovery Time Objective (RTO)

5 min

Recovery Point Objective (RPO)

24/7

Backup Monitoring

7 Years

Cloud Retention

Why Datto BCDR

Four architectural pillars that make Datto BCDR the most trusted business continuity platform

Immutable & Air-Gapped

Backups stored in Datto Cloud are immutable and air-gapped. Ransomware cannot encrypt, delete, or tamper with your recovery points.

Instant
Virtualisation

Boot servers directly from the SIRIS appliance locally, or in the Datto Cloud — business continuity within minutes, not days.

Screenshot Verification

Every backup is verified by a full boot test — not a file check. You know the recovery will work before you need it.


Cloud Disaster Recovery

Geographically redundant Datto Cloud data centres provide full site failover and disaster recovery as a service.

Platform Capabilities

Eight core capabilities of the Datto BCDR platform — click to expand each

Full image-based backups of physical and virtual servers, workstations, and VMs — capturing the entire system, not just files.

  • Agent-based and agentless options for physical and virtual environments.
  • Application-consistent backups for databases and critical applications.
  • Supports Windows Server, Windows workstations, VMware, Hyper-V, and Linux.
  • Incremental forever backup chain — no disruptive full backups after the seed.

Boot any protected server directly from the SIRIS appliance — locally, in minutes, with full network access.

  • Local virtualisation on the SIRIS appliance within minutes of an incident.
  • SIRIS acts as a temporary production server during hardware failure or ransomware.
  • No need to restore data first — boot the backup image directly.
  • Full network connectivity and external access to recovered systems.

Datto BCDR is specifically engineered to defeat ransomware — the last and most critical line of defence.

  • Immutable cloud backups cannot be encrypted or deleted by ransomware.
  • Air-gapped storage architecture — no direct network path from production to backup.
  • Recovery without paying the ransom — proven against all major ransomware families.
  • Rollback capability for ransomware-encrypted files on supported operating systems.

If your site is down, spin up your entire server estate in the Datto Cloud with full VPN and network access.

  • Cloud virtualisation for full site disaster recovery.
  • Datto Cloud is geographically redundant across multiple UK and EU data centres.
  • Pre-configured VPN and network failover for remote workforce access.
  • Spin down and sync back to on-premises once the primary site is restored.

Every backup is automatically booted in an isolated environment and verified — a full boot test, not a file integrity check.

  • Automated screenshot of every backup boot — visual confirmation it works.
  • Alert on any backup that fails to boot — know immediately, not at recovery time.
  • Eliminates the silent failure risk of traditional backup solutions.
  • Verification results visible in the management console and reporting.

Restore to any backup point — recover from minutes before the ransomware hit, not just the last good backup.

  • Recovery points as frequent as every 5 minutes on supported configurations.
  • Granular file-level, folder-level, or full image restore options.
  • Restore individual emails, files, or entire systems — non-destructively.
  • Pre-change snapshots before major IT changes or application updates.

Recovery Time and Recovery Point Objectives backed by SLAs — measurable, contracted, and auditable.

  • RTO typically under 1 hour for critical servers.
  • RPO as low as 5 minutes on supported configurations.
  • SLA-backed recovery commitments in your service agreement.
  • Recovery testing and DR drill reporting for compliance evidence.

Every backup is monitored around the clock — alerts on any missed, failed, or degraded backup immediately.

  • 24x7 backup monitoring with immediate alerts on any failure.
  • Proactively escalate and remediate backup issues before they matter.
  • Monthly backup health reports for governance and compliance.
  • Integration with Datto RMM and Autotask PSA for automated ticketing.

Deployment Models

Three deployment options — the right model depends on your environment, site, and recovery requirements

The flagship on-premises BCDR appliance. Physical SIRIS hardware deployed in your server room provides instant local virtualisation, image-based backups, and cloud replication — the complete business continuity solution.

  • Physical appliance deployed on-site in your server room.
  • Instant local virtualisation of any protected server.
  • Local backup storage plus cloud replication to Datto Cloud.
  • Scalable storage from 1 TB to 80+ TB.
  • Supports physical servers, VMware, Hyper-V, and Linux.
  • Screenshot verification of every backup.

Ideal for: Organisations with on-premises servers that need instant local recovery and full business continuity.

A compact BCDR solution designed for small businesses and branch offices. ALTO provides the same cloud backup, screenshot verification, and cloud virtualisation as SIRIS in a smaller footprint.

  • Compact form factor for small offices and branch sites.
  • Cloud-first backup with local caching.
  • Screenshot verification of every backup.
  • Cloud virtualisation for disaster recovery.
  • Lower entry cost than SIRIS — right-sized for SMBs.
  • Full Datto Cloud protection and retention

Ideal for: Small businesses and branch offices needing enterprise-grade backup and recovery without the enterprise price tag.

Cloud-native backup and disaster recovery with no on-premises appliance. Protected servers replicate directly to the Datto Cloud with full virtualisation and failover capability — pure DRaaS.

  • No on-premises appliance required — direct-to-cloud backup.
  • Full cloud virtualisation and site failover.
  • Screenshot verification of every backup in the cloud.
  • Geographically redundant Datto Cloud data centres.
  • VPN and network failover configuration included.
  • Ideal for cloud-first and fully virtualised environments.

Ideal for: Cloud-first organisations and sites where deploying physical hardware is impractical or unnecessary.

When It Matters

Six scenarios where Datto BCDR is the difference between a minor incident and a major disaster

Ransomware Recovery

Recover your entire server estate from immutable backups without paying the ransom — boot from the SIRIS appliance or spin up in the Datto Cloud within minutes.

Hardware Failure

A failed server does not mean downtime. Boot the affected server directly from the appliance while the hardware is repaired.

Accidental Deletion

Point-in-time recovery means you can restore a deleted file, folder, or entire system from minutes before the deletion.

Site Disaster

If your office or data centre is lost — fire, flood, theft — your entire server estate can be virtualised in the cloud with full remote access.

Pre-Change Snapshots

Take a verified backup before any major IT change, application update, or migration. If something breaks, roll back in minutes.

Compliance Retention

Configurable cloud retention from 30 days to 7 years — meeting HIPAA, SOC 2, GDPR, and financial services regulatory requirements.

Advantages & Considerations

  • Considerations
  • Considerations
  • Immutable, air-gapped cloud storage is ransomware-proof
  • Instant virtualisation enables recovery in minutes
  • Screenshot verification confirms every backup is bootable
  • Agent-based and agentless options for all environments
  • SLA-backed Recovery Time and Recovery Point Objectives
  • Reduces cyber insurance premiums with demonstrable recovery
  • Geographically redundant cloud with UK and EU residency
  • Covers on-premise and cloud-direct deployment models
  • On-premise appliance requires physical deployment
  • Cloud storage costs scale with data volume and retention
  • Initial backup seed can be time-intensive for large environments
  • Recovery testing requires scheduled maintenance windows

Key Technical Points

  • Recovery Time Objective (RTO): typically under 1 hour for critical servers
  • Screenshot verification of every backup — a full boot test, not a file check
  • 24x7 backup monitoring with alert on any missed or failed backup
  • Cloud retention: configurable from 30 days to 7 years
  • HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR compliant data handling
  • Recovery Point Objective (RPO): backups every 5 minutes on supported configurations
  • Supported platforms: Windows Server, VMware, Hyper-V, Linux
  • Geographically redundant cloud across multiple data centres
  • Integration with RMM for unified monitoring and alerting

Frequently Asked Questions

Six scenarios where Datto BCDR is the difference between a minor incident and a major disaster

Traditional backup solutions copy files to a storage device — and that is where the protection ends. This solution is a full business continuity platform: it takes image-based backups of entire systems, verifies every backup by booting it in an isolated environment, stores copies in immutable, air-gapped cloud storage, and enables instant virtualisation — meaning you can boot a failed server directly from the backup appliance within minutes.

A ransomware-encrypted server can typically be virtualised locally — booted directly from the appliance — within 15 to 60 minutes of the incident being confirmed. This provides immediate business continuity while the team prepares a full recovery to clean hardware. Recovery Point Objectives as low as 5 minutes mean minimal or no data loss.

Three architectural features make it ransomware-proof. First, backups stored in the cloud are immutable — they cannot be encrypted, deleted, or modified. Second, the cloud storage is air-gapped — there is no direct network path from your production environment. Third, screenshot verification confirms every backup is bootable, so you always have a known-good recovery point.

After every backup completes, the backup image is automatically booted in an isolated environment, and a screenshot is captured of the login screen. This proves the backup is not just stored — it is bootable. Traditional backup solutions perform a file integrity check, which confirms the file exists but says nothing about whether the server will actually boot when you need it.

Most cloud backup solutions copy files to cloud storage — but they do not provide instant virtualisation, screenshot verification, or immutable storage. If your current backup takes hours or days to restore, cannot be booted directly, and would be lost if ransomware reached the backup storage, then this solution provides materially different protection.

Yes. Most cyber insurers now require evidence of a robust backup and recovery capability as a condition of coverage, and many offer premium discounts. The immutable, air-gapped architecture, SLA-backed RTO and RPO, and screenshot verification all provide the evidence insurers look for.

Physical delivery and configuration typically take 3 to 5 days, with the initial backup seed taking longer depending on data volume. Full operational protection — with verified backups and monitoring active — is usually achieved within one to two weeks of contract signature.

This solution is designed primarily for on-premises servers, workstations, and virtual environments. For cloud-native workloads in AWS and Azure, complementary solutions are available. If your environment is hybrid, this protects the on-premises estate.

Backup frequency is configurable per protected system, with Recovery Point Objectives as low as 5 minutes. Cloud retention is fully configurable, from 30 days up to 7 years, allowing you to meet compliance, regulatory, and legal hold requirements.

You can boot a protected server directly from the appliance — without restoring any data first. When a server fails, you select the most recent verified backup and the appliance boots it as a virtual machine within minutes. Users connect exactly as they would the original — same IP, same applications, same data.

Ready for ransomware-proof business continuity?

Protect your servers with instant recovery, immutable backups, and verified restore points. Request a proposal or speak to our team.

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