Recovery calculator · 8 MIN
Test recovery against RTO and RPO
Change the recovery stages and data gap. See why faster restoration does not always mean less data loss.
The situation
A fictional ordering service stops at 10:00. Its latest recoverable data is from 09:40. The business accepts a 60-minute interruption and at most 15 minutes of lost data.
What to do
- Select Original outage. Compare the interruption with RTO and the data gap with RPO.
- Try Faster restoration, then Newer recovery point. Read which objective improves and which input caused that change.
Start with an example
Each example fills the fields below and shows the result. You can then change the values yourself.
Recovery point → interruption
How far back must the data recover?Interruption → useful service
How long does useful service take to return?Exercise result
Compare another example · Edit these values
- Detect
- Decide
- Restore
- Validate
This result applies only to the supplied scenario. It does not establish service availability or actual data integrity. Reconcile missing records and verify the recovered business operation.
Change one assumption at a time
Reduce restoration from 25 to 10 minutes. Notice that the data gap does not change. Then reduce the data gap to 5 minutes and calculate again.
Why is Multi-AZ or another Region insufficient by itself?
A replica can copy an unwanted deletion. AZ failure, Region loss, and data corruption need different tests. Check recoverable data, keys, dependencies, capacity, and decisions for the selected scenario.
TO FINISH
You restore the service faster. Have you also reduced lost data?
Compare your answer with the explanation
No. Faster restoration shortens the interruption from 55 to 40 minutes in this example. The recovery point still leaves 20 minutes of data missing. A newer recovery point reduces that gap to 5 minutes. Recovery time and recoverable data need separate evidence.
Use this at work
In a recovery exercise, record both when the service becomes usable and the time of its latest recovered transaction.
Choose another exercise