Littlegarth School streamlines backups and boosts disaster recovery confidence with Redstor

Littlegarth School eliminated the complexity of managing multiple backup systems by switching to Redstor’s unified platform.

Backup reliability and restore speed dramatically improved, giving the school total confidence in its disaster recovery.

By moving to Redstor’s cloud-first solution, Littlegarth avoided a costly hardware refresh while improving cyber resilience.

The challenge

Littlegarth School previously used a combination of backup solutions to protect its onsite servers and Microsoft 365 environment. While this setup met compliance requirements and provided a level of protection, it wasn’t optimised for the school’s evolving needs — particularly as it looked to modernise its infrastructure and move more services to the cloud.

“As our reliance on digital systems grew, we began to notice limitations,” said Dan Fountain, Littlegarth’s IT Manager. “Restores could be slow, and verifying what was backed up wasn’t always straightforward. We needed a solution that could keep pace with our environment and give us greater confidence in our disaster recovery.”

The school also faced increasing costs and complexity. Managing multiple vendors meant more time spent on support and renewals, and the ageing hardware supporting onsite backups was becoming harder to maintain. It was clear that a more streamlined, cloud-first approach would better support Littlegarth’s long-term goals.

The solution: Simplicity, reliability, and confidence

When it came time to upgrade, Littlegarth initially considered replacing its backup server. However, the costs were steep and the idea of investing in more onsite infrastructure didn’t feel like the right move.

That’s when trusted IT partner, Converge, introduced Redstor.

“Converge was the only supplier that offered something different; something cost effective, but also highly reliable”, said Dan. “I could completely dispense with the usual ‘bare metal’ approach and rely on cloud backup and restoration. Converge have been brilliant throughout… Meeting Redstor’s team at BETT  helped seal the deal. What stood out wasn’t just the cost-effectiveness — it was how intuitive and well-designed the platform felt”.

A smooth switch and instant results

Migrating to Redstor was quick and painless. Littlegarth was guided through the setup and shown how to perform restores:

“I was amazed at its simplicity – it just worked. Simple and straightforward, but complex enough to give us the feeling of reliability and trust in the data backup/restoration process. Clearly a lot of thought has gone into the backup/restoration flow, and it shows. I love how resilient the system is, and it immediately gave me confidence”.

Dan knew he’d made the right decision when a teacher phoned asking him to restore a pupil’s work soon after making the switch:

“I logged straight onto Redstor and carried out the restoration within a couple of minutes! Such an improvement and proves that the system was absolutely the right choice for us”.

Redstor now handles all the school’s backups, from servers to Microsoft 365. Switching to Redstor has also removed Littlegarth’s need for a backup server.

Confidence, control, and real results

Since switching to Redstor, Littlegarth has seen a complete turnaround in backup performance and disaster recovery readiness.

No more failed restores: Redstor consistently delivers fast, reliable recoveries when staff need them.

Unified platform: Managing all backups in one place saves significant time and removes complexity.

Improved governance: The IT Manager can now confidently assure leadership that all data is protected.

Future-proofed infrastructure: Cloud-based recovery eliminates the need for onsite backup servers or manual processes.

Dan’s advice to other schools still relying on hardware is to update their backup strategy. He said: “Honestly, think outside of the ‘bare metal’ box! I wouldn’t’ve given it a second thought had it not been for the conversations with both Converge and Redstor directly about how reliable the system is, and being able to see it first-hand”.