Why should a restore-from-snapshot procedure be tested regularly rather than assumed to work?

I would test restores because backup success only proves that a snapshot file was created; it does not prove that the file is usable in the target environment or that the team can restore it correctly under pressure. Restore testing validates the complete recovery path: snapshot integrity, version compatibility, storage capacity, permissions and access to the backup location, collection reconstruction, application compatibility, and the actual recovery time. It also exposes procedural gaps such as missing aliases, overlooked configuration, or incorrect restore priority. Qdrant's current documentation notes that snapshot restores have version-compatibility constraints and that restoring a snapshot temporarily requires additional disk capacity. The common mistake is measuring backup frequency while never measuring restore RTO and recovered-data correctness. I would schedule restore drills and verify both technical integrity and business-level correctness.