RPO (Recovery point objective) is a term used when defining the requirements for data recovery from backup storage. The RPO is the maximum period of time over which the accumulated data can be lost.
For example, if RPO is 1 hour, then snapshots or backups should be created every 60 minutes. In case of a disaster, the system will be restored from the last backup and less than 60 minutes of data will be lost in any case.
Not only files and data can be backed up, but also OS settings, application states and processes in RAM.
The lower the RPO value, the more expensive the technical and service maintenance of disaster recovery systems are. For this reason, RPO is determined with the break-even factor in mind: losses in case of data loss over a certain period of time should not be more expensive than the cost of disaster recovery system maintenance.