A first step would be restore a backup, then check md5s of your executables\data, after all you are testing the backups not system functionality. A second step

A first step would be restore a backup, then check md5s of your executables\data, after all you are testing the backups not system functionality. A second step would be to run automated component level tests, or data integrity tests on the restore to verify that hashes aren't lying to you. The primary problem you are protecting against is that backups are broken, or corrupted. A broken, as in failure to write, backup won't restore. A corrupted backup probably wouldn't restore either, even if it did it would fail the MD5 checks. No one is expecting you to destroy and repair Prod on a weekly basis.