WTF? Backups? Who the hell runs systems like this without offline backups? It’s sysadmin 101. First thing, before you load production data is to make sure your backup regimen is up and running.
Hardware always fails, that’s why you keep good backups. We have backup tapes in two offsite locations plus one onsite. When you have mission critical systems, the cost of losing the operating system is nothing compared to the years of information on the system!