Gregory's Server@steffen @thegibson Without the ability to log into the box restoring the backup was impossible. I don't recall now if we yanked the drive, mounted it and manually repaired /etc/passwd or did an in-place OS install and then restore a backup or what. 25+ years ago :D
@steffen @thegibson although I do recall we had backups on tape because I remember having to drag the scsi tape drive out of storage from time to time