Which disaster recovery site type is the least expensive and does not have any equipment in place?

The correct answer is the cold site. A cold site is a disaster recovery location that is equipped with basic facilities such as power and cooling but does not have any computing equipment in place, such as servers or networking devices. This makes it the least expensive option for organizations when planning for disaster recovery because it requires minimal investment in infrastructure compared to other site types.

In a cold site scenario, when a disaster occurs, an organization must invest additional time and resources to procure and set up the necessary equipment before resuming operations. The lack of pre-installed equipment helps keep costs low, but it does mean that recovery can take longer compared to other site types like hot or warm sites which have varying levels of equipment readiness.

This cost-effectiveness makes cold sites an attractive option for organizations with a longer recovery time objective (RTO) and lower budget constraints for disaster recovery planning.