No, you can jusy restore to a second location…it depends on whether everything was backed up, or just a few test files.

I prefer backing up specific folders rather than “everything”, so it’s easier to test. (I’d just reinstall the OS if that was nuked)

Let’s say I want to do a test restore of all my photos. I just rename that folder to simulate that it’s been accidentally deleted… then I just do a normal restore - and do a bit-by-bit comparison of the two folders and check it all went well.