How to Backup Microsoft 365 Exchange email, SharePoint and OneDrive in 2023
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Microsoft Disclaimer: Did you know that Microsoft does not backup your M365 data (previously Office 365) hosted in their cloud?
This means your emails, SharePoint sites and OneDrive are all vulnerable to accidental or malicious deletion, corruption, and an open target for cybercriminals to encrypt and ransom your files.
Your responsibility is to safeguard and protect the data you hold in their cloud environment.
Our solution is a native cloud2cloud backup that will backup and restore all your M365 data via the Microsoft cloud. Because our Microsoft 365 backup is purely C2C, you can backup and restore from your office, data centre, etc.
Why Backup Office M365 Data?
BOBcloud’s M365 backup provides robust built-in data protection and recovery features because you never know what can happen to your data. Here are some key reasons why backing up your Microsoft 365 data is necessary:
- Accidental Deletion: Users can easily delete important files and emails. Microsoft does not have a retention policy, making it impossible to recover historical data from M365. That is why it is important to have a backup of your Office data using a cloud backup service.
- Data Retention Policy: Microsoft only keeps data for 30 days by default. After that, it is permanently deleted. If you need to recover your data prior to 30-days, then you must have your own independent backup.
- Ransomware Protection: Ransomware attacks are becoming more common, and M365 email isn’t safe. If your data is encrypted or compromised, a backup means you can restore your information without paying a ransom.
- Human Errors and Malicious Activities: It’s not just accidental deletion you have to worry about. Human errors like overwriting data and intentional malicious activities can also put your M365 data at risk. A cloud backup gives you an extra layer of protection against these kinds of incidents.
- Legal & Compliance: You will probably need to keep the data longer to comply with the laws and regulations. Losing access to certain data after some time when it is requested by law, you may face non-compliance cases and hefty fines.
- Service outages and disruptions: Even Microsoft isn’t immune to service outages and disruptions. If your Microsoft 365 service goes down, you won’t be able to access your data until it’s restored.
- Data loss with unlimited retention: Microsoft 365’s native recovery tools are limited. You can set your file retention period from one day to infinity, ensuring your data is always retrievable.
- Security threats: Microsoft 365 is a target for hackers and other malicious actors. If your account is compromised, your data could be stolen, corrupted, or deleted. A backup can help you recover from a security breach quickly and easily.
It’s important to note that Microsoft does not provide automatic backup services for the data stored within Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365).
This means that relying solely on Microsoft to protect your data can put you at risk of permanent data loss in case of accidental deletion, data corruption, cyberattacks, or service outages.
This article will teach us how to backup Office 365 data and its importance.
BOBcloud's Microsoft 365 backup features
Back Up Your Critical Microsoft 365 Data
Back up email, SharePoint, and OneDrive for Business and Teams. Build a restore strategy with low-impact RTO and RPO.
Protect your hybrid Microsoft 365 environment.
Simplify complex backup sets containing on-premise Exchange and SharePoint environments.
Fufill your compliance objectives.
Track Microsoft 365 backups and storage with real-time monitoring and reporting.
Backup As A Service.
Let our managed service providers handle your Microsoft 365 data protection with BaaS.
Scalable from 1 to 1,000 M365 accounts.
BOBcloud Backup for Microsoft 365 is built to protect even the largest enterprises.
Fast Restores.
Find and restore M365 documents quickly and first time.
How Does Office 365 Work?
Office 365 operates on a cloud-based infrastructure, where your data is stored across multiple data centres. Microsoft employs redundancy and replication techniques to ensure high availability and fault tolerance.
It’s important to note that Microsoft’s infrastructure is primarily designed for service availability rather than comprehensive data backup.
Microsoft takes multiple snapshots of your data, known as point-in-time backups or recoverable items. These backups are retained for a specific period, generally 30 days, depending on the data type.
These backups are primarily intended for short-term recovery scenarios, such as recovering an accidentally deleted email or file. They are not a reliable long-term backup solution.
How to Backup M365 Data with BOBcloud
Why Doesn't Microsoft Backup M365 Data?
While Microsoft invests heavily in infrastructure and security, they do not provide comprehensive data backup for individual customers due to several reasons:
- Shared Responsibility Model: Microsoft follows a shared responsibility model, where they are responsible for the infrastructure and service availability, while customers are responsible for data protection and backup. This model allows customers to control their data and choose the level of backup and recovery that suits their specific requirements.
- Scalability and Cost Considerations: Microsoft caters to millions of Microsoft 365 users worldwide. Implementing full-scale backups for each customer’s data would require significant resources and infrastructure, which could increase costs and affect the scalability and performance of the service.
- Data Privacy and Compliance: Microsoft ensures customer data privacy and compliance through various mechanisms. However, performing comprehensive backups may raise concerns about data sovereignty, compliance with regional regulations, and potential data exposure risks.
- Microsoft’s decision not to provide comprehensive data backup for individual Microsoft 365 customers stems from the shared responsibility model, scalability and cost considerations, and data privacy and compliance concerns. By understanding these reasons, users can recognise the need to take ownership of their data protection and backup strategies. Implementing reliable third-party backup solutions designed specifically for Office 365 ensures that organisations have greater control over their data, mitigating the risks of data loss and ensuring business continuity.
How to Restore Office 365 Data Backup from Microsoft
Restoring Office 365 data from Microsoft’s native backups can be complex, depending on the specific scenario. Here are the general steps involved:
- What data do you need to restore?: Mailboxes, emails, calendar items, etc.
- Use the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre: Log in to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center with appropriate administrative privileges.
- Using Exchange, SharePoint, or OneDrive Admin Centers: Depending on the type of data you want to restore, access the respective admin centres.
- Search for the data you want to restore: Look for the specific items you want to restore within the recoverable items section. Microsoft retains deleted items for a limited time, usually between 14 and 30 days.
- Restore your data: Select the items you wish to restore and initiate the restoration process. Microsoft provides options to restore items to their original locations or alternate locations.
- Verify you can access the Restored Data: Once the restoration process is complete, verify that the restored data is intact and accessible to ensure a successful recovery. It is worth noting that Microsoft’s native recovery options have limitations, including limited retention periods, complexity in navigating the admin centres, and potentially incomplete or inconsistent backups. To overcome these limitations and enhance data recovery capabilities, many organisations opt for third-party backup solutions specifically designed for Microsoft 365.
Where can I backup my M365 data from?
Backing up your Microsoft 365 data is crucial for safeguarding your organisation’s valuable information. Microsoft’s native backup capabilities are limited, and relying solely on them may expose you to unnecessary risks.
By implementing a comprehensive backup strategy, you can ensure long-term retention, granular recovery, protection against ransomware attacks, and faster recovery times.
Embracing a reliable backup solution tailored to Office 365 will empower you with greater control, peace of mind, and the ability to swiftly restore your data in the face of data loss incidents or other disruptions.
Conclusion
Backing up your Microsoft 365 data is crucial for safeguarding your organisation’s valuable information. Microsoft’s native backup capabilities are limited, and relying solely on them may expose you to unnecessary risks.
By implementing a comprehensive backup strategy, you can ensure long-term retention, granular recovery, protection against ransomware attacks, and faster recovery times.
Embracing a reliable backup solution tailored to Office 365 will empower you with greater control, peace of mind, and the ability to swiftly restore your data in the face of data loss incidents or other disruptions.
Regardless of which Microsoft data centre your Microsoft 365 data is stored, you can run a backup using our software. It is just as easy to backup Microsoft Office 365 data in the US as it is in Europe.