A Microsoft 365 backup that does not sit at Microsoft.
Microsoft's recycle bin is not a backup. After a few weeks, gone really is gone.
Short answer
A Microsoft 365 backup is a daily copy of your mailboxes, OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams on storage outside Microsoft. Microsoft keeps the service running and holds deleted items for a limited time, but after that they cannot be recovered. Jevana sets up the backup, chooses a retention period with you and tests at a fixed moment that restoring works.
What Microsoft keeps itself
| What happens | How long Microsoft keeps it | After that |
|---|---|---|
| Mail deleted from Deleted Items | 14 days by default, adjustable up to 30 | Cannot be recovered |
| File deleted from OneDrive or SharePoint | 93 days in the recycle bin | Gone for good |
| Licence of a departed employee removed | 30 days | Mailbox and OneDrive deleted |
| File overwritten or encrypted | As long as versions exist | Depends on settings |
These are the default periods as Microsoft documents them. Retention policies can extend them, but those are meant for legal retention duties and do not replace a copy outside the environment.
Microsoft says so itself
Microsoft is responsible for the availability of the service. You are responsible for the data. Microsoft itself calls this shared responsibility: theirs is the service, yours is what is in it.
The cases where it matters are everyday ones. A colleague tidies a shared folder and the loss is found four months later. An account is taken over and the mailbox emptied. Ransomware on a laptop encrypts everything that OneDrive then neatly syncs.
How we set it up
- What is in it
- Exchange Online (mail, calendar, contacts), OneDrive, SharePoint sites and Teams, shared mailboxes included.
- How often
- Daily. More often is possible if you want that on record.
- Where
- On storage outside Microsoft, in a data centre in the European Union.
- How long
- A retention period we choose together, for example to match the Dutch tax retention period.
- Restoring
- One email, one folder or a whole mailbox, to the original place or to another user.
- Checking
- We get an alert if a backup fails, and run a restore test at an agreed moment.
When you need it
- A departed employee turns out to be the only one with a big client's correspondence
- The bookkeeper asks for an invoice folder that someone threw away last year
- An insurer or client asks whether there is a backup outside the primary supplier
Questions
Doesn't Microsoft back up Microsoft 365 itself?
Microsoft stores your data in several places to guard against failures in its own data centres, but that is not a backup you can recover anything from. What a user deletes sits in the recycle bin for a limited time and is then gone. Microsoft now offers its own paid backup service, but that also sits within the same environment.
What exactly is included in the backup?
The backup holds all mailboxes with folders, calendars and contacts, every user's OneDrive, all SharePoint sites and the files and messages in Teams. Shared mailboxes and archive mailboxes come along too. New users and sites are added automatically, so no gap appears if someone forgets to register a new colleague.
Where is the backup of our Microsoft 365 kept?
The backup is kept outside Microsoft, in a data centre within the European Union, stored encrypted. We put the location on record in the data processing agreement, so you can include it in your register of processing. The starting point is that a problem at Microsoft or in your own environment cannot reach the backup.
How long do you keep the backup, and how do you restore something?
You choose the retention period; many organisations follow the seven years of the Dutch tax retention period. You request a restore through your contact person: you name the user, what is gone and roughly from when. We restore it to the old place or into a separate folder, so nothing is overwritten.
Is a Microsoft 365 backup required under the GDPR?
The GDPR does not name backups, but it does require that you can restore personal data after an incident. That is in article 32. If you cannot recover anything after a wiped mailbox or a ransomware attack, you do not meet that. A backup outside the primary environment is the usual way to be able to.
What does a Microsoft 365 backup cost?
The cost depends on the number of users and the amount of data, and you pay monthly. You get a fixed price up front. If you already have management with us, the backup is added there as a line. When comparing, also count what one lost mailbox of a director or the finance team would cost in hours.
Goes well with
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Microsoft 365 management
Accounts, licences, security and Microsoft's changes kept up, for a fixed fee.
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Backup and recovery
Backups of servers, workstations and a NAS to separate storage, with a restore test at a fixed moment.
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Backups for small businesses: what do you really need?
The 3-2-1 rule, why Microsoft 365 needs its own backup, and why a backup only counts once you have restored it.
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Microsoft 365 security
Two-step verification, conditional access and Defender: what is in your licence, switched on and checked.
From the knowledge base
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How long must a Dutch company keep its business records?
Seven years for the accounts, four weeks for a job application. The Dutch periods side by side, and what they mean for email and backups.
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What do you do with an account, mailbox and laptop when an employee leaves?
What to sort out when someone leaves: access closed, mail redirected, files handed over, laptop returned and licence cancelled.
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Is OneDrive a backup? The difference between syncing and backing up
Syncing copies your mistakes too. What OneDrive, Google Drive and Dropbox do and do not bring back, and what a real backup does.
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SharePoint or a network drive: where do you keep your company files?
The drive at the office, a NAS or SharePoint. What each does well, where it falls short and when a combination is the sensible choice.
Tell us what you run.
An introduction costs nothing. You talk straight away to one of the two people who will actually do the work.
or email info@jevana.systems