Office 365 Backup: When you can and when you can't restore deleted files

Not taking the necessary precautions to make sure your files are backed up properly means one little mistake and your files are gone. With the Wind. Like Dinosaurs. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Blockbuster. Any hope I have of playing professional football. But there is a way to protect yourself.

Read on to understand when and why you need protection.

Microsoft does have Office 365 backup capabilities

They use what’s called a shared-responsibility model, which means that they'll help you out when they mess up, but not as much when you do.

They cover:

  • Physical security in their data centres
  • Data storage replication & redundancy
  • Natural disaster which affects Microsoft’s technology
  • Uptime & Privacy Guarantees on their servers

(If you don't understand what any of that means, the good news is, you don't have to. If these things happen, Microsoft sorts it out.)

Read more about Microsoft's Office 365 file retention policy.

They DON'T cover:

  • Dave in Marketing accidentally deleting a critical file. They don’t have a "Dave’s Done It Again" coverage policy. At that point, you’re up Dave Creek without a paddle.

  • If Nick in IT gets fired and decides to sabotage the company on his way out by erasing all your critical files. What are you going to do? Fire him again? You still won’t get your files back.

  • Kate clicks on the “leaked photos of Harry & Meghan on the beach” link in the email she just received and now your entire server is infected with malware? Kate has more chance of being personally invited on a Royal holiday than you do of getting your files back.

Alright, so how do I get my files back from Office365?

Good question, even if it was rude of you to interrupt. I was enjoying writing those scenarios.

Well, the solution as recommended by our own Technical Director Garry, (that's how you know it's good) is third-party backup software.

We don't sell or provide that, so instead we had to pick the one we liked best. And that turned out to be...

It might not be the cheapest backup option available, but it's reliable and comprehensively covers all the options you'd realistically need it to.

If you wanna know anything more about Veeam, Office 365 or you're just desperately lonely or bored, give us a call on 01142823444 or if you're feeling shy, DM us on instagram.