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8 min read

OneDrive Backup: A Guide for MSPs and IT Professionals

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8 min read

OneDrive Backup: A Guide for MSPs and IT Professionals

Introduction

Are you reading this to safeguard your OneDrive, for compliance reasons, or because you’ve had an incident? This article highlights six key factors to consider when selecting a OneDrive backup solution.

This guide has two key goals. First, it aims to help IT professionals and Managed Service Providers (MSPs) make an informed choice when selecting a dedicated backup solution for OneDrive. Second, it provides strategies for explaining to clients and stakeholders the value and necessity of backing up OneDrive data. Explaining this importance to clients can be challenging, and MSP360 is here to support IT professionals and MSPs in finding the right arguments and examples.

Why Back Up OneDrive: Threats and Risks

For any organization, ensuring business continuity relies on protecting data against various potential threats. While OneDrive offers convenience and accessibility, it does not fully safeguard against data loss scenarios that could disrupt operations. Backing up OneDrive data is essential to prevent costly interruptions and to maintain compliance with regulatory standards. Below are the main risks and challenges that underscore the need for a dedicated OneDrive backup strategy:

  • Accidental Deletion and Unclear UX: Risk of accidental deletions, especially due to OneDrive’s unclear UX, where users might inadvertently delete cloud files thinking they’re removing only local copies.
  • Ransomware and Malware Threats: The danger of malicious attacks that can encrypt or delete files, compromising both local and cloud storage.
  • Data Corruption Because of App Defects: Data corruption from syncing issues, software bugs, or third-party app errors that inadvertently alter or delete files. Just recently, a bug in Microsoft Word caused it to delete some DOCX files after saving them.
  • Insider Threats: Potential risk from users intentionally or accidentally deleting or altering files, especially during transitions or offboarding.
    Further reading How Zero Trust Can Help MSPs Reduce Security Threats
  • Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: Although not direct data threats, failing to meet data retention and security regulations can lead to significant business risks, including fines and legal action.

How Proper OneDrive Backup Solutions Work

When it comes to protecting your OneDrive data, there are only two reliable options: develop a custom backup solution on your own or adopt a ready-made product. At MSP360, we’ve spent thousands of hours over the course of many years refining our backup solutions, and we’re ready to share our experience and expertise with you.

When evaluating a OneDrive backup solution, there are critical features that ensure effective data protection and recovery, along with maintainability and cost-effectiveness. Let’s review each of these features and see how they are implemented in MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365.

1. Regular and Fully Automated Backups

Of course, we need the backups to be regular and fully automated. IT professionals must only spend minimal time on configuring the system once, adding new users, and resolving incidents, should they happen. In contrast, any system that requires IT professionals to run scripts or review backup state on a regular basis, is prone to be time-consuming and cost-ineffective.

MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365 can be set up and running within minutes. To add a new account to back up, the administrator only needs to enable it in the Service Dashboard. Additionally, the administrator can set up the user auto-enabling feature, which automatically adds new accounts to the backup schedule. Account data will be backed up at least twice a day automatically, with no manual intervention required from the administrator.

2. Flexible Retention Policies and Immutable Storage

Unlike OneDrive’s default limits for file revisions and recycle bin, an advanced backup solution should have flexible retention policies. This extended retention capability provides long-term access to older file versions and deleted files, which is crucial for compliance and data recovery months and even years after changes occur.

To counteract ransomware attacks and unauthorized deletions, a top-tier solution includes immutable storage. This feature ensures that backed-up data cannot be modified or deleted, providing a “last line of defense” in case of a security incident.

MSP360 Managed Backup allows to configure retention policies with flexible options. It also supports multiple immutable storage options. Combined, these two features allow for setting up ransomware-proofed backups.

3. Granular Recovery Capabilities

A robust solution should offer flexible recovery options, allowing users to restore anything from a single file to an entire OneDrive account. This level of granularity is essential for handling specific recovery scenarios without creating unnecessary data duplication or delays. To cover the full range of restoration needs within an organization, this flexibility should include:

  • The option to restore data to the original or a different account, as needed.
  • The ability to restore files and folders to a specified previous version.

MSP365 Managed Backup has all these recovery options and even more. Users can view file contents in the Dashboard, recover files to OneDrive, or download them directly to their workstations. This flexibility allows them to restore exactly what they need, whenever they need it, and to their destination of choice.

4. Independent Infrastructure

A proper backup solution should operate independently of OneDrive and the organization’s infrastructure. This includes running on separate servers, using a unique network connection to OneDrive, and relying on distinct storage locations. This independence prevents any internal disruptions or security breaches from impacting the backup schedule or stored data. It also eliminates the need for IT engineers to monitor and maintain the backup service and its connection to OneDrive.

For instance, MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365 has a Service Dashboard maintained by MSP360. This dashboard connects directly to OneDrive and storage providers, freeing customers from managing their own dashboards.

5. Advanced Security and Access Control

A reliable enterprise-scale backup solution must have high-level security features, including encryption, access controls, and multi-factor authentication. It should also provide flexible access permissions to ensure that only verified personnel can read, modify, or delete backups.

MSP360 Managed Backup uses encryption to transfer and store backup data. Service Dashboard access is protected by multi-factor authentication and SSO options. There are flexible settings for data access and restoration, for example, allowing or forbidding domain administrators to read the backed up file contents and restore files.

Further reading Two-Factor Authentication with MSP360 Mobile App for iOS and Android

6. Scalability and Observability

The OneDrive backup solution made for MSPs and businesses should easily scale to accommodate growing data and user counts without significant reconfiguration. It should have observability tools, such as centralized dashboards, automated alerts, and detailed reports, to allow IT teams to monitor the backup status and quickly address any issues across large organizations or multiple clients.

The Service Dashboard of MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365 is designed to accommodate a growing number of users and organisations. User accounts and their data are organized by domains (tenants), and administrators can use the reports and audit logs to quickly discover and address any problems.

Overview of MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365

Now that we’ve discussed the key aspects of an effective OneDrive backup solution, let’s revisit how MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365 addresses these challenges:

  1. Regular and Fully Automated Backups.
    MSP360 Managed Backup is easy to set up and fully automated. New accounts are automatically added to the backup schedule, and data is backed up at least twice a day, without requiring manual intervention.
  2. Flexible Retention Policies and Object Lock.
    MSP360 allows for customizable retention policies, keeping older versions and deleted files. Object Lock (Immutability) protects backups from ransomware and unauthorized deletions, ensuring data is secure.
  3. Granular Recovery Capabilities.
    The solution offers flexible recovery, allowing users to restore specific files or entire accounts, either to the original or a different account, and to any earlier version.
  4. Independent Infrastructure.
    MSP360’s Managed Backup operates independently of OneDrive and your internal systems, ensuring no disruptions affect backup schedules or data, with the Service Dashboard fully managed by MSP360.
  5. Advanced Security and Access Control.
    Data is encrypted and protected by multi-factor authentication. Access controls allow administrators to set permissions for who can read, modify, or delete backup data, ensuring only authorized personnel can make changes.
  6. Scalability and Observability.
    MSP360 scales easily as your organization grows, with detailed audit logs, automated alerts, and centralized dashboards that provide full visibility into backup status across large organizations.

Conclusion

Backing up OneDrive data is not just an option but a crucial step in ensuring business continuity and safeguarding valuable data. While OneDrive offers many benefits, it lacks the comprehensive data protection that organizations need to protect against accidental deletions, ransomware, data corruption, and compliance risks. A dedicated backup solution fills these gaps by providing secure, reliable, and flexible data recovery options that are essential for uninterrupted operations and regulatory compliance.

If you’re looking for secure data protection for Microsoft 365 with centralized management and support for all core Microsoft 365 components, consider MSP360 Managed Backup. Once you sign up, you get a 15-day free trial with full functionality and immediate access to the control panel. Use your own cloud storage or take advantage of 1 TB of free trial storage from MSP360 for 30 days.

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4 min read

Five Common Misconceptions About OneDrive Data Security

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4 min read

Five Common Misconceptions About OneDrive Data Security

Introduction

In a recent article, we’ve discussed how to reliably back up OneDrive and ensure data security. However, many people and companies rely on various other solutions, assuming they provide adequate protection. Before selecting the right solution, it’s important to understand why these approaches often fail.

In this article, we’ll explore several common methods used for OneDrive data security that seem effective but ultimately don’t provide the protection they promise. By reviewing these methods, you—whether you’re a Managed Service Provider or IT engineer—will be better equipped to convince your clients to choose a reliable, comprehensive backup solution for OneDrive.

1. Assuming Cloud Storage Equals Backup

There’s a common misconception that storing files in the cloud inherently provides backup protection. Users may believe that because their data is in OneDrive, it’s immune to loss. However, cloud storage services primarily focus on accessibility and collaboration, not comprehensive backup.

Cloud services are as prone to data loss, as desktop workstations, they just have different sources of threats. Collaborators can change or delete files. An employee can remove their files—accidentally or intentionally. The whole company can lose access to the cloud service because the administrator account was compromised. In all these cases, being in the cloud doesn’t make the data safe.

2. Syncing OneDrive to Local Folders Without Proper Backup

Some users sync OneDrive files to local folders or an extra computer, assuming this provides a backup. However, synchronization mirrors changes across both locations, meaning deletions or corruptions in OneDrive are replicated locally.

Moreover, there’s no guarantee that each folder in OneDrive gets synced to the users’ desktops. On a large company scale, it’s hard to ensure that all workstations have the same sync settings.

3. Relying Solely on OneDrive’s Built-in Features

Many users assume that OneDrive’s native features, such as file versioning and the recycle bin, are sufficient for backup purposes. However, these features have limitations in retention periods and may not protect against all data loss scenarios.

File recovery does not replace OneDrive backup

4. Copying Files to External Drives

Some users manually copy files from OneDrive to external hard drives, believing this method ensures data safety. This approach is labor-intensive and prone to human error, leading to inconsistent backups and potential data loss. It’s hardly possible to observe and maintain this type of backup on a company scale, even if it’s automated with some scripts running on user workstations. Finally, recovering from such copies will take lots of effort in the case of data loss.

Let’s admit that having such copies is much better than having nothing at all, but at the same time, it’s so much worse than a proper automated backup.

File copy on external drive is not a reliable OneDrive backup

5. Using Desktop Backup Software For OneDrive Backups

Desktop backup software is very effective in ensuring the safety of files stored on a workstation. However, with OneDrive, files and folders that seem to be stored on the computer can, in fact, only exist in the cloud. These are called “On-demand files” and effectively they’re just links to files in the cloud. Besides that, as mentioned above, not every OneDrive folder will be synced on the desktop. Finally, users can use OneDrive in the browser without local file copies. Of course, only a discreet OneDrive backup solution can guarantee that each file and folder is backed up.

Desktop backup software might not backup OneDrive properly

Conclusion

Now that we have seen multiple unreliable solutions, let’s remind ourselves how a reliable OneDrive backup solution works:

  1. Making regular backups automatically.
  2. Securing data with immutable backups and having flexible retention policies.
  3. Offering granular capabilities, which exceed the built-in OneDrive file versioning.
  4. Working on independent infrastructure and connecting to OneDrive directly.
  5. Having advanced security and access control features.
  6. Being scalable and observable, as a proper IT management tool should be.

MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365 meets all of these requirements. Once you sign up, you get a 15-day free trial with full functionality and immediate access to the control panel. Use your own cloud storage or take advantage of 1 TB of free trial storage from MSP360 for 30 days.

Dedicated OneDrive backup solution is the only reliable option
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3 min read

Set up MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace

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3 min read

Set up MSP360 Managed Backup for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace

With MSP360 Managed Backup, you can back up and recover emails, files, and other services under Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace accounts. This guide will help you prepare to back up your data: purchase licenses, set up storage destinations, and configure your MSP360 account.
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