Backup SharePoint for Office 365 - Retention Policy Issues

SharePoint Online, as part of Office 365, is an awesome cloud-based alternative to deploying and maintaining on-prem infrastructure. Companies can offset the cost of additional hardware, electricity, licensing, and support, and simply use Office 365. This is just one of the reasons why Office 365 is so popular among businesses large and small. Businesses will store important company communications and plans on this platform. SharePoint Online is a great choice for mobile workers, as it allows access internal sites, documents, and other information from anywhere. You can work at the office, at home, or from a mobile device.But how can you save this treasure trove of information from human error? Accidental file deletion has happened to nearly all of us. Below we discuss Sharepoint recovery options and some retention policy issues that sysadmins need to be aware of.

First and Second Stage Recycle Bin

Sharepoint relies on a first and second stage recycle bin, for when you have misplaced or deleted some files.

• You can find deleted files in the Recycle Bin (first stage);
• If you have emptied the Recycle Bin, the files are saved in the Site Collection Recycle Bin (second stage). They will be there for a period of 90 days;
• File are saved for this period, regardless of whether the file is in the Recycle Bin or the Site Collection Recycle Bin.

Version ControlVersioning in SharePoint Online is on by default in SharePoint libraries, and off by default in SharePoint lists. If you have existing libraries on your OneDrive for Business site or on your team site that do not have versioning enabled, you can turn versioning on for them at any time. SharePoint will save a recent version of a file when it is changed, but beware the storage implications: configuring to save many versions of a file will take up more space. SharePoint Online saves a maximum of 500 versions, for the Office 365 Business plans and Enterprise 1. You'll need to upgrade if you need to save more than that.Archiving:SharePoint Online also has archiving capabilities, so you'll be able to archive 100GB worth of files for their business plans. Archiving capabilities are extended if you decide to upgrade to their Enterprise plans.

SharePoint File Recovery

If you need a restore for a SharePoint Online file and for some reason you can't restore it via the interface, you can submit a service request to Microsoft support. Microsoft makes backups daily, but if you lost a file you need to be quick to log the support request up to 14 days after the incident occurs. If your service request comes more than 14 days after the deletion incident, it will be hard to recover your file.

Cloud Backup for Office 365

It makes sense that when you're in a business setting you won't have time for email exchanges with Microsoft support. Lost SharePoint files have to be restored quickly and without much pain. Solutions like Cloud Backup for Office 365 from StorageCraft can help. The software is designed to backup SharePoint, OneDrive and Exchange Online to a secure cloud location. Data is readily available to be restored at any time, no matter what the incident. So if you're looking for a fail-safe backup software for your SharePoint data, be sure to try out Cloud Backup!