[Update] This post was updated on April 26, 2019

• OneDrive.exe- Now you can access all your files across on-premises and the cloud with the new OneDrive sync client. SharePoint Server 2019 takes advantage of the latest investments in OneDrive sync to allow for more rich scenarios and reliable sync experiences. SharePoint 2019 leverages the newer OneDrive.exe synch client which provides a fast.
• Businesses who purchase SharePoint as a stand-alone, on-premise option can also purchase OneDrive for document storage and sharing, although all of those features are available in SharePoint.

SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business are one of the most common places to store company data. Procedures, various templates, documents in creation, runbooks – those are only a few examples of what kind of documents reside in SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business. Those documents are often labeled as business-critical, which means that ensuring they are not accidentally (or purposefully) deleted is a big deal. That is where the issue of backup comes in. Read on if you want to know more about how to back up SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business.

OneDrive for Business Work Folders Data storage location SharePoint Online (O365 Cloud) or On-premise SharePoint 2013 On-premise Windows file server Note: We are doing private testing to enable sync on SMB shares User experience User access data stored in OneDrive for Business folder. Fig.: OneDrive for Business as offered by Microsoft starting July 2014. But it's not only about storage. Users also have available almost all the features of a SharePoint MySite - without the costs and the administrative complexity of SharePoint Online. Microsoft OneDrive for Business features compared to OneDrive for private usage. The instructions listed in this column are based on using SharePoint Online and the OneDrive for Business 2016 client. So with that said, setting up synchronization is usually really easy to do.

Why is backup needed?

Office 365, together with SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business, changes the way data is stored. High availability and excellent security of Microsoft’s Cloud might make you think that backup is a thing of the past. The truth is, for all companies which value their data, backup is still a must-have.

The article Why back up Office 365 mailboxes? shares some insight into why backup is needed. Although it is mostly about mailbox data, it applies to SharePoint and OneDrive for Business just as well.

When deciding if your company needs data backup, there are two questions which need answering:

• In the age of strict data protection regulations, can you afford not to have a rock-solid backup?
• Can you entrust all of your data entirely to a third party?

The native option

22 April 2019 Microsoft announced a new SharePoint feature – Files restore for SharePoint. Apart from that, there are two other options – retention policy and litigation hold. They allow you to preserve and secure essential documents against deletion.

Retention policy allows to either retain or automatically delete certain items. It can be applied on a global level – (for example for the whole Exchange Online, SharePoint Online) or for chosen sites. A retention policy creates Preservation Hold Libraries, which hold deleted content for the specified amount of time.

The litigation hold is a part of the native Office 365 eDiscovery tool. Its primary purpose is to hold specific content in case of litigation. Because it prevents items from being deleted indefinitely, it is also used as a backup alternative.

For a detailed comparison between a retention policy and a litigation hold, visit Office 365 litigation hold vs. retention policy – what’s the difference.

With the introduction of Files restore for SharePoint, SharePoint gains useful backup and restore capabilities. Site owners gain an option to restore a library to any point in the past 30 days. Although this feature offers granularity on a library level and reliable disaster recovery capabilities, it is not without flaws.

Files restore for SharePoint – limitations

The feature is relatively new, so there is no telling how it will evolve. It allows site owners to restore a whole library to a point in time, as long as this point is in the last 30 days. This recovery feature comes in handy when:

• Documents are mass deleted,
• files get overwritten,
• a lot of data becomes corrupted or infected by malware.

It means that if, say, a disgruntled employee leaves a company and wants to leave a mark by deleting files in bulk, you can ensure data integrity, despite that. However the feature was long awaited by admins and greatly increases SharePoint Online data security, there are a few facts to keep in mind, mentioned in restore a document library:

• To use the feature, you need to be a site owner. During the restore action, visitors will see a notice that recovery is in progress
• The feature requires versioning set up and turned on. Turning off the version history will disable the option to restore items to their previous versions.
• Emptying site collection recycle bin makes restore impossible
• The feature is meant for disaster recovery when a lot of documents are deleted or corrupted at the same time, it cannot be used for recovering single items, or excluding some items from the restore

Already mentioned litigation holds and retention policies can be used for another layer of protection. However, they will not cover each and every angle.

Limitations of retention policies and litigation holds

The native options are trusted to be very reliable and helpful, especially in terms of eDiscovery. However, they are not perfect for backup purposes. Here is why:

• A litigation hold is not cut out to restore backed up content.
• Litigation holds and retention policies greatly increase the size of an Office 365 tenant. In case of an indefinite global retention policy, there is no way to delete contents granularly.
• Both native alternatives to backup store the content in the same physical location. This is against good backup practices.
• They are dependent on Microsoft services. Not only does it create a potential unavailability risk, but also Security and Compliance Center is one of the most rapidly changing services in an Office 365 tenant. Whenever there is a change, there is also a risk.
• Preservation Hold libraries (a place which stores the deleted SharePoint content) are only visible to site collection admins.
• Litigation hold’s main purpose is to make content discoverable in case of litigation. Incorrect use of the hold may make all content discoverable, creating additional risks.
• Don’t forget you will need at least an E3 subscription for hold/retention capabilities.

The solution

Onedrive For Business Sharepoint Online

Fortunately, there is a simple solution which allows you to back up SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business, as well as all mailbox data in Exchange Online. This complete Office 365 backup solution is CodeTwo Backup for Office 365.

CodeTwo Backup for Office 365 is a tool which allows you to back up and quickly restore SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business and Exchange Online data. This software lets you create a continuous incremental backup of your data to a local storage or an Azure-located VM. In case of unexpected data damage, data loss, or unavailability, you can access all backed up content at all times. Granularly restore the data to its original location or even to a different tenant.

Sharepoint And Onedrive For Business

It is highly recommended if you value data confidentiality and security.

How to back up SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business?

Here is a short preview of how to back up and restore SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business data:

1. First, download Backup for Office 365 (it includes a 30-day free trial version).
2. Next, on the Jobs tab, create a new SharePoint backup job.
   
3. It will start an easy-to-use wizard. You can decide what to back up, when a backup job should start and how often it should run. For a step-by-step presentation of how to configure a backup job, take a look at this User’s manual article.
   
4. The best part is that your data can be accessed and restored at any time. You can restore whole site collections, libraries or even single items to their original destination or, if you need, to another tenant. To learn more about restoring SharePoint data from backup, refer to this User’s manual article.
   

CodeTwo Backup for Office 365 offers an easy and reliable way to back up and restore SharePoint, OneDrive for Business and Exchange Online data. What is more, thanks to the ability to restore data to a different tenant, the software can be used as a SharePoint migration tool. To learn more about this solution, take a look at this website. You can also watch the video below on how it is important to back up SharePoint Online data.

Onedrive Sharepoint On Premise

If you want to learn more about Office 365 backup, check out the following articles:

Onedrive For Business Sync Sharepoint

Quick summary:

• OneDrive is essentially an online folder system for file storage, but SharePoint includes many other features such as collaboration, CMS, and dashboards.
• Office 365 now includes SharePoint features in its cloud platform, but you can also purchase SharePoint by itself as an on-premise solution.

The Microsoft software-verse is always growing, and with that growth you’ll find a lot of overlap between tools. Pinpointing the differences between SharePoint vs. OneDrive is difficult, because the tools have so much in common. Nevertheless, they aren’t the same.

When you compare OneDrive vs. SharePoint, you’ll notice that they approach collaboration, file sharing, and project management in different ways. These tools are only 2 choices in a crowded project management software market full of specialized tools for marketing, construction, software development, and many other industries and tools. If you’d like free, customized recommendations now, visit our Product Selection Tool or click on the image below to get started.

OneDrive vs. SharePoint: a difference of definitions

OneDrive is an online document/file storage platform. It’s typically used by individuals and business teams who need a central location to store and access files. OneDrive’s versioning and sharing features make it easy to work together, so it’s more than an online filing cabinet. Microsoft distinguishes between personal and business versions of the tool; for the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the business version.

Onedrive For Business Mac Sharepoint On Premise 2017

SharePoint is a collaboration tool for businesses that need multiple individuals and teams to work on documents and products at the same time. Over the last couple of years, Microsoft released updates to their Office 365 product that have absorbed SharePoint into the Office 365 cloud platform, so for the purposes of this post, we’ll talk specifically about SharePoint as an on-premise solution. If we discuss hybrid or cloud solutions, we’ll call those Office 365. The cloud collaboration tool, Office 365, includes both SharePoint features and the OneDrive storage platform, making those available on any device from the cloud.

Confused yet?

On-premise vs. Cloud

Why buy a standalone solution like SharePoint when you could get all the same features with Office 365? The answer really has to do with the preferences of your IT department. Some developers prefer the security and control that comes with locally installed software. When you deploy SharePoint on your company’s servers, the company owns the look and feel of the software and controls when updates roll out. On the other hand, the company maintains responsibility for any security breaches and purchasing version updates.

ALSO READ:6 SharePoint Alternatives to Put on Your Shortlist

Businesses who purchase SharePoint as a stand-alone, on-premise option can also purchase OneDrive for document storage and sharing, although all of those features are available in SharePoint.

Encryption and Compliance

Businesses concerned with document safety, auditing, or regulatory compliance often find that SharePoint’s granular version control and user access settings help them control the security of their internal and customer data. While both Office 365 and OneDrive encrypt to keep documents safe from prying eyes, only SharePoint can offer the added security of a standalone server.

Office 365 (including all OneDrive platforms) offers granular access controls so administrators can assign permissions across the platform. The entire Microsoft cloud and hybrid platform supports TLS and SHA-2 security protocols, and no longer support SSL security. Microsoft encrypts all of your data upon transfer to and from their servers, as well as stores it on the Microsoft servers in encrypted form.

Document and Resource Management

OneDrive (for Business) now contains all of the original SharePoint document offerings, including workflows, auditing, templates, and version control. What it does not include are your marketing resources, such as website and social media connections. The business owns the account, and each user is assigned a personal account under the business’s account where individual documents can be produced and stored before they are shared to the wider company audience.

Many companies use SharePoint for organization-wide document and file collaboration. Both Office 365 and the on-premise SharePoint offerings provide collaborative workflows and granular permissions to help you move content from idea to publication without skipping steps. Your marketing teams will appreciate SharePoint’s white label features that let you set up your intranet to match your branding. Office 365 does not include these same branding features.

Website, Apps, and CMS

Many companies use SharePoint’s engine to build and maintain their company website, internal documentation, and even web apps. The CMS component lets you publish your documents directly to your company website or make them available for access and download by customers or employees. Many companies also use SharePoint’s internal analytics to build custom apps for employee or external use. You can build your company’s customer-facing website, help documentation, FAQ pages, or your employee portal right from the SharePoint interface using the documents your team shares.

OneDrive doesn’t offer the ability to publish your content to the web. While you can email links to documents, you cannot publish those documents directly to a web page from the OneDrive platform. You can make documents discoverable to your team, but you’ll need Office 365 or another CMS/website platform to publish your work publicly.

Workflows, Dashboards, Calendars, and Extras

OneDrive gives different members of your team access to documents for storage and sharing and tracks versions, but it’s essentially an online folder system and does not include many of the extras available in SharePoint and the larger Office 365 cloud suite.

SharePoint gives your team a collaborative workspace with dashboards, calendars, tasks, notifications, and updates. The SharePoint platform keeps these located in a central portal associated with company sites. You can set up a SharePoint site for each of your teams to access, with dashboards that give team and company notifications. You can also set up a corporate portal where searchable company-wide libraries and notifications live. Assign each employee a security level to allow access.

Looking for a project management tool that integrates with either SharePoint or OneDrive? Our Technology Advisors can give you a list of apps in under 5 minutes. Just click on the image below or give us a call at 877.822.9526.

Choosing The Best Option

The best software option for any company is the one that everyone can get behind. If you have faith in the security of the cloud and you’d like the added benefit of having Microsoft handle your software updates, you may find your solution in Office 365, which offers both OneDrive and SharePoint capabilities from the cloud.

On the other hand, many companies still find comfort in the control of an on-premise solution. SharePoint offers that branding and UI control that Office365 doesn’t offer, without diminishing the power of its features.

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Still can’t decide between SharePoint vs. OneDrive? Contact one of our unbiased Technology Advisors for a free software recommendation based on your needs.

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