OneDrive is a cloud storage that can be accessed as an individual platform as well as a part of the diverse Office 365 universe. It is available both as personal and business storage, allowing users to save their data efficiently online. Even though Microsoft claims to be one of the most secure cloud storage platforms, you cannot completely rely on it for the security of your crucial files and folders. This is due to several factors, such as risk of accidental deletion, ransomware attacks, or virus intrusion.
It creates the need to backup your important data on a regular basis, but you cannot rely on native OneDrive backup methods for this because of several reasons. Let’s proceed with this article to learn why you can’t trust native solutions and what is the best alternative to backup OneDrive files.
Why should you backup files and folders from OneDrive?
Here are some reasons to secure data from your OneDrive account to your local machine:
- Access files and folders even without an internet connection.
- Safeguard data against issues like sudden attacks of ransomware/malware.
- Accidental data loss due to human errors that can happen suddenly out of nowhere.
- Unexpected and sudden system crashes or power outages can lead you to loose important files.
- Helps with granular recovery of data after a disaster.
What are the areas where native OneDrive backup falls short?
Learning about the shortcomings of the native methods to secure OneDrive data will provide a clear picture of the areas to find a perfect solution:
Limited retention capabilities
With the native solutions, the backup capabilities include limited retention of data. This means that the deleted files from OneDrive are retained within the Recycle Bin only for a limited time period, which lasts up to 93 days. Beyond that, you cannot restore the item once permanently deleted.
Moreover, with the Microsoft backup policies, you can only retain data backup for a maximum of one year, which makes it inefficient for the business’s needs.
Non-compliant to laws and standards
The data backed up using the native OneDrive backup solutions are often not in compliance to industry standards, retention laws, and compliance requirements, such as HIPAA and GDPR.
Limited data recovery
With manual or native methods, it is difficult to perform a comprehensive data recovery during catastrophes or disasters. Such methods allow slower and limited recovery, which is often limited to retention period and version history.
What makes automated methods the best choice to backup OneDrive?
To understand why native OneDrive backup is not enough in 2026, let’s scroll down through the benefits of automated backup methods:
Consistent and updated backups
With automated backup solutions, one of the best advantages you get is the automatic scheduling of backup. These tools eliminate the need for manual intervention and help you avoid the risks of missed or delayed backups. When implementing professional solutions, you will have the updated data backup saved at your premises.
Prevent threats and data loss
Automated solutions allow you to preserve data in an immutable storage medium, which is unalterable even by ransomware attackers. It will help you restore data to a safe location before the risk spreads to an unmanageable extent.
Granular backup processes
Automated OneDrive for Business backup tools help in saving granular backups of data. It means rather than backing up entire OneDrive account every time, you can simply backup the desired files or folders, supporting quick backups. Moreover, you can easily recover data at a granular level, which eventually helps in minimizing business downtime.
Scalable backups
Automated tools are designed to be flexible enough to adjust efficiently to the growing business needs. With these solutions, you can easily handle backups of large datasets without any additional effort or resource.
Conclusion
Choosing the right solution to backup OneDrive files is crucial. Using the automated backup solutions, you can save consistent and secure backups that help you avoid the risk of potential data loss. Use Kernel OneDrive Backup software to backup entire data from your account, including documents, images, videos, zip files, folders, and other data. The tool will help you make sure the data is saved with its unchanged hierarchy and structure.
In addition to backup, organizations planning tenant changes or platform upgrades should also consider a reliable OneDrive migration tool. Kernel OneDrive migration software helps move data securely between OneDrive accounts or tenants while retaining permissions, metadata, and folder structures. Using the right backup and migration tools together ensures complete data safety, continuity, and a smooth transition during organizational changes.
