--- title: "Backups: What Microsoft Does Not Do For You | StartCloud" description: "Module 8 of our free Microsoft 365 Security Essentials pathway: does Microsoft 365 back up your data? What you actually get (93 day recycle bins, 14 day email retention, 30 day account windows), when it runs out, and what a real backup looks like." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": [ "LocalBusiness", "ProfessionalService" ], "@id": "https://startcloud.au/#business", "name": "StartCloud", "legalName": "Start Technologies Pty Ltd", "alternateName": "StartCloud Australia", "identifier": { "@type": "PropertyValue", "propertyID": "ABN", "value": "17 676 121 449" }, "slogan": "Go Beyond", "description": "StartCloud is Perth's cybersecurity-first AI MSP: managed IT, Essential Eight security, Microsoft 365 and cloud, networking, and practical AI for Australian businesses with 5 to 50 staff.", "url": "https://startcloud.au", "logo": "https://startcloud.au/og-image.png", "image": "https://startcloud.au/og-image.png", "telephone": "+61862850001", "email": "web@startcloud.com.au", "priceRange": "$$", "currenciesAccepted": "AUD", "paymentAccepted": "Invoice", "foundingDate": "2023", "contactPoint": { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+61862850001", "contactType": "customer service", "areaServed": "AU", "availableLanguage": "English" }, "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Ground Floor West, 6 Gibberd Road", "addressLocality": "Balcatta", "addressRegion": "WA", "postalCode": "6021", "addressCountry": "AU" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": -31.8648813, "longitude": 115.8095638 }, "openingHoursSpecification": [ { "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification", "dayOfWeek": [ "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday" ], "opens": "07:00", "closes": "16:30", "description": "General support hours" }, { "@type": "OpeningHoursSpecification", "dayOfWeek": [ "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday" ], "opens": "00:00", "closes": "23:59", "description": "Security Operations Centre (SOC) with 24/7/365 threat monitoring" } ], "areaServed": [ { "@type": "City", "name": "Perth" }, { "@type": "State", "name": "Western Australia" }, { "@type": "Country", "name": "Australia" } ], "serviceArea": { "@type": "GeoCircle", "geoMidpoint": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": -31.8648813, "longitude": 115.8095638 }, "geoRadius": "50000" }, "knowsAbout": [ "Cybersecurity", "Managed Security Services", "Essential Eight", "Microsoft 365", "Microsoft Azure", "IT Support", "Network Security", "Disaster Recovery", "Compliance Management", "Microsoft Copilot", "AI Readiness", "AI Governance", "AI Agent Development" ], "hasOfferCatalog": { "@type": "OfferCatalog", "name": "IT and Cybersecurity Services", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Cybersecurity Services", "url": "https://startcloud.au/cybersecurity" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Managed IT Services and Support", "url": "https://startcloud.au/technology" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Microsoft 365 and Cloud Solutions", "url": "https://startcloud.au/cloud" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Managed Networking", "url": "https://startcloud.au/networking" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "AI and Automation", "url": "https://startcloud.au/ai" } } ] }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/startcloudau", "https://www.facebook.com/startcloudaus/", "https://www.cloudtango.net/providers/12375/startcloud", "https://clutch.co/profile/startcloud", "https://abr.business.gov.au/ABN/View?abn=17676121449", "https://www.yellowpages.com.au/balcatta-wa/bpp/startcloud-581735301", "https://www.truelocal.com.au/balcatta-wa/tlp/startcloud-581735301", "https://www.google.com/maps/place/StartCloud/@-31.8648767,115.8069889,739m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x2a32a5b5d9e864b5:0x9f02690968f0e50c!8m2!3d-31.8648813!4d115.8095638!16s%2Fg%2F11vzbgtytj" ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "LearningResource", "name": "Backups: What Microsoft Does Not Do For You", "description": "Module 8 of the Microsoft 365 Security Essentials pathway: the shared responsibility model, Microsoft's real retention windows, the four ways data disappears, and what a genuine backup looks like.", "educationalLevel": "Intermediate", "learningResourceType": "Module", "isPartOf": { "@type": "Course", "name": "Microsoft 365 Security Essentials", "url": "https://startcloud.au/learn/microsoft-365-security-essentials", "provider": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "StartCloud", "url": "https://startcloud.au" } }, "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "StartCloud", "url": "https://startcloud.au" }, "datePublished": "2026-08-12", "dateModified": "2026-08-12", "url": "https://startcloud.au/learn/microsoft-365-backups-and-retention" } ] --- [![StartCloud](/assets/StartCloud-Logo-ByZE1kzP.svg "StartCloud: Cybersecurity-First Managed IT Services Perth")](/ "StartCloud | Managed IT Services Perth") - Cybersecurity - AI Solutions - Cloud - Technology - Networking - Explore [Contact Us](/contact "Contact StartCloud, Perth IT Support") Open menu Module 8 of StartCloud's Microsoft 365 Security Essentials learning pathway, in five short units with a knowledge check: the shared responsibility model and why 'it is in the cloud so it is backed up' is wrong, the real Microsoft retention windows (93 days for SharePoint and OneDrive, 14 days by default for email, 30 days for a deleted account), the four ways data actually disappears (deletion, departures, ransomware syncing encrypted files, sync errors), and what separates a genuine third-party backup from a recycle bin. Course contents [Pathway overview](/learn/microsoft-365-security-essentials) Pathway Microsoft 365 Security Essentials 0 of 5 units done in this module 1. [Turn on MFA ](/learn/microsoft-365-multi-factor-authentication) 2. [Protect admin accounts ](/learn/protect-admin-accounts-microsoft-365) 3. [Preset security policies ](/learn/microsoft-365-preset-security-policies) 4. [Stop email spoofing ](/learn/stop-email-spoofing-spf-dkim-dmarc) 5. [Sharing controls ](/learn/sharepoint-onedrive-sharing-controls) 6. [Conditional Access, properly ](/learn/conditional-access-done-properly) 7. [Data protection with Purview ](/learn/data-protection-microsoft-purview) 8. Backups and retention 1. The sentence that costs people money 2 min 2. What Microsoft actually gives you 3 min 3. The four ways data really disappears 2 min 4. What a real backup looks like 2 min 5. Knowledge check 2 min 9. [Starters and leavers ](/learn/microsoft-365-starters-and-leavers) 10. [Devices with Intune ](/learn/managing-devices-with-intune) # Backups: What Microsoft Does Not Do For You Module 8 · Resilience Unit 1 of 5 · about 2 min ## The sentence that costs people money There is one sentence that turns up in almost every conversation about lost data, and it is always said with complete confidence: **"it is in the cloud, so it is backed up."** It sounds obviously true. Microsoft runs enormous data centres, they replicate everything, the service has not fallen over in years. All of that is real. It is just answering a different question to the one you actually care about. Microsoft's job Keeping the service running. Their hardware, their data centres, their uptime. If a disk dies in a Microsoft building, that is their problem and you will never hear about it. This is the part they are genuinely excellent at. Your job The data inside it. If someone in your business deletes the wrong folder, or an account gets taken over and wipes a mailbox, that is not a Microsoft outage. The service worked perfectly. It did exactly what it was told, by someone with permission to tell it. This split has a name: the shared responsibility model Every cloud provider works this way, and Microsoft publishes it openly. They are responsible for the infrastructure. You are responsible for your data, your accounts, and your access controls. Nobody hides it. It is just that almost nobody reads it before they need it. Here is the thing worth sitting with for a second. Microsoft does give you some safety nets, and they are genuinely useful. Recycle bins, retention windows, a grace period on deleted accounts. Plenty of businesses have been saved by them. The trouble is that people assume those safety nets are a backup, and **they are not the same thing**. A backup is a separate copy you control, kept for as long as you decide, restorable on demand. What Microsoft gives you is a set of short timers. Next unit, we look at exactly how long those timers run, because the numbers surprise people. Mark done and continue ![StartCloud](/assets/StartCloud-Logo-ByZE1kzP.svg "StartCloud: Cybersecurity-First Managed IT Services Perth") Cybersecurity-led IT for Australian businesses. We manage security, compliance, and modern IT environments, so risk is governed, not guessed. 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