I'm currently managing an organization that relies heavily on Microsoft 365, and I've run into a challenge when an employee leaves. There's often a massive amount of data in their OneDrive for Business account—around 1.8TB in some cases! Typically, we share this data with the employee's manager as read-only, but due to Microsoft's recent changes with inactive OneDrive accounts, we need to transfer this data onto our backup servers and delete it from the cloud. I've used CyberDuck for smaller accounts, but that approach won't scale for larger amounts of data. Does anyone have practical solutions for this situation?
4 Answers
Consider reaching out to Microsoft directly. They offer a service where they can send you an SSD preloaded with your data, which could be a lifesaver for large amounts like 1.8TB!
I've typically converted leaving accounts to shared mailboxes, which keeps the OneDrive data intact and allows backups indefinitely via Datto SaaS. Has there been any update that would make this method less effective?
That seems to apply only to mailbox data. You could still assign the OneDrive to the manager so they can access it.
If the user has a manager assigned, you can set up OneDrive to automatically grant access to the manager after the user’s account is disabled and the license removed. This would help with managing data access after an employee leaves.
I’m already doing that, but I need the data available offline for easier access.
You should really look into a more efficient backup solution. There are plenty of options like Veeam's Office 365 backup, or you might want to check out Synology’s Active Backup for Office 365. They can streamline the process a lot better than manual methods.
Yes, Microsoft announced that soon they'll charge for OneDrive data that's held beyond a grace period, which starts this year. So, if you leave it for too long, you might face a backlog bill for storage licenses.