Microsoft 365 eDiscovery vs. Backup

15 Apr 2025

5 min read

Anju George

Article at a glance

Microsoft 365 eDiscovery and cloud backup serve different purposes, and using eDiscovery as a backup solution has significant limitations:

eDiscovery is designed for legal and compliance purposes, preserving data but not offering easy recovery or second copies of data.

eDiscovery is heavily dependent on retention policies and licensing configurations. If data is not under a retention policy or has been deleted outside of policy bounds, it may not be discoverable at all.

In 2024, phishing attacks surged dramatically, with enterprise users clicking on phishing links at nearly triple the rate of the previous year. Notably, Microsoft 365 users were the primary targets of these attacks, highlighting the platform's vulnerability to such threats.

This alarming trend underscores the critical importance of implementing robust backup solutions. Some IT administrators might be tempted to use Microsoft eDiscovery to secure their organizational data. While Microsoft eDiscovery holds help to preserve content indefinitely, it should not be confused with the data protection capabilities of a third-party cloud backup solution.

1. What is Microsoft eDiscovery?

Microsoft eDiscovery is a native discovery tool that helps organizations identify, preserve, and export ESI (Electronically Stored Information) to be presented as evidence in a legal proceeding.

There are two main tiers of Microsoft eDiscovery:

eDiscovery (Standard): Enables basic case management features like placing content on hold and running content searches. It’s included with Microsoft 365 E3 licenses.

eDiscovery (Premium): Offers advanced capabilities such as custodial workflows, analytics (like near-duplicate detection and email threading), and a built-in review set experience. This tier is available with Microsoft 365 E5 or as an add-on license.

With eDiscovery, admins or legal teams can create cases, define search criteria, place data on legal hold to prevent tampering, and export relevant content for external legal counsel. However, it’s important to note that eDiscovery is a reactive tool and not a proactive data protection solution. It is not designed to restore lost data or provide comprehensive recovery options in the event of accidental deletion, ransomware, or user error. To learn more about eDiscovery, click here.

2. What is cloud backup?

Cloud backup is a data protection solution that automatically copies and stores your files, emails, and other digital content from cloud-based applications like Microsoft 365 to a secure, secondary cloud storage location. These backups are maintained independently of your primary application, ensuring that you can restore your data even if it’s permanently deleted, corrupted, or compromised in the original environment.

Unlike native data retention or legal hold tools which are designed for compliance and litigation whereas a cloud backup is built for business continuity and operational recovery. To learn more about what a comprehensive backup solution should provide, click here.

3. Why Microsoft eDiscovery should not be used as a backup solution

Despite the data preservation capabilities, Microsoft eDiscovery is not a backup solution. Missing features like single-click restore, automated backup with snapshots, granular restore features etc., are a few reasons why organizations should not use eDiscovery as an alternative to a backup solution like SysCloud.

Below is a list of reasons why Microsoft eDiscovery should not be used as a backup solution.

In-place preservation- When a file is put on hold using eDiscovery, it is simply preserved in its original location. This means, there is no second copy that gets moved to a different location. On the other hand, data backed up by a third-party backup solution moves to a secure, remote server.
Inaccessible by users- Once a file is placed on hold, it then becomes inaccessible to the owners, collaborators, and administrators. This means, unless the eDiscovery hold is removed, it cannot be worked on or accessed by anyone in the organization.
Impossible to restore- The only way to access any content put on hold would be to manually remove the eDiscovery hold. Once the hold is removed by an administrator, a Delay Hold is placed on the content for another 30 days after which the content can be accessed by the users. This is not a very efficient restore option. A third-party backup solution like SysCloud preserves all critical cloud data and has the backed-up files available for restore at any time. The domain administrator/users can restore any backed-up content at the click of a button.
No granular restore features- While data gets protected when placed on eDiscovery hold, the preserved data cannot be restored to a specific point-in-time. A third-party backup tool like SysCloud allows organizations to restore backed-up data to a specific point in time. Sharing permissions and folder structures also remain intact when data gets restored, even to a different user.

4. Why do you need backup?

While cloud storage is more secure than on-prem, there are several reasons why an organization’s Microsoft 365 data might still be at risk. Below are a few:

Data loss- Content that is not placed on eDiscovery hold can be destructed. While deleted content can be retrieved from trash, it should be done within 93 days. After this, the data is permanently deleted and cannot be retrieved unless there is a backup in place.
Ransomware attacks- While data placed on eDiscovery hold cannot be affected by ransomware, the rest of the cloud data remains at risk. SysCloud’s Backup Data Insights feature monitors OneDrive files for the presence of ransomware before the attacker encrypts them. If already encrypted, SysCloud also identifies safe snapshots of the file to be restored.
Phishing attacks- While Microsoft eDiscovery holds can preserve Exchange online emails, it cannot detect or prevent phishing emails. Some cloud backup tools like SysCloud’ have the capability to inspect all Outlook accounts for phishing emails. Administrators can delete the flagged emails from the backup archives and from the user accounts.
Second copy of data- Backing up business Microsoft data using a third-party backup tool ensures the availability of a second copy of the data for restore at any time. While eDiscovery hold preserves important data, it also leaves it inaccessible until the hold is removed.
eDiscovery is not a comprehensive backup solution- While Microsoft eDiscovery is an efficient tool to identify, collect, export, and preserve cloud content for legal purposes, it is not a comprehensive backup solution. Third-party backup tools like SysCloud are capable of automatically backing up Microsoft data. The tool also provides the capability to export or restore the backed-up content with just a few clicks.
Outages- SaaS outages can leave users locked out of their files for hours, impacting business productivity. Unlike eDiscovery holds, backup tools like SysCloud can help organizations access their files during outages and continue work during the downtime.

Feature	eDiscovery	Backup
Purpose	Legal/compliance	Operational recovery
Restore to original location	❌	✅
Point-in-time recovery	❌	✅
Show more

To read more about why Microsoft 365 data should be backed up, click here.

5. What makes SysCloud the right backup solution for Microsoft 365?

While Microsoft eDiscovery is a powerful tool for legal and compliance-related data retrieval, it is not a replacement for a dedicated backup solution. Relying solely on eDiscovery exposes your organization to risks such as permanent data loss, complex manual processes, and limited recovery options.

A robust cloud backup solution like SysCloud fills these gaps by offering automated, point-in-time backups, effortless restores, and comprehensive protection across Microsoft 365 apps. Whether it's accidental deletion, malicious attacks, or retention misconfigurations, SysCloud ensures your business-critical data remains secure, accessible, and fully recoverable.

Automated backup- SysCloud automatically backs up Microsoft 365 data, up to three times a day.
Multiple Microsoft services covered- SysCloud can back up data stored in Microsoft services like Outlook, OneDrive, SharePoint, Teams, Exchange, People, OneNote, Planner, Stream, and Whiteboard.
License cost optimization- SysCloud automatically excludes deleted/suspended Microsoft users from billing, while retaining their data in the backup archives.
Restore features- SysCloud provides advanced backup & restore options like point-in-time restore, and cross-user restore.

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