Our users rely on the OneDrive recycle bin as recovery, is that enough?

The OneDrive recycle bin is a second chance, not a backup. With ransomware, an ex-employee, a sync conflict, or an admin cleaning up an account, you'll hit limits. Don't lean on it as your only safety net.

Try this first

1. 1Know the two levels: user recycle bin (default 30 days, configurable to 93) and site-collection recycle bin (93 days, not extendable). After that, gone, including for admins.
2. 2When a Microsoft 365 account is deleted, OneDrive disappears after 30 days unless you place a retention or hold first. Set a firm offboarding protocol before pulling anyone off the licence list.
3. 3Test the practice: have someone trash 50 files, empty their recycle bin, and try to recover. Does it work, and how fast.
4. 4For ransomware, OneDrive 'Files Restore' goes back up to 30 days per user. Sounds nice, but it fails when the encryption pattern blows past the version limit or when the attacker emptied the recycle bin first.
5. 5For mass-restore across hundreds of users, the built-in tooling is too slow. Plan a 3rd-party tool such as Veeam M365 or AvePoint, or a PowerShell script via the Graph API.
6. 6Be clear about who owns what: user for their own oops moments, IT for account-deletes and incidents, vendor or script for mass-restore.

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