In today’s digital world, data backup is essential for both individuals and businesses. Losing important data can cause significant harm, both financially and personally. Therefore, it is essential to keep a backup of important data, which can be used to restore it in case of data loss.
Google Vault is a cloud-based data retention and e-discovery service offered by Google. It is designed to help organizations manage, archive, and preserve their data for compliance and legal purposes. Google Vault allows you to retain, archive, and search email messages, chats, and files from Google Workspace (formerly known as G Suite) and other supported applications.
In essence, Google Vault can help you:
Search data: Look through your Google Workspace data to find specific content
Retain data: Keep data as long as you need by preserving it for a set time
Delete data: Remove data when it’s no longer needed by purging it from your Google systems
Vault is included with Google Workspace Business and Enterprise editions, at no additional cost. It can be used for various purposes, including e-discovery, compliance, and legal hold. It allows you to search and export data from Google Workspace applications, such as Gmail, Google Drive, Google Meet, and Google Chat. You can also create retention rules to retain specific data for a specified period. This can be useful for organizations that need to comply with data retention policies or legal requirements.
Can you use Vault as a backup tool?
While you can use Vault to retain and hold data, even Google acknowledges that Google Vault is not a data backup nor an archive tool.
It is primarily designed to manage and preserve data for compliance and legal purposes. While it is possible to use Google Vault to retain and archive data, it is not an ideal solution for data backup.
Here are some reasons why Google Vault is not a suitable solution for data backup:
Limited Storage: Google Vault has limited storage capacity, which is primarily designed for retention purposes. If you need to backup a large amount of data, you may quickly run out of storage space.
Limited backup capabilities: Google Vault is not designed to provide comprehensive backup capabilities. Vault can’t create incremental or differential backups or deduplicate data, meaning that it doesn’t preserve data, saving only the difference in the data that changed since the last full backup. It is primarily designed for archiving and e-discovery purposes, which means that it may not be able to back up all types of data, such as system files, settings, and configurations.
No ransomware protection: Google Vault does not have built in ransomware protection and doesn’t keep a separate copy of your data but only helps manage it within the same Google data system. If a file should ever be corrupted in Google Workspace, or attacked by ransomware, data in Google Vault will also be corrupted with no previous version to retrieve for later use. Some ransomware attacks are designed to get onto your backup and infect it, so that data cannot be restored. Ransomware protection must be built into the backup software.
Limited Restore Capabilities: Google Vault is designed to preserve data. If you need to restore data quickly after a disaster, you may find that Google Vault is not suitable for your needs. Reducing the time to recovery is critical, and it’s important to use a SaaS cloud software solution that enables your company to recover fully, faster.
Why do you need to back up your Google Workspace data?
Backing up your data is considered one of the most crucial ways to ensure your readiness against cloud data loss or ransomware attacks. Unfortunately, Google Vault’s retention functionalities only go partway in having an effective data protection strategy.
Considering the various data loss possibilities in Google systems, having a backup tool for your Google Workspace will be critical.
While Google Vault may not be suitable for data backup purposes, it can still be a valuable tool for managing and preserving data for legal and compliance purposes. It is essential to understand the limitations of Google Vault and to explore other backup solutions that may be better suited to your needs.
There are many data backup solutions available that can provide comprehensive backup capabilities, including system files, settings, and configurations. These solutions can be used to create backups of critical data and restore it quickly in case of a disaster.
How Datto Can Help?
Datto recognizes the need for a comprehensive SaaS cloud backup solution with granular capabilities that can help administrators and users alike to have more control over their data backup and restoration.
Datto Cloud Backup for Google Workspace has automatic backups up to three times per day, so data protection and retention requirements are always met.
It’s protection covers your Gmail, contacts, calendars, drives, and other Google services data and provides the capability to restore, access, and search for data granularly or in bulk with anytime access. Business continuity is achieved with quick and easy data restoration/recovery.
In conclusion, Google Vault is a valuable tool for managing and preserving data for legal and compliance purposes. However, it is not suitable for data backup purposes due to its limited storage, backup, and restore capabilities. If you are looking for a data backup solution, it is essential to explore other options that can provide comprehensive backup capabilities and restore data quickly in case of a disaster. Contact us for advice and guidance on the best backup option for your data protection needs at 416-900-6852 or click here.
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