When someone in your office says a file is “in the cloud,” they could mean the drive where it lives, the sync that keeps every copy matched, or a backup kept somewhere else. Cloud storage and cloud backup sound alike, but they protect your files in very different ways, and mixing them up is how a job folder goes missing.
Storage, sync and backup do three different jobs
Working storage is the current file in OneDrive, SharePoint or Google Drive: the estimate, invoice or job photo your office opens and shares from there. Sync keeps that current file the same on the computer and in the cloud, so the copy on the office desktop matches the one online. A backup is something else. CISA describes a backup as a secure copy of your critical data, kept separately from the systems you work in. Some people call that separate copy an online backup.
A backup also isn’t automatically a copy of the whole computer. A Windows recovery drive can put a PC back to its original state, even after the hard drive is replaced, but it doesn’t include your personal files. For those, Microsoft points to a different method, such as Windows Backup or File History.
Put simply, storage is where your office works, sync keeps every copy matched, and the backup is the copy you go back to when the working file turns out to be wrong.
Three jobs that all get called “the cloud”
Working storage
- What it’s for
- The current estimate, invoice or job photo, opened and shared from the cloud
- What can go wrong
- The current file gets deleted, overwritten or corrupted
- What it isn’t
- A separate copy
Sync
- What it’s for
- Keeping the computer and the cloud on the same current file
- What can go wrong
- A deletion or a bad save copies to the other side
- What it isn’t
- A full image of the computer, or a copy of a file that never uploaded
Backup
- What it’s for
- An earlier copy kept apart from the working file
- What can go wrong
- It only covers the accounts and folders on its list
- What it isn’t
- Version history, or a full image of the computer
| Job | What it’s for | What can go wrong | What it isn’t |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working storage | The current estimate, invoice or job photo, opened and shared from the cloud | The current file gets deleted, overwritten or corrupted | A separate copy |
| Sync | Keeping the computer and the cloud on the same current file | A deletion or a bad save copies to the other side | A full image of the computer, or a copy of a file that never uploaded |
| Backup | An earlier copy kept apart from the working file | It only covers the accounts and folders on its list | Version history, or a full image of the computer |
Sync copies the mistakes too
Sync is very good at one thing: keeping every copy current. That includes the changes nobody meant to make.
When you add, change or delete a file in your OneDrive folder, the same thing happens on the OneDrive website, and changes made on the website come back to the folder. Google works along the same lines. When Drive for desktop mirrors or streams your files, anything you put in the trash goes in the trash everywhere.
So if someone on your field crew deletes a job folder from the truck laptop, sync doesn’t save it. It passes the deletion along. A bad save travels the same way, just as fast, and lands on every computer that shares the folder.
One path works differently. Backing up to Google Photos uploads only photos and videos, and changes, including deletions, don’t sync between the computer and Google Photos. But that’s a photo app, not your Drive folder, so check the folder your office actually uses.
A deleted estimate, an overwritten invoice and a missing photo
These three everyday problems show where storage ends and backup begins.
What storage covers, and what backup is for
Deleted estimate
- What storage and sync do
- Deleting a synced online-only file removes it from your other devices and the cloud. The recycle bin or trash holds it until it’s emptied.
- What the separate backup is for
- A copy kept apart from the drive, still there after the recycle bin or trash is emptied, if that library is on the backup list
- What to check
- Which account owned the estimate, that versioning is on, and that the shared drive is on the backup list
Overwritten invoice
- What storage and sync do
- The bad save syncs to the cloud. Version history keeps an older copy.
- What the separate backup is for
- The copy you open once version history no longer lists the old invoice
- What to check
- That an older version is still listed, and that the backup includes that account
Job photo that never uploaded
- What storage and sync do
- It isn’t in the shared folder, so sync never had it.
- What the separate backup is for
- Nothing. The folder backup never got the photo either.
- What to check
- Open the shared job folder on a second device
| Problem | What storage and sync do | What the separate backup is for | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deleted estimate | Deleting a synced online-only file removes it from your other devices and the cloud. The recycle bin or trash holds it until it’s emptied. | A copy kept apart from the drive, still there after the recycle bin or trash is emptied, if that library is on the backup list | Which account owned the estimate, that versioning is on, and that the shared drive is on the backup list |
| Overwritten invoice | The bad save syncs to the cloud. Version history keeps an older copy. | The copy you open once version history no longer lists the old invoice | That an older version is still listed, and that the backup includes that account |
| Job photo that never uploaded | It isn’t in the shared folder, so sync never had it. | Nothing. The folder backup never got the photo either. | Open the shared job folder on a second device |
A deleted estimate
Deleting a synced online-only file (one kept in the cloud rather than downloaded to the computer) in OneDrive or SharePoint removes it from your other devices and from the cloud. If the file had been downloaded to the computer, it also lands in that computer’s recycle bin.
A personal OneDrive account keeps deleted files in the recycle bin for up to 30 days. OneDrive for work or school keeps them for 93 days, unless your admin changed the setting. SharePoint in Microsoft 365 counts those 93 days from when the file was first deleted. If someone empties the site’s recycle bin early, the file moves to the site collection recycle bin (the second-stage bin) for whatever time is left, and emptying that one deletes it for good.
Once a file is permanently deleted from the OneDrive recycle bin, you can’t restore it. You can also only restore files that were in your own OneDrive, not files someone else shared with you, so find out whose OneDrive or which SharePoint library held the estimate.
Google Drive’s trash keeps a file for 30 days, and emptying the trash deletes it right away. If the file is already gone from the trash, a Workspace admin can try to recover it for up to 25 days after it leaves the trash. That tool can’t bring back a file that’s still sitting in the trash, and the restore stops if there isn’t enough storage for everything. So if an estimate has left the trash, ask your Workspace admin before you write it off.
The recycle bin and trash only help with files that were deleted. For a file that’s still there but wrong, you need version history.
An overwritten invoice
A bad save in the OneDrive folder is saved on the website too, so the wrong invoice can replace the right one everywhere that folder syncs. OneDrive version history can restore an older copy of a file stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. Microsoft’s help page says version history is kept for 30 days, and warns that on a work or school account, your admin may have turned versioning off. On work and school accounts, the SharePoint versioning settings your admin picks also apply to OneDrive.
Versions can also vanish for good. An admin’s trimming job permanently deletes older versions and skips the recycle bin, and Microsoft says they can’t be recovered unless the data was already backed up with Microsoft 365 Backup or a similar backup service.
Microsoft 365 Backup is a separate product, and Microsoft’s own FAQ explains why versions aren’t enough. They let one person roll back a file or a site, but they don’t scale well when an admin has to recover from a large ransomware attack (one that locks up files across the company), and they can run out at the version limit your admin sets. Before you rely on version history, ask your Microsoft 365 admin what this library keeps.
Google Drive has limits of its own. For a PDF, image or other non-Google file, an older version can be deleted after 30 days or once there are 100 newer versions, unless you mark it Keep forever. Google Docs, Sheets and Slides follow a different rule, so open the invoice and look at which versions are still listed.
A job photo that never uploaded
If a job photo never made it into the OneDrive or Drive folder, it isn’t in your storage, and it isn’t in any backup of that storage either. Sync only acts on files that are already in the folder, and a personal photo app is a separate path.
To check, open the shared job folder on another device. If the photo isn’t there, it was never stored, and nothing backed it up from that folder. A picture still sitting on a crew member’s phone needs its own handoff, which we cover in how to back up job photos to the cloud.
Three questions to ask before you trust a shared drive
Before you count on the shared drive, find out:
- Is version history turned on for the folders where your estimates and invoices live?
- Who can empty the recycle bin or trash?
- Which accounts and shared locations are on a separate backup?
Those answers tell you more about your real protection than any product label or plan name. Get them from whoever runs your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace account, and write them down. Descriptions of these tools vary a lot from site to site, so go by the help page for the product your office actually has.
Encryption protects privacy, not files
Encryption comes up in almost every conversation about cloud backup vs cloud storage. It keeps your files private, but it doesn’t bring one back. OneDrive and SharePoint encrypt data at rest (while it’s stored) with BitLocker, which is Windows disk encryption, plus per-file encryption, using AES, a standard encryption method, with 256-bit keys.
Files you upload to Google Drive, and files you create in Docs, Sheets and Slides, are encrypted in transit and at rest with AES 256-bit encryption. Google Workspace also offers client-side encryption, an extra setting your admin has to turn on, and you still have to verify your identity to use it. That isn’t a backup either.
For the bigger picture of what to protect and who can restore it, see our guide to data backup for contractors. How far back your versions should reach is a decision of its own, covered in backup retention, and the answer isn’t whatever day count a product page happens to list.
What Ghostworx covers
If Ghostworx looks after your IT, the business data listed in your coverage plan is backed up separately from Microsoft and Google, then checked and test-restored. That’s usually business mailboxes (with calendars and contacts), OneDrive or Google Drive files for covered accounts, and the SharePoint sites or Google shared drives listed at onboarding.
Job photos uploaded to a covered folder from a phone are backed up. Photos left only in a phone’s camera roll aren’t, and neither are files stored only on a computer. Backup for computer files, servers and network storage (NAS) is quoted separately.
Restores you ask for are included on Managed IT, and $200 an hour on Essential Care, approved by you first. Your quote states how often backups run and how long versions are kept, so you know how far back a restore can reach. The full list of what’s covered is on our security and backup page.