--- title: UniFi Drive can now back up your Microsoft 365 description: Microsoft will not restore what ransomware or a deleted account takes with it. UniFi Drive backs up 365 data to a UNAS in your office. date: 2026-07-06 updated: 2026-08-25 category: unifi tags: [UniFi, UNAS, Microsoft 365, backup, release notes] url: "https://relaypoint.ca/blog/unifi-drive-microsoft-365-backup" author: RelayPoint Technologies --- Most small businesses we work with assume that because their files live in Microsoft 365, they are backed up. They are not, at least not in the way most people mean. Microsoft keeps the service running and gives you a recycle bin with a retention window, but if ransomware encrypts a synced OneDrive folder, a departing employee empties their account, or someone notices a deletion three months too late, Microsoft's answer is often a shrug. Backing up your own cloud data is your job, and Microsoft says as much in its service agreement. Ubiquiti now has a credible answer for this, and it runs on hardware many of our clients already have racked in the network closet. UniFi Drive, the storage application on Ubiquiti's UNAS devices, gained Microsoft 365 cloud backup in the 4.0 release this past February. A Drive update rolling out this week (4.4.9, released August 24) added encryption for those Microsoft 365 backups along with reliability improvements. That second part matters: it is the signal that this feature is being actively hardened rather than left as a demo. ## What it actually does UniFi Drive's Microsoft 365 backup pulls your cloud data down to the UNAS on a schedule and keeps multiple versions of it. Ubiquiti pitches it as an "off-cloud" copy: protection against ransomware and accidental deletion, with the ability to restore to a specific point in time. The headline coverage so far is OneDrive files for work and school accounts, so treat it as file backup first and check Ubiquiti's current documentation before assuming it covers everything in your tenant. The same Drive 4 release also brought two features worth knowing about even if you never touch Microsoft 365. iPhone and iPad photo backup now works through the free UniFi Endpoint app, copying photos and videos to your own hardware with no subscription. That is a genuine alternative to paying monthly for iCloud storage, with the caveat that Apple's background restrictions mean you occasionally have to open the app to keep backups current. And a new Health Monitor panel surfaces hard-drive SMART data and early failure warnings, which is exactly the kind of boring visibility a storage box should have had from day one. ## What it runs on UniFi Drive only runs on Ubiquiti's own NAS hardware. The entry point is the UNAS 2: a compact two-bay unit at around $310 CAD through us, which takes standard 3.5-inch drives (up to 48 TB raw), connects over 2.5 GbE, and can be powered entirely by PoE++. In a UniFi shop that means it can hang off the same switch that runs your cameras and access points, provided the [PoE budget](/blog/poe-budgets-explained) has room for it. For businesses with more data or a need for proper drive redundancy, the UNAS Pro is a seven-bay rackmount unit that fits neatly above the gateway and switches we already install. One caveat we point out to every client: a UNAS cannot store [UniFi Protect camera footage](/services/protect/security-camera-installation). Protect recordings still need an NVR or a Cloud Gateway with Protect storage. The UNAS is for files and backups, full stop. ## What to watch out for The Microsoft 365 backup requires a work or school account in a Microsoft Entra ID tenant, and setting it up means granting the right permissions on the Microsoft side. That step is where most do-it-yourself attempts stall. It is Entra administration, not UniFi administration, and getting the permission scopes right takes some care. The 4.4.9 update needs UniFi OS 5.1.6 or newer on the UNAS, and like most Ubiquiti releases it is rolling out gradually, so do not be surprised if your console has not offered it yet. Our standing advice from [our earlier post on update policy](/blog/how-we-handle-unifi-updates) applies here too: let point releases settle for a week or two on non-critical systems before applying them, and never update storage firmware without a current backup of the backup. Which brings up the last point. A UNAS in the same building as your computers protects you from deletion and ransomware, not from fire, flood or theft. It is one leg of a proper backup strategy, not the whole thing. Drive supports Rsync jobs (also improved in this update), which makes it practical to replicate the important data to a second box at another site, something we set up between owners' homes and shops more often than you would think. ## What we recommend If your business runs on Microsoft 365 and your backup plan is "Microsoft handles it," this is the cheapest correction available: a box around $310 CAD, two drives, and an afternoon of Entra configuration gets you versioned, on-premises copies of your OneDrive data with no monthly fee. If you already have a UNAS for file storage, turn the feature on now and turn on the new backup encryption while you are in there. Either way, test a restore once a quarter. A backup you have never restored from is a hope, not a plan. We install and manage UNAS units, UniFi networks and the Microsoft 365 side of this setup for homes and businesses across Norfolk, Oxford, Brant and Haldimand counties, Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville, and on a [UniFi Care plan](/services/support/unifi-managed-services) the updates and restore tests are handled for you. If you want a straight answer on whether your data is actually backed up, [get in touch](/contact) and we will take a look. ## Sources - [Introducing UniFi Drive 4.0 (Ubiquiti blog)](https://blog.ui.com/article/introducing-unifi-drive-4-0) - [Ubiquiti release notes, August 2026 (Releasebot)](https://releasebot.io/updates/ubiquiti) - [Ubiquiti Releases UniFi Drive 4 (Dong Knows Tech)](https://dongknows.com/ubiquiti-unifi-drive-4-now-available/) - [UniFi Drive just got a big upgrade (How-To Geek)](https://www.howtogeek.com/unifi-drive-feature-just-got-a-big-upgrade/) - [Ubiquiti UNAS 2 review (StorageReview)](https://www.storagereview.com/review/ubiquiti-unifi-unas-2-review-compact-poe-nas-for-home-and-small-office)