Why is the storage total different from my live environment?

Why is the Datto SaaS Protection storage total different from my live Microsoft 365 (M365) or Google Workspace environment?

Environment

  • Datto SaaS Protection
  • Google Workspace
  • Microsoft 365

Answer

The storage totals in Datto SaaS Protection will not match the storage totals of the data in your live environment. This is due to the following reasons:

  • The storage totals in Datto SaaS Protection include the deleted files and archived users that Google Workspace and M365 do not include.

  • Every time a file is edited in Google Workspace and M365, Datto SaaS Protection takes a backup of that file in the next backup run. If multiple changes occur between backups, those changes may be missed, and only the last version will be picked on the backup run.

  • SaaS Protection leverages compression for its stored data, so the compressed amount may be different than the amount shown in Google Workspace and M365.

  • Google does not include photos or videos saved as "high quality" toward their storage totals.

  • Google does not include native files in their storage totals (such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc.).

  • For SharePoint, if versioning is enabled then M365 calculates storage totals with the full size of each version of a file, including files in the recycle bins and files preserved due to retention policies. This may result in M365 storage totals being higher than what you see in SaaS Protection backups, restores, and exports. For more on SharePoint versioning, see this M365 article: Versioning in SharePoint.