Enterprise Vault can be configured to retain archived items until the vault store partition in which they are archived has been backed up. During the time between archiving and removal, the original items are treated as safety copies by Enterprise Vault. When the vault store partition has been backed up, Enterprise Vault can remove the safety copies.

The removal of safety copies takes place when the storage service is started, or when backup mode is cleared from the vault store. Enterprise Vault also creates shortcuts and placeholders at this time if it is configured to do so.