{"id":27286,"date":"2018-12-06T00:20:14","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T20:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/?p=27286"},"modified":"2024-01-08T18:49:17","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T14:49:17","slug":"my-retention-settings-for-file-backups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/blog\/my-retention-settings-for-file-backups\/","title":{"rendered":"My Retention Settings for File Backups (your requirements may vary\u2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

I work at MSP360, but I'm also an MSP360 Backup user. Like many of you, I need to protect both my work and my personal files, but I have different needs for each when it comes to what I need to be able to restore. \u00a0What follows are my preferred retention settings for work and personal backups.<\/p>\n

Retention Requirements for Work Files<\/h2>\n

For my work files, which I back up twice a day, I have the following requirements:<\/p>\n

Keep all file versions for 90 days<\/h3>\n

Why: Because I need to be to restore any work files that were changed in the last 3 months even if they were edited every day<\/p>\n

Example: I want to restore a version of document as it existed 45 days ago<\/p>\n

Keep file backups even if they are old<\/h3>\n

Why: I want to make sure I can restore any work files, regardless of how long it has been since they were last backed up<\/p>\n

Example: I need to restore the latest version of the 2016 Detailed Sales Metrics Excel spreadsheet that I backed up 2 years ago<\/p>\n

\n
\n
FREE WHITEPAPER<\/div>\n
Best Way to Back Up Files and How MSP360 Helps<\/div>\n
Ensure that your files are safe and easily recoverable<\/div>\n\"CTA\"<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n
\"WP<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Keep deleted files for 30 days<\/h3>\n

Why: If I delete a file on purpose, by accident, or some malicious process deletes my stuff, I want to make sure I can restore those files from my backups<\/p>\n

Example: I deleted a blog post 20 days ago that I was writing in Microsoft Word, but realized today that the delete was a mistake<\/p>\n

This is how I enforce these business backup requirements in MSP360 Backup & Managed Backup:<\/p>\n

Check \u201cDelete Versions Older Than\u201d and set it to 90 Days from Modification Date. Why: This deletes all file backups older than 90 days.<\/p>\n

Check \u201cAlways Keep the Last Version\u201d. Why: This keeps the latest backup of each file, even if that backup is more than 90 days old.<\/p>\n

Check \u201cDelete Files that have been Deleted Locally\u201d After 30 Days. Why: This keeps deleted files around in backup storage for 30 days before they are permanently removed.<\/p>\n

Uncheck \u201cKeep Number of Versions for Each File\u201d<\/p>\n

Uncheck \u201cDelay Purge for\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Retention<\/p>\n

Retention Requirements for Personal Files<\/h2>\n

For my personal files, which I back up once a day in the evening, I have the following requirements:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a>\"CTA\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Keep only the last 3 versions of each file for up to 90 days<\/h3>\n

Why: Because I need to be able to restore personal files, but I don't care much about keeping a long backup history of changes, nor keeping older versions of backups for long periods.<\/p>\n

Example: I need to restore yesterday\u2019s version of a letter I was writing my estate attorney<\/p>\n

Keep file backups even if they are old<\/h3>\n

Why: I want to make sure I can restore any personal files, regardless of how long it has been since they were last backed up<\/p>\n

Example: I need to restore an old picture of my dad that I backed up 2 years ago and haven\u2019t edited since<\/p>\n

Keep deleted files for 7 days<\/h3>\n

Why: If I delete a file on purpose, by accident, or some malicious process deletes my stuff, I want to make sure I can restore those files from my backups.<\/p>\n

Example: I deleted a picture of George (my dog) accidentally yesterday, but realized that the delete was a mistake<\/p>\n

This is how I enforce these personal backup requirements in MSP360 Backup & Managed Backup:<\/p>\n

Check \u201cDelete Versions Older Than\u201d and set it to 90 Days from Modification Date. Why: This deletes all file backups older than 90 days.<\/p>\n

Check \u201cKeep Number of Versions for Each File\u201d and set to 3. Why: This keeps up to 3 backup versions of each file within that 90-day period.<\/p>\n

Check \u201cAlways Keep the Last Version\u201d. Why: This keeps the latest backup of each file, even if that backup is more than 90 days old.<\/p>\n

Check \u201cDelete Files that have been Deleted Locally\u201d After 7 Days. Why: This keeps deleted files around in backup storage for 7 days before they are permanently removed.<\/p>\n

Uncheck \u201cDelay Purge for\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Uncheck<\/p>\n

Your Requirements May Vary\u2026<\/h2>\n

It goes without saying that your retention requirements probably differ from mine. The good news is the available retention options should provide the needed configurability for you (and your business).<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve referenced a few other blog posts in the \"RECOMMENDED FOR YOU\" section that go into more detail about retention settings and how using Block-Level Backups with your File Backup Plans<\/a> and Incremental Backups used by our Image-Based Backup<\/a> plans affect retention.\u00a0Please review them for more information.\u00a0 We also have new GFS retention options<\/a> coming in the next major release, so stay tuned.<\/p>\n

If you have a retention policy that you're happy with and would like to share, please do so in the comments section below.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I work at MSP360, but I’m also an MSP360 Backup user. Like many of you, I need to protect both my work and my personal files, but I have different needs for each when it comes to what I need to be able to restore. \u00a0What follows are my preferred retention settings for work and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":27485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[883,877],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backup-and-dr-articles","category-blog-articles"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27286"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57336,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27286\/revisions\/57336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.msp360.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}