Retention rules

Important  Some of the features described in this section were introduced in version 12.5, which affects only on-premise deployments. These features are not yet available in cloud deployments. For more information, refer to "What's new in Acronis Backup".

1. Click How long to keep.
2. In Cleanup, choose one of the following:
   • By backup age (default)

     Specify how long to keep backups created by the backup plan. By default, the retention rules are specified for each backup set separately. If you want to use a single rule for all backups, click Switch to single rule for all backup sets.

   • By number of backups

     Specify the maximum number of backups to keep.

   • By total size of backups

     Specify the maximum total size of backups to keep.

     This setting is not available with the Always incremental (single-file) backup scheme, or when backing up to the cloud storage, an SFTP server, or a tape device.

   • Keep backups indefinitely
3. Select when to start the cleanup:
   • After backup (default)

     The retention rules will be applied after a new backup is created.

   • Before backup

     The retention rules will be applied before a new backup is created.

     This setting is not available when backing up Microsoft SQL Server clusters or Microsoft Exchange Server clusters.

What else you need to know

• The last backup created by the backup plan always will be kept, even if a retention rule violation is detected. Please do not try to delete the only backup you have by applying the retention rules before backup.
• Backups stored on tapes are not deleted until the tape is overwritten.
• If, according to the backup scheme and backup format, each backup is stored as a separate file, this file cannot be deleted until the lifetime of all its dependent (incremental and differential) backups expires. This requires extra space for storing backups whose deletion is postponed. Also, the backup age, number, or size of backups may exceed the values you specify.

  This behavior can be changed by using the "Backup consolidation" backup option.

• Retention rules are a part of a backup plan. They stop working for a machine's backups as soon as the backup plan is revoked from the machine, or deleted, or the machine itself is deleted from the management server. If you no longer need the backups created by the plan, delete them as described in "Deleting backups".