9.18. How long do you keep data for?

The answer to this question falls into two parts. Data that has been backed up to the HFS is, if it still exists on the local disk, retained as long as the drive/partition that sent it continues to back up to the HFS. Data from drives that have ceased backing up for 90 days is subject to deletion, in accordance with our deletion policy; up to three warning e-mails are sent before such deletion occurs.

Secondly, data is also subject to our data retention policy. The HFS backup service is intended to secure your current work and consequently, a maximum of two versions of any particular file on your local system are kept: the current version (known as active) and the penultimate version (known as inactive, and backed up before the current version was created). If a third (or subsequent) copy is made of the file, at the next backup the oldest copy held is deleted, the current one held becomes the oldest, and the very latest becomes the current copy. In cases where a file has been deleted from the local disk, the following maximum retention policy applies:
Desktop/laptop backup policy
  • Maximum number of versions of any one file kept = 2
  • Maximum retention of the second (oldest) version of a file = 28 days
  • Maximum retention of the most recent version of a file = 90 days
Server backup policy
  • Maximum number of versions of any one file kept = 2
  • Maximum retention of the second (old) version of a file = 90 days
  • Maximum retention of the most recent version of a file = 90 days

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