Automatic backups are only helpful if they do not quietly fill your disk or cloud quota. Retention policies tell BackupEase how many backups to keep and when to remove the old ones, so you always have recent restore points without the clutter.

Why retention matters

Every backup takes up space. Left unmanaged, a daily schedule can pile up dozens of full-site archives and exhaust your server disk or your Google Drive quota, at which point new backups start to fail. A retention policy automates the cleanup so you do not have to delete old archives by hand.

Retention rule types

Count-basedKeep the most recent N backups and delete anything older. For example, keep the last 7.
Age-basedKeep backups newer than a set age and delete the rest. For example, keep 30 days.
CombinedApply both rules together, so a backup is removed only when it fails both conditions.

Set a retention policy

  1. Open retention settings In the BackupEase dashboard, open the destination or Retention settings for the storage you want to manage.
  2. Choose a rule type Select count-based, age-based, or a combination.
  3. Set the values Enter how many backups to keep, or the maximum age, or both.
  4. Save Save the policy. Cleanup runs after each new backup completes, keeping the set within your limit.
Per-destination policies (Pro)

With Pro, each destination can have its own retention rule. Keep a short history on local storage to save disk, while holding a longer history in the cloud, all from the same backup runs.

Preview before anything is deleted

Before a cleanup runs, BackupEase can show you exactly which archives a policy would remove. Use this preview to confirm you are comfortable with the result, especially the first time you set a rule, so nothing you still need is deleted by surprise.

Trim size with exclusions

Retention controls how many backups you keep; exclusions control how large each one is. You can exclude specific files, folders, or database tables (for example large cache directories or logs) so each archive is smaller and cleanup keeps more useful restore points in the same space.

Cleanup is permanent

Archives removed by a retention rule are deleted for good. Set your limits high enough to cover how far back you might realistically need to restore, then let the policy handle the rest.