Cloud Backup Definition: Configurable Data Retention

An enterprise-grade SaaS backup solution will typically store your data forever. You just never know when you might need a document or email that’s no longer around. There are, however, some cases when you might NOT want your data to stick around that long, which is where configurable data retention comes into play.

So, what is configurable data retention?

Configurable data retention is the ability to specify a date after which backed up data is deleted.

When might you want to configure a retention period?

1. When legal demands it

Although as an IT admin, you would probably prefer your data to be stored forever, your legal department may have certain requirements demanding that emails and other communications be purged after a certain number of days.

2. To manage your storage amount

Mailboxes today can get quite large and companies in general are storing larger and larger amounts of data. This means backup accounts that include all the mail that was ever created, modified, or deleted can be ever bigger. If your backup plan has a storage limit, you can use configurable data retention as a tool to get rid of older emails you may not need in your backup logs, and better manage your storage amount.

At the end of the day, the choice is yours: To configure or not configure. At Backupify, we usually suggest keeping data around indefinitely, but if your situation calls for different settings, we have you covered and can provide you with the flexibility and control over the data that you require.