Backup retention

Internal security policies or compliance mandates might require you to store your backups for a fixed number of days before deleting them. Having your Google Workspace backups stay in your repository beyond the time limit specified isn't only a waste of storage space but can also lead to fines or other penalties from compliance violations. Manually reviewing and deleting backups to comply with regulations is cumbersome and inefficient. With RecoveryManager Plus’ built-in retention policy, you don’t have to worry about that anymore.

RecoveryManager Plus is a comprehensive Google Workspace backup solution that helps you manage storage efficiently by automatically discarding old backups when they've exceeded their retention criteria. When you schedule a backup using RecoveryManager Plus, specify the maximum time backups should be held in the repository. Every time an incremental backup is made, the tool checks existing backups and automatically deletes any items that have surpassed their retention period.

How is the retention policy enforced?

Let's say you've configured a mailbox backup with the following parameters: a retention period of six months, daily incremental backups, and the first full backup starting on August 1.

When a backup is triggered on August 1, RecoveryManager Plus identifies the last modification date of each item in the mailbox and calculates the age of the items by comparing the last modified time to the current date and time. The age of each item is compared with the set value of the retention period, which in this case is six months.

• If the age of an item is higher than six months, the item will not be backed up.
• If the age is lower than six months, the item will be backed up.

Once the initial full backup is complete, only items that have been created or modified in the past six months will be backed up (Feb. 1 to Aug. 1). During the next backup cycle, RecoveryManager Plus backs up any changes made to mailbox items since the previous backup cycle. Once the backup is complete, RecoveryManager Plus again compares the age of the previously backed up items with the retention policy and discards backups older than the defined threshold.

Note: When you create a new backup schedule, only items newer than the retention period you have configured will be backed up when the scheduler runs for the first time. If at any point you wish to increase the retention period, the product won't back up the older objects the next time the scheduler runs. If you plan on increasing the retention period, create a new backup scheduler with the new retention period and delete the old scheduler once the new backup has run successfully for the first time.