Specify version settings
Who is this article for?
Instructor, no.
Incydr Professional, Enterprise, Gov F2, and Horizon, no.
Incydr Basic, Advanced, and Gov F1, no.
CrashPlan Cloud, no.
Retired product plans, yes.
CrashPlan for Small Business, no.
Overview
Code42 CrashPlan tracks multiple versions of each file as it backs up changes over time. Version snapshots can be downloaded from an archive to revert to the file's previous state. This tutorial explains how to change your version retention settings.
Considerations
This article describes how to configure the version retention feature if your administrator has not defined these settings. However, your administrator may configure and lock the version retention settings.
If the version retention settings are locked, they are disabled in the Code42 console. See your administrator to configure these settings.
How it works
In CrashPlan, version retention means keeping more of the recent versions of your backed up files and less of the older ones.
Specifying the versions to retain involves:
- Specifying versions to retain for each interval
- Pruning unnecessary files from the backup archive (optional)
- Specifying when CrashPlan compacts the backup archive
Backup frequency
CrashPlan backs up new changes to files as often as your backup frequency settings allow. CrashPlan watches the file system in real-time (unless that feature is turned off). When a file changes, the next backup is based on your frequency settings. For example, if the backup frequency is set to 15 minutes, then the changes will back up at the next 15 minute interval.
CrashPlan retains the newest version in several intervals:
- the last week
- the last 90 days
- the last year
- previous years
Version retention
CrashPlan selectively prunes out older file versions during the regular archive maintenance process. This decreases the amount of data CrashPlan tracks as the archive grows and decreases memory usage in the Code42 app (for example, two months from now, you may not need to download a file from 8:45 AM when the hourly snapshot will do).
Typically, we do not recommend increasing the frequency or versions settings to more than the default settings. Increasing these settings requires CrashPlan to use more system resources to maintain your backup. Even if you have a small file selection, increasing the version retention can cause a delay in backing up your files due to file monitoring.
Deleted file retention
If you delete a file from your device that was previously backed up, CrashPlan keeps it in the archive for as long as indicated in the deleted files retention setting. Learn more about retaining and restoring deleted files.
Specify versions to retain from the Code42 console
You can change your version retention settings from the Code42 console using the steps below.
Steps
- Sign in to the Code42 console.
- Choose Devices.
- From Device Overview, click on the name of the device.
- Select the action menu.
- Choose Edit.
- Select Backup.
- Navigate to Frequency and Versions, and move the slider to a new backup frequency.
- Click Save.
Remove unwanted versions immediately
Steps
- Sign in to the Code42 app.
- Click Details.
- Select the arrow next to your device name.
- Choose Device preferences.
- Click Destinations.
- Choose Run Maintenance.
CrashPlan sends a request to that destination to immediately remove unwanted versions from the backup archive.
Example
The following example displays one possible configuration of the version retention settings:
In this example, CrashPlan retains the most recent file backed up each day in the last week, plus the most recent file backed up each day for the last 90 days (that is, in addition to last weeks' files), plus one version per week for the last year, plus one version per month for the years prior to last year.
In another example, if you choose to retain two versions per week CrashPlan will retain the most recent version backed up at the end of the week, plus the most recent version backed up 3 and a half days earlier, in essence splitting the difference.