To prevent backup versions from being deleted due to expiration of the retention period or accidental operations, we recommend that you turn on "Keep at least one backup version". This ensures that at least a backup version is available when you restore data.
What is "Keep at least one backup version"?
"Keep at least one backup version" is a switch that you can turn on when you create and edit a backup plan. After you turn on the switch, the latest backup version generated by the backup plan is not deleted due to the expiration of the retention period or manual deletion of backups.
Why do you need to turn on "Keep at least one backup version"?
You can turn on "Keep at least one backup version" to prevent the risk that no backup version is available for restoration due to improper backup plan settings or accidental operations. In addition, you can prevent the risk that full backup is performed because no valid backup version is available. This improves the deduplication efficiency, speeds up the backup, and reduces the amount of transferred data. You can turn on "Keep at least one backup version" in the following scenarios:
The specified backup retention period is too short
For example, you have created a backup plan that backs up data at 00:00 every day and the backup retention period is one day. Due to the large amount of data to be backed up, a single backup job takes 32 hours. If "Keep at least one backup version" is not turned on, your backup on January 1 will expire and be deleted at 08:00 on January 3, while the new backup job is still in progress. You will have no backup version available for restoration until the new backup job is completed.
If "Keep at least one backup version" is turned on, the backup on January 1 will be retained after the retention period expires until the new backup job is completed. This ensures that you have a backup version available for restoration.
The backup job fails
For example, you have created a backup plan that backs up data at 00:00 every day and the backup retention period is one day. If no backup job fails, you have a backup version available at any time.
If the backup job on January 2 fails: If "Keep at least one backup version" is not turned on, your backup on January 1 will expire and be deleted on January 2. You will have no backup version available for restoration until the new backup job is completed on January 3.
If "Keep at least one backup version" is turned on, the backup on January 1 will be retained after the retention period expires until the new backup job is completed. This ensures that you have a backup version available for restoration.
How do I turn on "Keep at least one backup version"?
When you create or edit a backup plan in the Cloud Backup console, you can turn on "Keep at least one backup version".
If a backup plan is deleted, the "Keep at least one backup version" switch no longer takes effect on the backups generated by the backup plan.