How long are automatic backups kept?

October 4, 2014 2.5k views
ArSn
By:
ArSn

Hi guys,

maybe I am blind or something, but I am unable to find an answer to an important question. I just started off with my first DigitalOcean droplet and am quite excited so far.

To the question: How long (how many days) are the automatic backups I am getting kept?

And as a followup question it would also be interesting: Can I configure that somewhere?

Thanks in advance!
Cheers

Log In to Comment
1 Answer
asb MOD October 6, 2014

Backups are billed at a rate of 20% of the Droplet's base rate. So a $5 Droplet could enable backups for an additional $1. The number of backups kept is not configurable. A new one is taken about every three to seven days, and seven backups are kept on file at a time. If you need finer grained control, you can use snapshots.

DigitalOcean Backups and Snapshots Explained
by Etel Sverdlov
This tutorial provides an explanation for how backup and snapshots work on DigitalOcean. Additionally, it includes information on how to scale, backup, and clone out servers with snapshots.
Reply
  • ArSn October 8, 2014

    Well thanks for that answer, but that is what I already knew, and totally not my question.

    I did not ask: What do backups cost?

    I meant to ask: How long (how many days, weeks, years?!) are backups kept, that have been created from my droplet?

  • asb MOD October 8, 2014

    Like I mentioned a new backup is taken every three to seven days, and seven backups are kept on file at a time. So the length of time that a backup is kept will sometimes vary. When a new one is made, if there are already seven, the oldest will be deleted. Snapshots will persist until you delete them.

  • ArSn October 8, 2014

    Oh sorry I missed that, I should not respond so rude when I am tired like now. Sorry again! :)

    Thanks for the info, and here is a followup question:

    Currently for the last 5 days (since I have the droplet) a backup is created daily. How does that fit together with "every three to seven days"?

    • ncole MOD October 7, 2018

      Hey there - backups are taken once weekly, and the day of the week is chosen at random to help spread out load on the network from running backups and make sure each backup completes in a timely manner. You can check the schedule for your Droplets from the "Backups" section of a Droplet page, and the last four weekly backups are automatically preserved.

Have another answer? Share your knowledge.