This article explains how to manage backup retention policies on Web60 to control how long your website backups are stored.
Understanding Backup Retention
Backup retention determines how long Web60 keeps your website backups before automatically deleting them. By default, Web60 keeps:
- Daily backups for 7 days
- Weekly backups for 4 weeks
- Monthly backups for 12 months
This means you'll have access to recent daily backups for quick recovery, plus longer-term weekly and monthly backups for situations where you need to restore from further back.
Viewing Your Current Retention Settings
- Log into your Web60 portal
- Click on your website name
- Go to the "Backups" section
- Click "Retention Settings" at the top of the page
- Your current retention periods will be displayed
The page shows how many backups are currently stored and when the oldest backup will be automatically deleted.
Adjusting Retention Periods
You can modify how long Web60 keeps your backups:
- In the Retention Settings page, click "Edit Retention Policy"
- Use the dropdown menus to select new retention periods:
- Daily backups: 1-30 days
- Weekly backups: 1-12 weeks
- Monthly backups: 1-24 months
- Click "Save Changes"
- The new policy takes effect immediately for future backups
Important: Existing backups that exceed your new retention period will be deleted within 24 hours of changing the policy.
Storage Considerations
Longer retention periods use more storage space. You can see your current backup storage usage in the Retention Settings page. If you need help understanding storage limits, see Understanding Backup Storage Limits.
Each backup type serves different purposes:
- Daily backups: For recovering from recent changes or errors
- Weekly backups: For rolling back website changes from the past month
- Monthly backups: For long-term recovery or compliance requirements
Managing Individual Backups
While retention policies handle automatic cleanup, you can also manually delete specific backups:
- Go to the main Backups page
- Find the backup you want to remove
- Click the three dots menu next to the backup
- Select "Delete Backup"
- Confirm the deletion
Manual deletion doesn't affect your retention policy settings. If you want to keep important backups longer than your retention period allows, consider downloading your backup files to store locally.
Before making major website changes, you might want to create a manual backup as an extra safeguard. Manual backups follow the same retention rules unless you download and store them separately.
If you're still stuck with backup retention settings, contact Web60 support through your portal. Include details about what retention periods you need and why.
FAQ
Q: What happens to my backups if I change my retention policy?
A: New settings apply immediately to future backups. Existing backups that exceed the new retention period will be automatically deleted within 24 hours.
Q: Can I keep backups forever?
A: The maximum retention is 24 months for monthly backups. If you need longer storage, download important backups to keep them locally.
Q: Do manual backups count towards retention limits?
A: Yes, manual backups follow the same retention policy as automatic backups unless you download and store them separately.
Q: Will shorter retention periods make my website faster?
A: No, backup retention settings don't affect website performance. They only control storage usage and how far back you can restore from.
Q: Can I have different retention periods for different websites?
A: Yes, each website has its own retention policy. You can set different periods for each site you manage.
Q: What if I accidentally delete a backup I need?
A: Deleted backups cannot be recovered. Always check what you're deleting, and consider downloading important backups before removing them.
Q: How much storage do backups typically use?
A: Backup size depends on your website content. A typical small business website backup ranges from 100MB to 1GB, but sites with many images or files will be larger.
Last updated: 1 March 2026