What is retention and how does it pertain to Jungle Disk?
In your Jungle Disk account, the retention policy dictates how long a previous version of the data being backed up is kept as well as how many copies are stored. The default setting when using Backup Vault and Network Drive is 95 days. The Network Drive also allows you to modify the number of copies that you keep and will hold up to 10 copies by default. You can also adjust your settings through the backup software to fulfill your business or compliance needs and requirements. Many of our customers are under certain regulations to keep their data for a certain amount of time and need to adjust their settings appropriately to meet compliance requirements. Below are screenshots to show you the interface where retention can be configured.
Where can I customize my settings?
The settings can be found in the Jungle Disk Activity Monitor under Configure. Under configure, you will see the online disks that you have access to and where you can set your retention. Under Network Drive, you have options to choose what files are stored, the size of previous versions retained, the types of files, and the number of copies of the files.
For Backup Vault, you have a more straightforward path. You are only able to change the number of days that previous versions will be retained. Jungle Disk will only check to see if the file is expired once a week but you can always run a manual cleanup.
How can adjusting retention settings impact my bill?
The important thing to think about before adjusting anything is to evaluate how your business will need the data in the event of a disaster recovery situation. Things to consider are “can I or my business afford to lose this data?” or “do I need this much redundancy?” If you have more copies of previous versions than necessary, it can cause your storage size to grow, therefore, increase your monthly bill. However, not having enough copies of previous versions can impact your ability to restore a good copy of the data should a current version become corrupt. Not every backup is created equal so you can customize the retention settings per backup.
Why is retention important?
It is always important to customize your Jungle Disk account settings to best fit your business needs and also make sure you don’t break the bank with unnecessary storage costs. The retention settings are ultimately your responsibility to customize and maintain to fit your requirements.
In the end, retention might not be the most flashy thing around but can reap huge benefits if used appropriately. Please contact our support team if you have any questions.