Overview
To help protect your data from loss, CrashPlan automatically backs up every version of every file across all your computers. The CrashPlan app allows unlimited retention of backed up files that have not been deleted from your device, but there are times that you may want to delete files from your backup archive. This article explains ways that you can remove files from a backup destination or remove a backup destination entirely.
Considerations
- This article assumes you have permission to change your backup file selection, frequency and version settings, and backup destinations. Your administrator may prevent editing of these settings by locking backup settings.
- Deleted files are not removed from the backup archive until a file verification scan runs. To ensure the scan runs on a regular basis, make sure the Verify selection every setting is scheduled for a time when the device is on.
- After you have changed relevant settings and a file verification scan has run, the unwanted files and versions will be permanently removed by the next archive maintenance.
Options to remove files
The CrashPlan app provides three ways to remove files from your backup destinations:
- By deselecting files, you can choose specific files and folders that you no longer want to back up.
- By removing files that have been deleted from your computer, you can reduce the size of your backup archive and make your backup more efficient.
- By removing a backup destination, you can completely remove an archive from a backup destination and delete all backups stored there.
Deleting files
Each of the methods described in this article involve deleting files or destinations from your backup. Use caution when following these steps as there is no way to recover your files once they are removed from your backup.
Deselect files
There are times that you may choose to remove specific locations or files from your backup. For example, since the CrashPlan app automatically selects your entire user folder for backup, you may want to remove your downloads folder from your backup selection to prevent every downloaded file from backing up. Backing up unnecessary files and folders uses more bandwidth, more storage at the destination, and slows down the backup of your other important files.
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There is no way to recover deselected files.
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You will lose any historical versions associated with the deselected folders and files.
Steps
- Go to Manage Files.
(Optional) Click the options menuand select Show hidden files to view hidden files.
- Navigate to the drive, folder, or files that you want to add or remove, then:
- Deselect the check box next to any item you want to delete from your backup.
- Select an empty box to add an item to your backup.
- A minus sign
indicates that a subfolder within this folder is selected for backup. New subfolders within the folder will not be automatically added to your backup file selection.
- A check mark
indicates that this folder is selected for backup. New subfolders within the folder will be automatically added to your backup file selection.
- Click Save.
If you deselected any files or folders, the Delete Files from Backup warning displays. - If applicable, select I understand to confirm you want to delete deselected files from your backup.
- If applicable, select Delete.
After changing the file selection, the CrashPlan app synchronizes the files selected for backup with the files already backed up to that destination.
Remove deselected files
The deselected files will be removed from your backup archive the next time maintenance runs on the destination. For CrashPlan cloud destinations, maintenance runs every 60 days.
To remove the files more quickly, see Remove files and versions immediately below.
Remove files that have been deleted from your computer
- Restore the deleted file.
- Deselect the files from your backup selection using the steps above.
Remove a backup destination
If you back up to multiple destinations, you may decide that you want to free up space at a destination by removing a destination from the backup set settings. This is also useful if one of your backup destinations is no longer available or has been decommissioned.
Steps
- Sign in to the CrashPlan app.
- Navigate to Backup Set Settings, Select
Settings.
- Select Backup Sets.
- For Destinations click Change.
- Deselect a destination.
- Click Save.
Remove unwanted versions
You can change the deleted files retention setting to remove deleted files from your backup archive after a specific amount of time. For example, you may decide that you want to keep deleted files for only 15 days. This gives you 15 days to restore any files in your backup file selection that are no longer on your computer.
Remove files and versions immediately
When you remove files from your backup selection or change your version retention settings, the files are not immediately removed from your device. File deletion must be first be confirmed by a file verification scan. After a file verification scan, the files are then removed when archive maintenance runs on the destination. For CrashPlan cloud destinations, maintenance runs every 60 days. If you want these files to be removed from your archive more quickly, run a file verification scan and then run maintenance on the destination.
Steps
- Sign in to the CrashPlan app.
- Navigate to Device Preferences. Select
- Click Backup Sets. Click the ellipsis menu
next to the relevant backup set.
- Choose Scan for file changes.
A file verification scan runs on the backup set, marking files for deletion. - Once the file verification scan completes, select Settings, and click Destinations.
- Choose Run Maintenance.
The CrashPlan app runs archive maintenance on that destination to delete the unwanted files or versions. This operation takes longer on larger archives.
Remove specific files immediately using the purge.path command
You can delete specific files and folders using the purge.path CrashPlan CLI command. This option can delete files from your backup archive even if a file verification scan has not yet run.