Apologies. The feature is on the roadmap. Do not have a date yet. I'll check with the team.

This still seems to be missing. Does this mean for hybrid backups that locally deleted files will not be deleted?

Would this indicate that the best method is to create a local and a separate cloud job chained together instead of hybrid. I'm on the v7 track.

They will be deleted according to the retention policy, separate from that setting. You can still select the Mark Objects as Deleted in Backups option in Advanced Options and any deleted files will be marked as such in storage. That way, you can avoid restoring deleted files. And those files that are deleted locally will be kept according to retention requirements like other files.

The option to which you are referring is not used by many customers for a couple reasons: 1. Most customers do not know when one of their customers (or themselves) will notice that they accidentally deleted a file and need it restored. So, they choose to not accelerate that deletion in backup storage. And 2. Ransomware - most customers do not want to delete files in backup storage in case a customer is hit my ransomware.

Thank you for your timely response.

https://www.msp360.com/resources/blog/tips-from-steve-delay-purge-what-is-it-and-should-i-use-it/

Just to be clear I followed the advice provided by this article with the exception of missing option "Delete files that have been deleted locally"

Delete versions older than: 1 day
Always keep the last version: yes
Delay Purge: 90 days

Does "Always keep the last version" override the purging of deleted files?

The intended behavior is to give my client a 90 day window to realize a file was accidentally deleted. After that the file is gone and the space is recovered.

I'm also interested in hearing if this is best practice or if keeping all deleted files is better. My concern would be that the required backup space would continue to grow over time.

Thank you again for your time.

I normally would not suggest deleting versions older than 1 day. That does not provide much versioning for restore points. I guess it all depends on your negotiated RPOs with your customers. But if your customer changes a file and realizes they made a mistake and need to restore an old version, they may not be able to with those settings. In addition, if your customer is hit by some ransomware that encrypts the files in place, rather than renaming, encrypting, and deleting the originals, they may not be able to restore. I realize you have a 90 day delay on the purge, but I would rather see you use a 90 Day Retention, a specified number of versions to keep for each file, a shorter purge delay, and possibly a longer retention for locally stored files (you can have different retention settings for local and cloud).

Always Keep the Last Version will always keep the last version of every file. This is important in case a file has not been edited in 90 days, you do not want it removed from backup storage (usually).

If you are backing up volatile folders like browser cache folders and the like because they happen to be sub-folders, then my recommendation is to simply remove them from backup if not needed. Most customers do not run into issues where files deleted as a normal part of business results in noticeable changes to storage.

I've had to circle back to this thread because my client's cloud storage is ballooning. Because Always keep the last version has been checked and there isn't the option delete local deleted files, I can see many files in the backup that have been purposefully deleted and are no longer relevant.

1) I would like to see purposefully deleted files removed from the backup after the retention period expires.
2) I don't want files that still exist on the server but haven't been changed within the retention period to be removed from the backup.

I can't seem to find a setting configuration inside a hybrid backup that will accomplish this.

Please Advise.

You are right, there is no setting for "purging deleted files" with Hybrid as there is with standard Legacy file backups.
We do not use Hybrid Backups; we simply run separate plans to Local and Cloud storage.
We run local backups every four hours and keep 2 years of versons and deleted files since there is no cost to do so. We might lower that to one year if the local storage capacity is smaller, but with the cost of a 4-5 TB USB drive these days, space is rarely a concern.
We keep Cloud storage versions for 90 days (on two separate cloud platforms) unless the customer pays for extended 15 month retention (recommended for CPA's and legal firms that often touch their client files only once per year).
Can you help me understand the need for a hybrid backup?

I don't have a specific need for a hybrid backup. It seemed like the efficient choice when setting up a local + cloud file-based backup. I wanted to verify my understanding of the product before splitting the backup plans because this particular client has limited bandwidth. We are only running image and file backup once per day.

Thank you for your input. I'm going to consider revamping my backup strategies to account for the limitation on hybrid backups.

I would be happy to help setup your Image and File backups regarding when to use Legacy and when to use NBF formats for both Local and Cloud storage as well as helping choose the optimum backend Cloud platform. I have been using MSP360 for 9 years and thus have a pretty thorough undertanding of the product features and limitations. DM me if interested