You take a careful manual backup before a theme rewrite, label it in your head as “the known good,” and trust retention to keep storage sane. A week later the known good is gone because the plugin treated every archive like disposable schedule fodder. Or the opposite problem: retention never runs, Drive fills up, and scheduled backups start failing at 3am. Backup systems need two truths at once. Automatic copies should age out. Manual and uploaded copies should stay until a human says otherwise.
Snapshotify’s retention policy prunes the oldest automatic scheduled backups, while manual backups and uploaded backups are never pruned automatically. Retention can be set by count or by age per destination, and storage in use is shown so you can see what the policy is doing. Cloud destinations such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive exist as storage context. This article stays on retention and the manual-keep promise.
Snapshotify is the DaftPlug backup and restore plugin. This post is only about retention that prunes automatic backups while keeping manual and uploaded copies. Not a migration deep dive, not batched large-site backup internals, not chunked upload internals, not the download button as a deep dive, not retry-failed-uploads as a deep dive, not database-only backup as a deep dive. Those live elsewhere. For pulling an archive to your laptop after a run, keep download any backup archive from the dashboard nearby.
What Snapshotify actually ships here
Stay inside the real feature set:
- Retention policy that prunes the oldest automatic scheduled backups
- Manual backups are never pruned automatically
- Uploaded backups are never pruned automatically
- Retention can be configured by count or by age
- Policy applies per destination
- Storage in use is shown so you can see consumption
- Cloud destinations including Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive as available storage context (not a full OAuth tutorial)
This post does not invent undocumented forever-cold-storage tiers, legal hold features Snapshotify does not publish, or promises that a destination’s own trash folder policies will mirror Snapshotify’s retention labels. The product promise is retention that prunes automatic backups while manual and uploaded copies remain until you remove them. Stay there.
Why protecting manual backups in retention matters
Manual backups are decision artifacts. You create them before risky deploys, before migrations, after a clean launch. They are not “just another nightly.” If retention deletes them, the ritual was theater.
Uploaded backups are imports you meant to keep. Someone brings a ZIP from another environment into Snapshotify. Treating that upload like schedule overflow is how restore points vanish.
Automatic backups should still rotate. Unlimited nightlies fill Drive and then fail. Count-based or age-based retention per destination keeps the schedule healthy without asking you to delete files by hand every Monday.
Per-destination policy matches real ops. Local disk, Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive do not share one magic quota. Retention per destination lets a small VPS keep fewer copies while a Drive folder keeps a longer automatic trail.
Storage in use makes the policy visible. A retention number without a storage readout is guesswork. Seeing usage helps you tighten count or age before the destination refuses writes.
How to set retention without losing manual copies in wp-admin
Assume Snapshotify is installed, at least one destination works, and you can create both a scheduled backup path and a manual backup for a test.
1. Decide what “enough automatic history” means
For many sites, a handful of recent automatic copies is enough if you also keep special manual milestones. Pick count-based retention when you think in “keep last N.” Pick age-based when you think in “keep the last N days.” Do it per destination if local and cloud should differ.
2. Open Snapshotify retention settings
In wp-admin, open Snapshotify. Find retention / pruning settings for your destinations. Set count or age according to your plan. Confirm you understand the policy applies to automatic scheduled backups.
3. Confirm manual and uploaded copies are outside automatic prune
Read the product behavior as shipped: manual backups and uploaded backups are never pruned automatically. Your job in verification is to prove it with a real manual archive, not to hope.
4. Create a labeled manual backup before a safe test
Run a manual backup to a destination you control. Note its timestamp or label in your runbook (“pre-retention-test manual”). If you use uploads, upload a small known archive in a staging context where that is appropriate. Production uploads should be intentional, not casual junk.
5. Let automatic backups exist, then apply or wait for retention
Ensure scheduled automatic backups are producing copies (or have already). With retention configured, allow pruning of oldest automatic backups according to count or age. Do not invent a force-prune button Snapshotify may not expose in the way you imagine. Use the real settings and schedule behavior.
6. Verify the three-way outcome
- Oldest automatic backups beyond the policy are gone (or marked pruned per how Snapshotify presents history).
- Your manual backup from step 4 is still listed.
- Any uploaded backup you intentionally keep is still listed.
- Storage in use reflects the destination after pruning.
- Repeat the glance on Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive if that destination is in play, remembering the destination UI may still show files until its own UI refreshes. Snapshotify’s inventory is your source of truth inside WordPress.
7. Keep download and restore as separate drills
Retention is about what remains. Download and restore are how you prove a keeper is usable. After retention looks correct, optionally download the manual archive (see related post) on a calm day. Do not mix a restore fire drill into the first retention verification unless you are on staging.
8. Document the policy for the next teammate
Write: “Automatic retention: [count or age] on [destination]. Manual and uploaded never auto-pruned. Set on [date].” Future deploys will create new manuals. People need to know those stay.
Who this is for
Store and membership operators who take a manual snapshot before every major release and cannot afford retention to eat it.
Agencies managing client destinations where Drive quotas and “where did Friday’s backup go” tickets are real.
Solo founders who want nightlies to rotate but want pre-migration manuals to remain until they delete them on purpose.
Teams using Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive who need per-destination retention instead of one blunt global number.
Anyone who has been burned by a backup plugin that treated every archive as disposable.
This is less urgent if you only keep offsite copies in a system outside WordPress and never look at in-dashboard history. Even then, Snapshotify retention still keeps the in-product story sane.
What good looks like
- Retention is configured by count or age per destination you care about.
- Automatic scheduled backups prune from the oldest when over policy.
- Manual backups remain until you delete them.
- Uploaded backups remain until you delete them.
- Storage in use is visible and moves in the expected direction after pruning.
- Migration deep dives, batched large-site internals, chunked upload internals, download-button deep dives, retry-failed-upload deep dives, and database-only deep dives were not required for this win.
- You did not invent legal-hold or destination-trash features Snapshotify does not claim here.
If manuals disappear, stop and check whether a human deleted them, whether you are looking at a different destination, or whether another backup tool is managing the same folder. Snapshotify’s rule is manuals and uploads are not auto-pruned.
Pitfalls (the ones that bite)
Assuming retention deletes everything old. It targets oldest automatic scheduled backups. Manuals and uploads are different classes.
Setting retention so tight that you have almost no automatic history. Keeping manuals forever does not replace having a few recent nightlies.
Ignoring storage in use until the destination fails. Watch the meter when you tighten or loosen policy.
Using one destination folder for three backup plugins. External deletes look like retention bugs. Give Snapshotify a dedicated folder prefix when you can.
Never creating a manual before risky work. Retention can only protect manuals you actually make.
Testing retention only on local disk. If production relies on Drive, verify the Drive destination policy too.
Treating cloud trash as Snapshotify retention. Destination recycle bins are separate products. Manage expectations.
Skipping download verification forever. A kept manual that never restores is a paperweight. Schedule a calm restore test on staging.
Practical checklist before you call it done
- Choose count-based or age-based retention per destination.
- Configure Snapshotify retention for automatic scheduled backups.
- Create a manual backup and note it.
- Confirm uploaded keepers (if any) are identified.
- Allow automatic pruning to apply under the policy.
- Confirm oldest automatic copies beyond policy are pruned.
- Confirm the manual backup still exists.
- Confirm uploaded backups still exist.
- Check storage in use on each active destination.
- Leave migration, batched large-site, chunked upload, download-button, retry-upload, and database-only deep dives for separate passes.
- Optionally download the manual archive once for peace of mind (related post).
- Write the policy in the team runbook.
Takeaway
Retention should make automatic backups sustainable without deleting the archives you created on purpose. Snapshotify prunes oldest automatic scheduled backups by count or age per destination, shows storage in use, and never automatically prunes manual backups or uploaded backups. Cloud destinations like Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive are there when you need offsite targets. The keep-manual promise is the point of this article.
Snapshotify puts that retention model in wp-admin so nightly rotation and human milestones can coexist. Set the policy. Make a manual before the scary deploy. Confirm it still sits there after automatic pruning runs.
One Pro membership unlocks Snapshotify plus Progressify, Lightify, Generatify, and Rankify. New Pro plugins join existing memberships. Plans differ by site count only (Pro $37.99 for 1 site, Pro Plus $74.99 for 5, Pro Max $138.99 for 100), with a 14-day money-back guarantee. See pricing when automatic backups should rotate and manual copies should remain until you say otherwise.
Set retention. Take one manual. When the nightlies thin out and the manual is still listed, backup policy finally matches how you actually work.