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PSA: Google Will Delete Your Android Backups If Your Device Is Inactive For Two Months (vernonchan.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the for-your-info dept.

New submitter Vernon Chan writes: It was discovered that Google will automatically schedule to delete your Android device backups if it is inactive for more than two months. The issue was discovered by a Reddit user after his Nexus 6P was sent for a refund claim. He was using an old iPhone while he waited for an Android replacement device. When he glanced at his Google Drive Backup folder, he freaked out when he noticed his Nexus 6P backup was missing. He then stumbled upon this Google Drive help document regarding backup expirations: "Your backup will remain as long as you use your device. If you don't use your device for 2 weeks, you may see an expiration date below your backup. For instance: 'Expires in 54 days.'" Once a backup is deleted, there is zero chance for recovery.

6 of 166 comments (clear)

  1. The joy of a cloud service by Teun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That's why I do my own back ups, both local and remote.

    --
    "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
    1. Re:The joy of a cloud service by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This seems about right. Phone user is not the customer, he's the product. Since the product isn't in use, Google purged the data. Since they give away the storage space, they need a short retention time or it gets too big and unwieldy. This is why I don't make myself the product. I pay for things like email and backup storage. With this model, my ISP has a financial incentive to keep my data online and not remove it. Which is why I still have files from 1995 in my ISP account, and why that ISP has cloned and moved that data from system to system for the last 20+ years. It's not foolproof, but it definitely prevents dumb ass policies that nuke data after only a few months.

    2. Re:The joy of a cloud service by crunchygranola · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I wish I could mod you up to "6"!

      Seriously - anything in the cloud is volatile storage and unless you are paying for it you can expect one day the service "provider" will decide to stop providing. Even if you do pay for the service, you are entirely at the mercy of their competence and the durability of their business model.

      --
      Second class citizen of the New Gilded Age
  2. Re:Slashdot: It's like reading Reddit on delay! by mean+pun · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why is it that every story that's posted here has already been on Reddit for at least a couple days?

    Slashdot is only making backups of stories from other sites.

  3. Not to worry by ma1wrbu5tr · · Score: 4, Funny

    Backups will still be available via FOIA from the Dept. of Homeland Security.

    --
    Why can't we go back to using jumpers to configure slot adapter cards? Why? I say!
  4. Re:Slashdot: It's like reading Reddit on delay! by JohnFen · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those of us who don't use Reddit?