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Warn HN: CrashPlan are deleting backups older than 6 months with no notice

23 points by SimonPStevens 11y ago

I received an email from CrashPlan today informing me they have deleted one of my backups. [0] They have a retention policy [1] that states backups from PCs that have not connected to the service for 6 months will be deleted. However, this policy has never previously been enforced and is not highlighted during signup or setup. I've been a paying user of CrashPlan for around 8 years and was not aware of this policy. The computer in question was listed as not having been active for nearly 2 years. I have several other backups that have been inactive for up to 5 years. I have not yet received any emails about these other devices, but I can only assume I will be soon. I received no prior warning or notification that this was going to happen. I contacted support [2] and they claimed the new enforcement was due to a recent audit of the service. Although the email I received informed me that the data had already been removed, as of this moment it appears to still be accessible. Support have so far been unable to tell me how long it will remain available for, so I'm in the process of downloading many gigabytes of old backups as fast as I can in the hope some automated process doesn't delete them before I have restored them all. Not the kind of action I want to see from a service that I need to trust with backups of my data. [0] - http://pastebin.com/SrJuwgDV [1] - http://support.code42.com/CrashPlan/4/Subscriptions/Backup_Retention_Policy_For_Inactive_Cloud_Destinations [2] - http://pastebin.com/ee32yhzB

jtrtoo 11y ago
I can understand the policy and the action, but the notification should come prior to deletion. And possibly include a per machine opt-out for paying customers. (For the record I am a paying customer and have a couple old backups, but haven't yet run across this.)
- SyneRyder 11y ago
  +1 for the per machine opt-out. I have some older machines that I only use infrequently but still want to use CrashPlan on. It's unlikely any would be turned off for six months, but one of them did have a multi-month disconnect from CrashPlan due to a weird Java version conflict. (Also, because I tend to keep my older machines and still want to use CrashPlan there, it's harder for me to use the "adopt a machine" method. I bought a new computer and just finished re-uploading about 200GB of near-identical data.)
jarrodatCode42 11y ago
Hello All, Jarrod from Code42 here. Sorry about the scare. Wanted to clarify a few things. If a restore has been initiated from the archive of the device in question it's considered "connected" and your data won't be deleted. To be clear - no automated process is going to remove your data while you’re restoring. You are correct in your assumption about the other devices— we are in the process of enforcing this policy when we previously haven't. We realize that many users won't be aware of this existing retention policy. That's why we've been testing different messages to small batches of users (small meaning .3% of our user base) and seeing how they respond. Like the email says many of the affected archives are from backups that were once connected to an older device. This often happens because people aren't aware of our "adoption" process that is used to connect and existing backup to a new device. Because silent, continuous backup is very "set it and forget" many folks just end up backing up their new machine instead of getting rid of the old backup. Bit by bit the data in those forgotten archives adds up. Thus why we’ve begun enforcing this policy. We’re trying to learn as much as possible from these small test batches so that we can clean up some of these “dusty archives” as we call them sooner rather than later while making sure we do right by our customers. I’ve certainly learned a lot from the feedback you’ve provided here. Please let me know if you have additional questions. Best Regards, Jarrod
- UnoriginalGuy 11y ago
  I have a question... Are you sending people emails letting them know you have ALREADY deleted the backup, or are you giving them advanced warning that you WILL delete it in X days? Do you intend to remove the verbiage about "Unlimited online storage?" If something is legitimately unlimited then this policy makes no sense but as both you and I know truly unlimited anything is impossible, so why say it?
- gwillen 11y ago
  It would be good if -- in addition to emailing customers BEFORE you archive their backups -- you specify in the email what counts as 'connected'. I already responded to this HN post by digging an ancient machine out of the closet and booting it, so that it can connect to CrashPlan, make a null backup, and thus rescue my old backups of it from impending deletion. If merely performing a single-file restore (or merely checking some box on the website) was enough to indicate that the backup is still 'live', that would be nice to know.

23 points by SimonPStevens 11y ago

jtrtoo 11y ago

I can understand the policy and the action, but the notification should come prior to deletion. And possibly include a per machine opt-out for paying customers. (For the record I am a paying customer and have a couple old backups, but haven't yet run across this.)

SyneRyder 11y ago
+1 for the per machine opt-out. I have some older machines that I only use infrequently but still want to use CrashPlan on. It's unlikely any would be turned off for six months, but one of them did have a multi-month disconnect from CrashPlan due to a weird Java version conflict. (Also, because I tend to keep my older machines and still want to use CrashPlan there, it's harder for me to use the "adopt a machine" method. I bought a new computer and just finished re-uploading about 200GB of near-identical data.)

jarrodatCode42 11y ago

Hello All, Jarrod from Code42 here. Sorry about the scare. Wanted to clarify a few things. If a restore has been initiated from the archive of the device in question it's considered "connected" and your data won't be deleted. To be clear - no automated process is going to remove your data while you’re restoring. You are correct in your assumption about the other devices— we are in the process of enforcing this policy when we previously haven't. We realize that many users won't be aware of this existing retention policy. That's why we've been testing different messages to small batches of users (small meaning .3% of our user base) and seeing how they respond. Like the email says many of the affected archives are from backups that were once connected to an older device. This often happens because people aren't aware of our "adoption" process that is used to connect and existing backup to a new device. Because silent, continuous backup is very "set it and forget" many folks just end up backing up their new machine instead of getting rid of the old backup. Bit by bit the data in those forgotten archives adds up. Thus why we’ve begun enforcing this policy. We’re trying to learn as much as possible from these small test batches so that we can clean up some of these “dusty archives” as we call them sooner rather than later while making sure we do right by our customers. I’ve certainly learned a lot from the feedback you’ve provided here. Please let me know if you have additional questions. Best Regards, Jarrod

UnoriginalGuy 11y ago
I have a question... Are you sending people emails letting them know you have ALREADY deleted the backup, or are you giving them advanced warning that you WILL delete it in X days? Do you intend to remove the verbiage about "Unlimited online storage?" If something is legitimately unlimited then this policy makes no sense but as both you and I know truly unlimited anything is impossible, so why say it?
gwillen 11y ago
It would be good if -- in addition to emailing customers BEFORE you archive their backups -- you specify in the email what counts as 'connected'. I already responded to this HN post by digging an ancient machine out of the closet and booting it, so that it can connect to CrashPlan, make a null backup, and thus rescue my old backups of it from impending deletion. If merely performing a single-file restore (or merely checking some box on the website) was enough to indicate that the backup is still 'live', that would be nice to know.