Retention and Forget Prune

This module shows how to keep daily and weekly backups with safe cleanup steps.

Mental Model

Retention is not about deleting files from your server. Retention is about choosing how much backup history you want to keep.

tip

If you have ever used rsync --delete, treat retention with the same respect: preview first, then apply.

Lessons

Lesson	Outcome
Retention Policy Design	Convert recovery needs into clear keep rules
Safe Forget Prune Workflow	Apply cleanup safely with before/after checks

What You'll Be Able To Do After This Module

• Choose a simple policy (daily/weekly/monthly)
• Run forget with --dry-run confidently
• Verify you did not remove the restore points you need