Backup Data Deletion in Management Console

Data deletion may be necessary in various situations, such as decommissioning a computer or freeing up storage space in the cloud. When deleting computers from the Computers page or uninstalling Backup Agent, the data might remain in its backup destination. This data can be deleted in the Management Console as described below or in the Backup Agent UI article. It's possible to check for unnecessary data using the Capacity report.

You can delete backup data from cloud storage using a deletion tool in the cloud storage you have access to. You have the following options:

• Supported Storages:

  • An entire computer's backup data can be deleted using the Organization > Users grid along with the computer deletion.
  • Backup data associated with a specific backup plan can be deleted along with the backup plan.

• MSP360 Storage Powered by AWS / Wasabi: Backup data can be deleted using the Capacity report.

Delete Data of Selected Users

To delete the backup data of specific users, perform the following steps:

1. In Organization > Users, find the user whose backup data you want to delete.
2. Click the deletion button at the end of the user's entry, and select the Delete backed up data only option.

3. Select backup prefixes containing data to delete.

4. Confirm the deletion. Deletion will take more than 96 hours to complete.

Data Deletion in Immutable Storage

If backup data is stored in a backup storage destination with Object Lock (Immutability) enabled, deletion from the Management Console or Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace dashboard is not available. Every backed-up object in the immutable backup storage is marked with a retention period, which is created at backup completion and cannot be changed.

If you need to delete backup data from immutable storage, contact the backup storage provider's support.

Delete Backups Using Backup Storage Browser

With Backup Storage Browser, you have the following data deletion options:

• Delete backups
• Delete generations

Delete Backups

The following options are available:

• Delete Backup Data Only
• Delete Backup Data Along With Computer Deletion

Delete Backup Data Only

To delete a backup for a specific computer, perform the following steps:

1. In Backup > Computers, click the online computer for which you want to delete a backup.
2. In the Backup Storage tab, click the Open in browser button below the tile of the backup storage containing the backup to delete.
3. Click the computer to view its backup content.
4. Find the backup you want to delete.
5. Click the Delete button in the backup grid entry and confirm the deletion.

If it is not possible to delete the backup — for example, if the backup is protected with Object Lock (Immutability) — the Delete button will be disabled.

Delete Backup Data Along With Computer Deletion

You can delete the computer along with associated backup data as described in the Manage Computers chapter. This option requires Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) and the Delete backup data permission to be enabled.

Delete Generations

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) is required to delete generations. You can delete a selected generation if the deletion operation is available for that generation. Note that the current generation and generations protected with Object Lock (Immutability) cannot be deleted. Additionally, if the current generation only has backups with warnings, the deletion operation will be unavailable for the previous one. This ensures that valid restore points are always maintained.

1. In Backup > Computers, click the online computer for which you want to delete backup content.
2. In the Backup Storage tab, click the Open in browser button below the tile of the backup storage containing the data to delete.
3. Click the computer to view its backup content.
4. Click the backup plan in which you want to delete a generation.
5. Select the generation you want to delete.
6. Click the Delete button in the generation grid entry and confirm the deletion.

Delete Data Using Capacity Report

There are three data levels in the Capacity report:

• Storage account
• User data
• Computer data

Browsing different data levels is easy: just click the required object in the Capacity report to open the lower level. Thus, to view specific computer data, click the required storage account, then click the required user.

For removal of redundant backup data:

1. Open your Management Console.
2. In the Reporting menu, select Capacity Report.
3. Navigate to the storage account and Managed Backup user account associated with the backup data that needs to be deleted.
4. Click the Delete backup data/backup record button to initiate deletion of backup data for retired machines or a backup prefix.

5. Select Delete backup data.

6. Confirm the deletion.

7. The deletion operation will be queued.

How It Works

When you confirm backup data deletion in the Management Console, a special task is created to delete the backup data. This data is not deleted immediately, as there is a 3-hour delay before deletion begins. In some cases, the delay may be longer if the deletion tool is heavily used. During this delay period, before deletion begins on storage, the task can be canceled. However, once data deletion has begun, it cannot be canceled.

Displayed Data After Deletion Is Completed

Note that if not all data is deleted (for example, because some data is under Object Lock (Immutability)), information about this data in the corresponding element (user or computer) in the Capacity Report will not change, but you will receive a message confirming that the data is correct after synchronization. Synchronization is performed by Backup Agent automatically upon the next backup plan execution.

If all backup data is deleted, zero data is immediately displayed in the 'Used data,' or the corresponding element (user or computer) is simply not visible in the report.

Backup record removal

In some rare cases, it is necessary to remove a backup record. If you are sure this backup data is deleted, perform the following steps:

1. Open your Management Console.
2. In the Reporting menu, select Capacity Report.
3. Navigate to the storage account and Managed Backup user account associated with the backup data that needs to be deleted.
4. Click the Delete backup data/backup record button to initiate deletion of backup data for retired machines or a backup prefix.

5. Select Delete backup record.

6. Confirm the record deletion. This record will no longer be visible in the Capacity report.

User Data

The data deletion feature is available only for cloud storage. If backup storage is local (for example, FTP or file system), user data cannot be deleted. In such cases, it is possible to delete user data at the computer level.