How Long to Keep Files and Folders Backup

[Lorac]

I am doing a daily Files and Folders backup to an external backup drive (Smart Backup). I have the option set to keep 7 catalog versions. Does that mean that it will keep only the last 7 backups?

How long should I keep backups? I have 5TB of storage on my external drive.

Thanks you.

[Support]

Hi,

Please note you cannot combine Smart backup type with storing a specified number of backups in destination.
If you use the Smart backup type, Backup4all will automatically determine which is the best backup type to use.

[Lorac]

Thank you for your reply. I should have already known this.

I am not sure what a "catalog" is. I see reference to it in many many places, but not a definition. Where is the catalog? Is it the same as a "log"?

What does it mean to keep 7 catalog versions?

[Support]

Hi,

The "backup catalogs" is the .bkc file which stores information about the backed up files, backup numbers, versions, file size, paths, info etc
Keeping 7 versions of the catalog means you can have multiple previous versions of that catalog file, stored in destination.

[Lorac]

Thank you. That was helpful