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posted by janrinok on Sunday September 17 2017, @07:32PM   Printer-friendly
from the use-it-or-lose-it dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow5743

Google will automatically [begin a delayed - Ed] delete all of a user's Android backup files — stored in his Google Drive account — if the user does not use his phone for two weeks. After Google detects this period of inactivity, it will start a 60-day counter for old Android backup files. After that counter reaches zero, Google will delete the backup files from the user's Drive account.

The auto-delete function was discovered this week by a Reddit user who used it to create backups for a defective Nexus 6P. The user sent back the phone, and while he waited for a replacement, he saw that his Nexus 6P backup files stored were marked for deletion.

[...] People who rely on Android's built-in Drive-based backup system should keep an eye out on the Backups folder. Storing backups offline or using specialized backup & restore Android apps is an alternative.

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/mobile/google-will-auto-delete-android-backups-if-users-dont-use-their-phones-for-2-weeks/


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  • (Score: 2) by jmorris on Sunday September 17 2017, @08:52PM (1 child)

    by jmorris (4844) on Sunday September 17 2017, @08:52PM (#569487)

    So this means when your device breaks and you have to have an extended battle to get it fixed or replaced, they will delete the backup if you aren't aware of this policy and go get a local copy first. And if somebody croaks, by the time the estate can get the paperwork in place to get access to an account there won't be anything left in cases where a phone goes with the owner to the afterlife. Not that it matters anyway, because unless you prepare and leave your security credentials with a lawyer, with the security measures they are building in, nobody else is getting access.

    Yup, this certainly proves that Diversity is our Strength, and that replacing the older "Talosians" with big throbbing brains with Affirmative Action 'engineers' has no impact on quality. Can you wait to see how degraded the quality is going to be by the time we are all riding around in cars with "Powered by Google" emblazoned on the side? It is gonna be great!

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  • (Score: 2) by KritonK on Monday September 18 2017, @09:11AM

    by KritonK (465) on Monday September 18 2017, @09:11AM (#569677)

    So this means when your device breaks and you have to have an extended battle to get it fixed or replaced, they will delete the backup if you aren't aware of this policy and go get a local copy first.

    Precisely. Google's backup will be there unless you actually need it!

    It took me about three months after my tablet broke, trying to have it fixed in various repair shops, figuring out with what to replace it, from where to buy the replacement and, finally, going through the appropriate channels at work, so that they would buy the device for me, instead of having to pay for it myself. It certainly was longer than two weeks plus sixty days, so Google's backup, had I had one, would have been useless.