# Confusion between backup "frequency" and "period"
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [February 16, 2018, 10:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729 "2018-02-16T10:44:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sybren](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sybren)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2018, 10:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729/1 "2018-02-16T10:44:44Z")
The [automatic backup feature of Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/t/configure-automatic-backups-for-discourse/14855/80) has a setting `backup frequency`. However, I suspect that this setting does not control the backup frequency, but rather the backup period (where period = 1/frequency), i.e. when set to `4` my suspicion is that it would create a backup every 4 days and not 4x per day.
This is not clear in the user interface. The hint below the setting says “How frequently we create a site backup, in days”, which indicates that indeed this is the period and not the frequency. It also doesn’t indicate whether it accepts integers or floats.
I would suggest either changing the (label of the) setting to `backup period`, or adding a little explanation that a setting of `4` would create a backup every 4 days. This would take away the ambiguity between “most likely explanation” and “actual literal meaning”.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2018, 11:56am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729/2 "2018-02-16T11:56:48Z")
> [@sybren](#):
>
> This is not clear in the user interface. The hint below the setting says “How frequently we create a site backup, in days”, which indicates that indeed this is the period and not the frequency
It seems quite clear to me. It is the frequency of backup _in days_.
If you think different wording would help, feel free to propose it.
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### Author:  [@mpalmer](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mpalmer)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2018, 12:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729/3 "2018-02-16T12:00:18Z")
“The period of time between backups”. You don’t measure frequency in units of time, you measure it in units of time-1 (aka `1/time`).
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### Author:  [@sybren](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sybren)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2018, 12:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729/4 "2018-02-16T12:17:22Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> It is the frequency of backup in days.
Saying that is the same as saying “this is the frequency of the sound in seconds”; it doesn’t make sense. Frequency (of sound, but also of other things) is measured in Hertz (`1/time`) and not in `time`. Maybe I’m being a bit pedantic about this, but in my experience getting the units of measurements right helps a lot in software development and the understanding of said software by end users.
@mpalmer’s suggestion of “The period of time between backups” looks fine to me; it could be shortened to just “Days between backups”.
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### Author:  [@nibl](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nibl)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729/5 "2018-02-16T17:29:31Z")
As a new user, it was unclear what the settings meant. I had to read the description, and then the next setting and figure out how the two work together. It wasn’t completely clear until I read your post about automated backups.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2018, 11:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729/6 "2018-02-16T23:14:58Z")
Sure, @jomaxro can take this and make an edit so that the help text is clearer.
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729/8 "2018-02-27T20:42:15Z")
Copy updated:
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/48aea2a9fcf926893af78eab172c97489e3b2d9a](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commit/48aea2a9fcf926893af78eab172c97489e3b2d9a)
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### Author:  [@jomaxro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jomaxro)
#### Post date: [February 28, 2018, 11:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/confusion-between-backup-frequency-and-period/80729/9 "2018-02-28T23:00:06Z")
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