# How does remove\_older\_backups interact with maximum\_backups?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-remove-older-backups-interact-with-maximum-backups/297842>\
**Category:** Product Support\
**Created:** [March 4, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-remove-older-backups-interact-with-maximum-backups/297842 "2024-03-04T17:21:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 3

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**Author:** ![chrism](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/chrism/32/312433_2.png) [@chrism](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chrism)\
**Post date:** [March 4, 2024, 6:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-remove-older-backups-interact-with-maximum-backups/297842/3 "2024-03-04T18:59:40Z")

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@pfaffman the remove older backups was requested by a customer that, for regulatory reasons, couldn’t retain customer data older than a certain number of days. if its not set, it wont be in effect.

in the case of your customer, the DISCOURSE\_MAXIMUM\_BACKUPS value is read when a new backup is created (ie there’s no nightly script to delete them). it’s possible the customer lowered the value then didnt perform another backup after that point? Is it possible to perform an ad hoc backup and see if that deletes the older backups?

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