Title: Updraft backup files missing Last modified: January 16, 2018 --- # Updraft backup files missing * Resolved [Zibble](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zibble/) * (@zibble) * [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/updraft-backup-files-missing/) * Hello * I have been using UpdraftPlus free version for a while now, but never had to use any of the backups until recently. I only back up to the local server. * To my frustration, I discovered that, even though there are 10 backups listed in my Backups list on UpdraftPlus, most of these backups were not actually there on the server. * In fact, there were 10 backup log files on the server, which all showed that the backups had finished without error, but there were only only three actual sets of backup files. * I also look after a friend’s website where I use UpdraftPlus and when I checked, the same problem is happening there. For some unknown reason, the oldest backup files were removed or never written (I don’t know, but as the logs show there were no errors, I assume they were written and then removed). * I have contacted the website provider and they say this is not their problem and I have to contact Updraft about this. This is what I am now trying to do. * So, I have learned that hard way that I should save backup files elsewhere as on the server, but it would have been good if I had been warned that this could happen. * Does anybody know why backup files would be deleted from the server? Why is there no warning that this will happen? Are there any particular settings I have to make to stop backup files being removed? Is Updraft removing these files? * Any help or advice would be appreciated! Many thanks Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) * Plugin Contributor [bcrodua](https://wordpress.org/support/users/bcrodua/) * (@bcrodua) * [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/updraft-backup-files-missing/#post-9872230) * Hi, * It is possible that you only set UpdraftPlus to retain 3 backups. You can check this if you go to UpdraftPlus ‘Settings’ tab. * Also, to help us find out the cause of the problem, could you send us a copy of the backup log? This should be found in the Existing Backups tab. * The contents will be too long to post here directly, but you can use an online service such as Dropbox or Pastebin, and post the link here. * Kind Regards, Bryle * [wpprup](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wppraesenz/) * (@wppraesenz) * [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/updraft-backup-files-missing/#post-9874361) * …I have a similar problem. I have some pages and they all upload to Google Drive. One time all older backups were deleted (I saw it in the Drive history, but was not able to save them back). I think – at least in my case – Updraft does not differentiates any more between the backups from different websites (different names but all in one file). And so it deletes all backups up to the chosen for example 5 backups that should be left on the drive. This happened when I installed UpdraftPlus newly on only one website – and then it erased nearly all backups regardless the source website. (!!) So as a workaround I chose that Updraft should leave 20 backups on the drive to have some backups of each website left. Not optimum, but this worked, at least. But now every website lists – nearly as undifferentiated as when deleting the backups – many backups on the server which are not from exactly this website. There is some logic in it… And often now a backup shown on the list is not to be found on the drive. A bit chaos. * Overall, Updraft does not differentiate any more between file sources, I think. And it does not sync exactly even after reloading from the drive. I hope, it is not a weird way to have people upgrade to Premium to be able to have different files (=file names) more backup files on their drive…! Perhaps Zibble´s problem is in relation to this… Thanks for help anyway, too.. Ulf * Thread Starter [Zibble](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zibble/) * (@zibble) * [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/updraft-backup-files-missing/#post-9876508) * Thanks Bryle and Ulf for your responses. * I had Updraft set to retain 10 backups, and these were all listed in Updraft plugin Backups list. However, when I tried to restore one of them, there was an error message ‘File not found’. Several others also gave error messages. I then logged on to the server through ftp protocol and checked the directory called Updraft. * In this directory, I found 10 Updraft log files, but only two sets of backup files. The others had disappeared or were never written (I do not know). * I then clicked on the ‘rescan local folder’ in the Existing backups tab in Updraft and only two backups remained. * I have a log file of one of the non-existing backups I can upload here, only I am not sure how to do this. The log file shows at the end “The backup apparently succeeded and is now complete”. * I only backed up to the local server, so this is not a Dropbox issue. * Thanks for helping out. Zibble Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total) The topic ‘Updraft backup files missing’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/updraftplus/assets/icon-256x256.jpg?rev=1686200) * [UpdraftPlus: WP Backup & Migration Plugin](https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/updraftplus/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/updraftplus/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/updraftplus/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/updraftplus/reviews/) * 3 replies * 3 participants * Last reply from: [Zibble](https://wordpress.org/support/users/zibble/) * Last activity: [8 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/updraft-backup-files-missing/#post-9876508) * Status: resolved