Duplicator Pro’s Storage settings raise a few common questions once a site has several storage locations and schedules in place: how backup limits are enforced, why a Download button behaves the way it does, and where backups actually live on the server.

The questions below cover Max Backups behavior, separating manual and scheduled backups, and locating local backup files.

How to get troubleshooting tips for various storage issues?

There are several troubleshooting tips on every storage type:

• How do I fix issues with Amazon S3 or S3-compatible storage types?
• How do I fix issues with Dropbox storage types?
• How do I fix issues with Google Drive storage types?
• How do I fix issues with OneDrive storage types?
• How do I fix issues with SFTP/FTP storage types?

For setup instructions rather than troubleshooting, see Backup to the Cloud for the full list of storage-specific setup guides.

How to limit the number of backups kept (e.g. the last 20 builds)?

Each storage location has a setting titled ‘Max Backups’. When this limit is exceeded, the oldest backup is deleted from that storage. If set to 0, no backups are removed. To configure it, go to Duplicator Pro > Storage > Edit Storage Item > Set Max Backups.

Because Max Backups applies per storage location, the main Backups page still keeps an entry for every backup ever created, regardless of which storage locations have pruned it. For example, if Max Backups for the “Default storage” is set to 3, only the 3 most recent backups still have their file on that particular storage. The Download button for an older backup still works as long as its file exists on any storage it was sent to, local or remote; it only stops working once the backup’s file has been pruned everywhere it was stored.

How to prevent manual builds from getting counted in scheduled max builds?

The best way to separate manual backups from scheduled backups is to assign them different storage locations, since the storage location is what defines the “Max Backups” setting. When creating different storage locations, make sure they point to different paths; storage locations pointing to the same directory will interfere with one another. For instance:

• /my_backup_path/manual
• /my_backup_path/scheduled

Since each schedule can be assigned its own storage location, creating separate schedules (for example, one for daily backups and another for weekly backups) is another way to end up with separate storage locations and separate Max Backups limits, without needing to manage the paths manually for each one.

Where are local backups stored?

By default, Duplicator Pro stores local backups in the wp-content/duplicator-backups folder. This location can be changed to a custom path when setting up a Local Server storage location. See Storing Your Backup to Local Server for the default path, custom path options, and path format requirements for Linux and Windows servers.

These storage settings work together to keep backup retention predictable and disk usage under control, whether backups go to local storage, a single cloud provider, or several storage locations at once.

For a complete walkthrough of connecting a specific storage provider, see Backup to the Cloud.