Veeam Backup & Replication Support for Rotated Media

(Optional) Force Deletion of Files When Expected Backup Files Are Not Found

This registry setting is not required for rotated drives; it is provided here as an optional Backup file retention method. When this registry setting is enabled (set to 3 or 5), all repositories, regardless of rotated media setting, will maintain retention normally until the job detects that previously-available files are missing.

Create this value on the Veeam Backup and Replication server:

Key Location: HKLM\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication\
Value Name: ForceDeleteBackupFiles
Value Type: DWORD (32 bit)
Value Data: (see below)

Value Data options:

• When set to 3, if expected backup files are not found, the entire contents of the backup job’s folder is deleted from the repository.
• When set to 5, if expected backups are not found, the entire contents of the root backup repository folder are deleted. 
  Note that if the backup repository points at the volumes root folder, the entire volume's contents are erased. For example, if a Windows repository targets the root of the F: drive (i.e., F:\), ALL files on that drive would be deleted.

Starting with Veeam Backup & Replication v9, all registry values are checked every 15 minutes, so a reboot will not be required, but the service must be given time to rescan the registry and find the new setting.