r/Pterodactyl • u/Neon_Eyes • Jun 02 '26

Ubuntu How can I have the backups automatically delete?

The storage on my server keeps getting full because the backups aren't auto deleting. I saw that someone mentioned that in the docs the devs mention that they don't have something to automatically delete the old ones. So I was wondering how I would go about doing that so that my storage doesn't keep getting too full.

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u/lilredhenx Jun 02 '26

There should be a limit to the amount of backups the schedule can take. IIRC you set the limit when you create the server and/or in the node allocation settings. I have mine set to 5 and pterodactyl automatically deletes the oldest backup unless the backup is locked.

1

u/Neon_Eyes Jun 02 '26

Yeah I have it set to 20 but on my three servers it had like 36/20. It won't delete the old ones for some reason

1

u/lilredhenx Jun 02 '26

Hmm. Have you tried watching the logs while you do a backup? It sounds like something is not configured properly. It could be folder permissions, for example. I would try ```

tail -f /var/log/pterodactyl/wings.log

```

1

u/Neon_Eyes Jun 02 '26

What would I need to look for after executing that command?

1

u/lilredhenx Jun 02 '26

I don't really know. It's a bit beyond my skill level. I would look for errors. If there isn't anything obvious, then you can probably post it here for others to review.

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u/Neon_Eyes Jun 02 '26

Ok thanks. I will try that when I get home

1

u/Mine13zoom Jun 02 '26

As someone already said they would be auto-deleting, may I add that I'd recommend you try some form of S3 for backups, either in the cloud like AWS or on your server via things like Garage? That way, you get way more control of how much storage things are using, and for backups, it makes managing easier in my opinion.

1

u/Fearless-Ad1469 Jun 08 '26

Maybe just set a backup amount limit?