Hello Railway team, We’re documenting data retention and account-deletion procedures for our application. Our Postgres service’s Backups tab shows: - One “Pre-Security-Patch Backup” - an existing platform-created backup. - No backup schedule - A Restore button, but no visible expiry date or individual deletion option Could you confirm: 1. Does this platform-created backup expire automatically? What retention period or expiry date applies? 2. Can this backup be deleted individually without affecting the live PostgreSQL database or volume? If so, what is the supported procedure? 3. After deletion or expiry, are any recoverable copies retained by Railway, and for how long? 4. Is there published documentation covering retention for these platform-created security-patch backups? This is an information request only. Please do not delete, restore, or modify the backup, database, or volume. Thank you.

Pre-security-patch backup retention and deletion

hamnchiz193

HOBBYOP

2 hours ago

Hello Railway team,

We’re documenting data retention and account-deletion procedures for our application.

Our Postgres service’s Backups tab shows:

One “Pre-Security-Patch Backup”
an existing platform-created backup.
No backup schedule
A Restore button, but no visible expiry date or individual deletion option

Could you confirm:

Does this platform-created backup expire automatically? What retention period or expiry date applies?
Can this backup be deleted individually without affecting the live PostgreSQL database or volume? If so, what is the supported procedure?
After deletion or expiry, are any recoverable copies retained by Railway, and for how long?
Is there published documentation covering retention for these platform-created security-patch backups?

This is an information request only. Please do not delete, restore, or modify the backup, database, or volume.

Thank you.

Awaiting Railway Response

2 Replies

Railway

BOT

2 hours ago

Deleting an existing backup is not restricted by plan, so a Hobby workspace can remove one that is already there. When you delete a backup yourself, it is removed at that point instead of waiting for its expiry.

After a backup has expired or been deleted, we do not restore data from it.

General backup behavior, including the scheduled retention periods, is covered in our volume backups documentation.

Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway • about 2 hours ago

Railway

The Pre-Security-Patch Backup is a snapshot of your Postgres volume taken immediately before a Railway-initiated security patch, and it is kept for 30 days from when it was taken. When that expiry is reached it is deleted automatically. The expiry the backup carries is the entire lifecycle, with nothing extra on top of it. Deleting an existing backup is not restricted by plan, so a Hobby workspace can remove one that is already there. When you delete a backup yourself, it is removed at that point instead of waiting for its expiry. After a backup has expired or been deleted, we do not restore data from it. General backup behavior, including the scheduled retention periods, is covered in our [volume backups documentation](https://docs.railway.com/volumes/backups).

hamnchiz193

HOBBYOP

2 hours ago

Thank you. Could a Railway team member confirm that the stated 30-day retention applies specifically to platform-created Pre-Security-Patch Backups, and clarify whether any recoverable copies remain afterward?

My dashboard shows an existing backup with only a Restore button. What is the supported way to view its exact expiry and delete it individually without affecting the live database or volume?

Please provide information only; do not modify or delete anything.

Status changed to Awaiting Railway Response Railway • about 2 hours ago

Welcome!