# Automatic cleanup?
**URL:** https://forums.suse.com/t/automatic-cleanup/19549
**Category:** SUSE Storage
**Created:** [February 16, 2021, 11:44am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/automatic-cleanup/19549 "2021-02-16T11:44:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Daxziz](https://forums.suse.com/u/Daxziz)
#### Post date: [February 16, 2021, 11:44am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/automatic-cleanup/19549/1 "2021-02-16T11:44:28Z")
Hi all
I’ve been searching the documentation and the forums for a straight answer, but haven’t been able to find one.
When using the retain policy and the volume is released, is it ever cleaned up automatically after weeks, months or years? Or is it a totally manual process? I do expect the latter, but I would like to know for certain 🙂
Thanks in advance.
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### Author:  [@PhanLe0110](https://forums.suse.com/u/PhanLe0110)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2021, 7:13pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/automatic-cleanup/19549/2 "2021-02-17T19:13:23Z")
When PersistentVolume’s `reclaimPolicy` is `Retain`, if you delete the corresponding PersistentVolumeClaim, the corresponding PersistentVolume is not be deleted. Longhorn does not automatically delete the volume after weeks, months, or years unless you manually delete it.
Btw, if you want to protect the data when the whole cluster goes down, you can [set a backup target](https://longhorn.io/docs/1.1.0/snapshots-and-backups/backup-and-restore/set-backup-target/) so Longhorn can move the data outside of the cluster to a safe place. When a disaster happens to the cluster, you can quickly restore the data on a different cluster.
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### Author:  [@Daxziz](https://forums.suse.com/u/Daxziz)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/automatic-cleanup/19549/3 "2021-02-17T19:43:43Z")
Thanks! It’s nice to get a confirmation on it, when planning business services and documentation internally.
Thanks 🙂