Does data that hasn't been used in the past 6 months get deleted?

Questions
1

https://blog.infura.io/part-2-getting-started-with-ipfs-on-infura/#what-s-next says this:

Data is currently pinned until it’s been 6 months since it was last used, so as long as you’re accessing your data within that time frame, it’ll be there for you!

So, what happens after those 6 months have passed? Is it not possible to keep data around indefinitely?

2

Hi @pencilflip, if the data you’ve pinned to IPFS is not accessed within the 6 month period, our garbage collecting system will delete the data. In order to keep data around indefinitely, you will need to access it somehow at least every 6 months.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the answer! Two follow-ups:

  1. “you will need to access it somehow at least every 6 months.” → does Infura provide some way to do this?
  2. Is there any way to recover deleted data?

Also, if this is true, then the documentation is a bit misleading. It says this:

Do you want to ensure that some file on IPFS is always available? Pin it to your PROJECT . Infura will copy it, store it, and keep it online on the IPFS P2P network.

4

Hi @pencilflip - if you have code that is accessing the file, that will be fine. Once you have deleted the file/data from local storage and it has been garbage collected, it will be gone unless you have another peer that has pinned your data or you have another backup strategy (syncing, backing up to hard drive, etc)

5

Are there any plans to change this behavior in the future? I’d like to use Infura IPFS to store NFT metadata—but if the metadata can get deleted after 6 months, that’s a big deal breaker.

6

Hi @pencilflip, that 6-month period resets any time the metadata is used, so as long as a person references/pings it at least once every 6 months, it will not get deleted :slight_smile: