Quarantine and Restore

Quarantine and Restore

What quarantine does

Quarantine moves an eligible ordinary folder out of its original location into a hidden quarantine directory. It uses a filesystem rename rather than copying a backup. Applications that still need the original path may stop working, which is why the restore period matters.

Moving data normally does not free disk space. Purge is the permanent removal step.

For a candidate inside a matched source, its quarantine root is:

<source>/.appdata-cleanup-plus-quarantine

A timestamp and source-relative hierarchy distinguish entries. A configured fallback root applies when there is no matched source. Do not assume every pool uses the same quarantine directory.

A move that cannot be completed, including an unsupported cross-filesystem rename, is reported as a failure rather than a successful quarantine.

Review and restore

Open Show Quarantine, inspect an entry and select restore. The plugin validates the tracked source/destination and checks for a collision at the original location.

If the original name already exists, use the offered conflict handling: skip, restore with a suffix, or review/edit a permitted restore name. Existing data is not silently overwritten. After a renamed restore, update the application's configuration yourself if it needs the new location.

Dev 2026.09.19.13+: entries show restore readiness as ready, conflict, blocked or missing. Recovered entries identify marker/layout recovery. Missing records remain visible for investigation and are excluded from restore/purge actions.

Tracking and recovery

Tracking is stored in quarantine-records.json. Entry metadata uses .appdata-cleanup-plus-entry.json; supported older layouts can also be recovered when registry state is lost.

Keep both data and tracking intact. Marker/layout recovery is validated and limited to recognizable entries; it is not a promise to reconstruct arbitrary moved or renamed directories. Do not edit markers or delete the registry as a routine repair.

Purge

Purge permanently deletes a selected tracked entry after validation and confirmation, then updates tracking and History. Restore is no longer available after successful purge. Failures remain reportable rather than being treated as success.

Review Retention and Scheduled Purge before enabling automatic removal. Uninstall removes plugin tracking but does not explicitly delete the separate quarantine directories; see Installation and Updates.