Can I delete my Linode, but keep its backups?

Any backups created via our Backups service will be deleted should their associated Linode be deleted. This being said, there are a number of options available to you that will allow you to keep a backup of your Linode's filesystem for restoration down the line:

1. Linode's Images feature

Though this does come with the caveat that your Linode's filesystem be less than 2GB in size, this would be the easiest way of keeping a copy of your Linode's filesystem on our platform. Our Images guide has more information on this.

2. Manual backups using SSH and dd

If Images aren't an option, then I'd strongly recommend this method. By following this guide, you'll be able to create a .img of your filesystem, and pull it to a local machine/separate Linux server using SSH. Keep in mind that you can always pipe SSH commands through your data compression utility of choice to save on space -- this is pretty handy, especially if you expect to maintain multiple backups at once.