A
system and method are provided for retention of data on a storage
system. An application program provides the storage
system with data to be stored on the storage system. The application program also provides the storage system with a
retention period that indicates a period of time for which the data may not be deleted. When the storage system receives a request to delete the data, it first evaluates the
retention period associated with that data to determine if the
retention period has expired. If the retention period has not expired, the storage system denies the request to delete the data.