diff --git a/debian/postinst b/debian/postinst
index 83352853..af290069 100644
--- a/debian/postinst
+++ b/debian/postinst
@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@ set -e
 
 #DEBHELPER#
 
+update_sync_job() {
+    job="$1"
+
+    echo "Updating sync job '$job' to make old 'remove-vanished' default explicit.."
+    proxmox-backup-manager sync-job update "$job" --remove-vanished true \
+      || echo "Failed, please check sync.cfg manually!"
+}
+
 case "$1" in
     configure)
 	# need to have user backup in the tape group
@@ -32,6 +40,29 @@ case "$1" in
 			echo "Fixing up termproxy user id in task log..."
 			flock -w 30 /var/log/proxmox-backup/tasks/active.lock sed -i 's/:termproxy::\([^@]\+\): /:termproxy::\1@pam: /' /var/log/proxmox-backup/tasks/active || true
 		fi
+
+		if dpkg --compare-versions "$2" 'lt' '7.1-1' && test -e /etc/proxmox-backup/sync.cfg; then
+			prev_job=""
+
+			# read from HERE doc because POSIX sh limitations
+			while read -r key value; do
+				if test "$key" = "sync:"; then
+					if test -n "$prev_job"; then
+						# previous job doesn't have an explicit value
+						update_sync_job "$prev_job"
+					fi
+					prev_job=$value
+				else
+					prev_job=""
+				fi
+			done <<EOF
+$(grep -e '^sync:' -e 'remove-vanished' /etc/proxmox-backup/sync.cfg)
+EOF
+			if test -n "$prev_job"; then
+				# last job doesn't have an explicit value
+				update_sync_job "$prev_job"
+			fi
+		fi
 	fi
     ;;
 
diff --git a/pbs-api-types/src/jobs.rs b/pbs-api-types/src/jobs.rs
index 419bdaf7..47da53c0 100644
--- a/pbs-api-types/src/jobs.rs
+++ b/pbs-api-types/src/jobs.rs
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ pub const VERIFICATION_SCHEDULE_SCHEMA: Schema = StringSchema::new(
 
 pub const REMOVE_VANISHED_BACKUPS_SCHEMA: Schema = BooleanSchema::new(
     "Delete vanished backups. This remove the local copy if the remote backup was deleted.")
-    .default(true)
+    .default(false)
     .schema();
 
 #[api(
diff --git a/src/api2/pull.rs b/src/api2/pull.rs
index 3d644202..acbd2884 100644
--- a/src/api2/pull.rs
+++ b/src/api2/pull.rs
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ async fn pull (
 ) -> Result<String, Error> {
 
     let auth_id: Authid = rpcenv.get_auth_id().unwrap().parse()?;
-    let delete = remove_vanished.unwrap_or(true);
+    let delete = remove_vanished.unwrap_or(false);
 
     check_pull_privs(&auth_id, &store, &remote, &remote_store, delete)?;
 
diff --git a/src/server/pull.rs b/src/server/pull.rs
index 63bf92b4..e34ac891 100644
--- a/src/server/pull.rs
+++ b/src/server/pull.rs
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ impl PullParameters {
         let (remote_config, _digest) = pbs_config::remote::config()?;
         let remote: Remote = remote_config.lookup("remote", remote)?;
 
-        let remove_vanished = remove_vanished.unwrap_or(true);
+        let remove_vanished = remove_vanished.unwrap_or(false);
 
         let source = BackupRepository::new(
             Some(remote.config.auth_id.clone()),