Save in Blender 2.55- extra files generated

Support Basics & Interface
1

I am using Blender 2.55 and when I save a blend, Blender generates three files: xxx.blend, xxx.blend1, xxx.blend2 (“xxx” is the name of the file. Come to think of it, previous versions of Blender also generate similarly named files). What are these extra files, and would it affect my work if I deleted them? (I hope I am posting this question in the right forum.)

Thanks.

2

Hello
“blend2”? It’s new to me, but I don’t use 2.5!
In the old 2.49, “blend.1” its just a copy/backup of the correspondent .blend.
Bye