So if a brand new instance is started, it does not retroactively receive any content from other servers. Only ones that were connected by a link at the time content was posted will have a copy, essentially.
To know which posts will be kept on different servers, look up your own username, e.g. lemmy.ca/u/TrivialKin@lemm.ee
sevon@lemmy.kde.social 3 days ago
When instances federate, they don’t send old content. Old content will be fetched if a user tries to open it, for example by clicking a link to an old post (on some apps) or pasting its url into the search box.
The data copied to the other instance will stay on the other instance, unless manually deleted for some reason.