Comments on: Backblaze’s Online Backup Solution For Macs Opens To The Public

By: The Online Backup Guru

The Online Backup Guru — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:09:28 +0000

Backblaze is a fine online backup service, but there are many services out there today and the one thing for sure is one size does not fit all. Some are better for Mac, others Windows, some business oriented others for the individual or small business users. Be sure to compare the online backup services out there before you choose the one you want to pay for. Online Backup Service Reviews

By: Online Backup

Online Backup — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:03:26 +0000

Interesting article. Backups are more important today then they have ever been in my opinion, if you loose your data and you cant recover it then your business is dead. Thanks again.

By: Dobi

Dobi — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:25:45 +0000

Sounds great!! But for me, nothing compares with SafeCopy Backup. It’s really easy to use, I can easily share file over 1GB. Works with mac, iPhone, USB Drives. Plus I can use one account for all my computers. And has many more functionality that I couldn’t find on other online backup providers.

By: Paul Moriarty

Paul Moriarty — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:34:27 +0000

The Mac version is worthless. It excludes Applications, bin, dev, Developer, etc, Library, net, private, sbin, System, usr. It excludes all files over 4Gb. None of these can be overridden.

So, the claim on their home page of:

“Backup Everything
Backblaze online backup encrypts and uploads all your data – no questions asked. No picking files. No digging through folders.”

is disingenuous at best and pure and total BS at worst.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:25:06 +0000

It would be nice if it worked with http://www.myotherdrive.com for file sharing, too. MyOtherDrive.com seems to have a cool import where they can import files from some of the other online backup sites as a redundant backup.

By: Backblaze launches Mac version | Backblaze Blog

Backblaze launches Mac version | Backblaze Blog — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:30:01 +0000

[...] Backblaze for Mac officially launches MacWorld: BackBlaze online backup debuts for Mac TechCrunch: Backblaze’s Online Backup Solution For Macs TidBits: Backblaze Publicly Launches Online Backup Service for Macs VentureBeat: Simple backup [...]

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:43:37 +0000

These services are all well and good, but the thing to find out is what happens if you have to reinstall your operating system, get a new computer, or whatever. With Backblaze when you reinstall the software you’ll have to reupload all your data, even if you copied it all onto that new computer or just moved the hard drive right in.

Mozy has the same problem, but I believe it’s only an issue if you use a private key. Sucks to back up for months, finally be set, and then find out you have to start over because you got a new computer or had to do a restore.

By: Navneet Chabra

Navneet Chabra — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:44:51 +0000

There is a serious issue with performance for most of these online backup services. I think IDrive performs better and provides better control over your backups, but still, local backups with some online backup is the way to go.

By: Stephan Morais

Stephan Morais — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:28:09 +0000

I tried BackBlaze a few months ago and found it to be polished and well designed. The big issue for me, however, is that I want something I can use to backup a large set (~1TB) of photo and music files. Uploading this much data to their servers would have taken months. I inquired about something whereby users could send in a drive with the initial data set, but this wasn’t anything they offered. Too bad…

By: Gabe Anderson

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:54:40 +0000

> What kind of resource strain does it put on a
> Windows PC with CPU and network usage?

I’m curious about that, too, as my biggest complaint with Mozy is that it’s a big resource hog (assuming the backup hasn’t finished overnight).

By: ruflin

ruflin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:36:57 +0000

I’m using Mozy for about 6 months now and it works well. But I will check out Blackbaze to find out what are the advantages or disadvantages.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:48:24 +0000

I’ve been using Backblaze on my Mac for a couple of months, seems to work well, doesn’t seem to hog up system resources.

I am not doing anything custom, so can’t speak to include/exclude directories.

But had to send my laptop to the shop last week – they didn’t erase the data, but was happy I didn’t have to worry about having a back-up in case they did.

I have the basic account for Sugar Sync ($2.99 for 10GB) which I use for syncing and accessing specific work files on other computers or online, and that’s a pretty good combo.

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:11:18 +0000

What kind of resource strain does it put on a Windows PC with CPU and network usage?

It looks like a very polished product, but I always fear of companies like this disappearing in the short term — along with all of my data.

By: Billu

Billu — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:08:39 +0000

A very resourceful online backup site:
http://friendfe...om/onlinebackup

By: Goorsha

Goorsha — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:05:11 +0000

Yes, there are many online backup service providers out there.

BackupReview.info has about 400 of them listed in its directory.

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:54:27 +0000

I’ve been using the Mac client for a few months now, and love it! It’s a wonderfully seamless process, and such an affordable price. I also love their recovery options. Definitely worth your time/money.

By: fb3406485

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:34:56 +0000

I may have to give it a try. I used SugarSync for a while, and I’m in the market for one that doesn’t suck.

My files consistently fall out of sync on SugarSync. It tries to redownload all my files every couple months for no good reason, and sometimes forgets to backup what I need backed up.

Just got a new Mac. Thinking of trying MobileMe + Apple Backup.

By: fb3406485

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:34:55 +0000

I may have to give it a try. I used SugarSync for a while, and I’m in the market for one that doesn’t suck.

My files consistently fall out of sync on SugarSync. It tries to redownload all my files every couple months for no good reason, and sometimes forgets to backup what I need backed up.

Just got a new Mac. Thinking of trying MobileMe + Apple Backup.

By: dasein

dasein — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:06:14 +0000

There are simple instructions on the BackBlaze website, and there is an uninstaller that can be downloaded.

https://www.bac...lp.html#install

By: Ross

Ross — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:03:11 +0000

I just tried out backblaze for the mac and I’m not a fan. It seemed extremely hard to exclude directories and I just kept getting a message box telling my “X folder cannot be backed up.” I’ll stick with mozy for now.

By: Joe Jones

Joe Jones — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:59:26 +0000

Looking at their FAQ, it has some problems.

The largest file can only be 4GB. So forget about backing up large videos or zip archives.

Also, to backup a file you need 1.5 times the space for the file. So if you are backing up a 3Gb file, you need 4.5 GB of free space on your disk.

By: Ross

Ross — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:48:47 +0000

Robin,

Why was it a challenge to uninstall?

By: Lance Cabellero

Lance Cabellero — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:28:02 +0000

Honestly, I don’t see the news here. Online backup companies are everywhere, and most of them already have Mac clients (see http://www.carbonite.com, http://www.mozy.com, http://www.elephantdrive.com, http://www.spideroak.com, and others).

“Emphasis on simplicity” isn’t quite innovation. What am I missing?

Lance Cabellero
cloudstorage.wordpress.com

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:12:27 +0000

I heard CloudBerry Drive is going to be Windows only.

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:04:26 +0000

Did try the Mac version of BackBlaze during the beta, but couldn’t really see what the differentiator was compared to the various other online backup facilities there are out there.

Uninstalling it was quite a challenge.