Note: If you try Backblaze, please use one of the links in this post to access and download the software. This will help fund my site. Thanks!
How safe is your data? Do you actively backup? How do you backup? How often do you check your backup to make sure it is working? I found a cool service called Backblaze that should be considered as part of your backup strategy.

Backblaze is an online backup service. From my experience, it provides the following features:

  • Backblaze is easy to use. Download and install.. and thats it. No massive configuration, no scheduling backup times, no full/incremental backups, no rotating of tapes/CDs/drives or other media, etc. Up and running in minutes.
  • Backblaze is always backing up. I put some test files on my computer and within an hour, it was safely backed up to the Backblaze servers. I didn’t have to think about the backup process.
  • Backblaze backs up everything. By default it backs up all my documents and settings. It (by default) excludes certain system files, temporary files, cache files, program fiels, etc which should never need to be restored. You can exclude other files if desired (ie if there is data you don’t feel comfortable uploading to a remote service or perhaps data that doesn’t matter if it is destroyed).
  • Backblaze is affordable. $50 per year to backup an unlimited amount of data on your computer. This is less than $1 per week (15 cents per day) to have the peace of mind that your data is being backed up.

So why am I so excited about this? Well lets look at the alternatives:

  • Tape backup. Requires special software, scheduling, rotating of tapes and manual intervention. Typically only has a backup once per day and “done right” requires some type of off-site location to store the tapes. On top of all of this, its expensive. A 160GB drive is $680 and the tapes to rotate adds $279 for a total of $959 (most likely another $50 for software). $1000 .. that equates to 20 years of Backblaze service. Of course, tapes don’t last 20 years, so there will be additional tape costs and many sites use a safety deposit box as their off site location so there is the related monthly fees for that as well.
  • Secondary hard drive. A popular option for many people. The cost of the hard drive ends up being around $100 (about the cost of two years of Backblaze service) and most drives come with some type of backup software (or could be utilized with software such as Syncback). There are several drawbacks to this backup method
  • prone to physical compromise (usually the external drive stays connected to the computer so if the computer is stolen, a fire or flood occurs or possibly a power spike, it could take out both the computer and backup)
  • generally this backup is just a sync or a copy so it doesn’t provide history (Syncback provides up to a month of file changes)
  • it stays connected to the computer, it could be suspectable to a malware or virus infection
  • If the drives are rotated (similar to tapes), because of the mechanical nature of the drive, it could reduce the longevity of the drive
  • Requires manual intervention
  • Backup to a secondary computer on the LAN. Many of the same disadvantages as a secondary backup drive. While it reduces certain points (ie malware/virus could only impact one of the computers) it does add additional cost (cost of the computer + hard drives, cost of electricity to keep a server running 24/7) — will these cost be more than $5/mo over the course of time? Quite possibly.

    • Of course, there are other backup methods, but most require significantly more intervention, checking and maintenance to keep up-to-date. Unfortunately, I find so many of these methods simply fall to the wayside and backups do not happen on a regular basis.

    So whats the downside to Backblaze?

    • Distance of the data. If you have a significant amount of data backed up to the Backblaze servers and need to restore all of it (ie computer died or was stolen, etc) it is not instantly available. You can download it (which depending on your internet connection could take several days or more) or have the Backblaze people ship you an external drive with your data (few days to receive at a cost of $189 — but that does include the drive)
    • Relying on a third party to store your data. Depending on your data, this may or may not be an issue.
    • If your data changes more than you can transfer to the Backblaze servers in a given day, you may not be able to use the service (ie if you process photos, video or other large files on a daily basis). For most office or home uses, this should not be an issue.
    • This is not a full system backup (ie similar to Norton Ghost or other disk mirroring software). If you need to restore a full system, you will need to manually reinstall your applications .. this backup is only your data.

    So far, I find the service to be fantastic. Its easy to install, its low cost and the “just work” nature of the service is exceptional. I am quickly finding the service to be my #1 pick for home and personal computer users needing a reliable backup solution.

    Website: www.backblaze.com