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Backblaze Review
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Company Overview
Lowest Price
$3.96/month
Storage Space
Unlimited
Free Trial
Yes
Free Plan
No
Single Computer Plans
Yes
Multi Computer Plans
Yes
Business Plans
Yes
Plans Offered
Year Established
2007
Backup Features
Max File Size
Unlimited
Scheduler
Yes
Versioning / Snapshot
Yes
Browse Online Files
Yes
Incremental Backup
No
Bandwidth Throttle
Yes
Idle Backup
Yes
Web/Mobile/Remote Access
Web Access
Yes
Mobile Phone Access
No
FTP Access
No
Sharing
Folder / File Sharing
No
Photo Album Sharing
No
Send Large Files
No
Restore To Any Computer
Yes
Security
SSL Secure Transfer
Yes
Data Encryption
Yes
Geo-Redundant Storage
No
User Generated Encryption Key
Yes
Summary:
Over the years, Backblaze has become more and more popular as an Online Backup provider. Unlimited storage is their big feature or selling point. A couple of other companies provide this. If you have lots of images / video / or data in general and unlimited backup company is a good fit. The features also include: scheduled backups, automatic and custom bandwidth throttling, military-grade encryption and more. Backblaze is available in 11 languages.
Backblaze have pricing plans and services similar to Mozy or Carbonite, however their system is much easier to use and also offers USB and flash drive backup plus external drive support. Their software runs on both Mac and Windows.
Backblaze has added a new feature that allows you to locate a lost or stolen computer. Hopefully it never happens to you but with Backblaze you will be better prepared if it does.
Backblaze Plans & Pricing:
- Home Backup - $5 per month or $50 per year
- Business Backup - $50/computer per year
Company Profile:
Located in Sane Mateo, CA, Backblaze was founded in 2007 by CEO, Gleb Budman. Backblaze was the first company in data storage to offer unlimited online back up for businesses and is recommended by more than 50 online backup articles. Renown for their military-grade encryption and ease of use.
Photos
Editor review
1 review
Excellent Unlimited Backup Solution
(Updated: May 07, 2013)
Overall rating
9.1
Ease of Use
9.5
Features
8.5
Space / Price
9.0
Customer Support
9.0
Security
9.5
I found every aspect of the software and website well designed and easy to use. The application is easy to install, backup jobs are a snap to setup and file restores are painless.
With unlimited data backup and no file size restrictions, at $5/month, is a very competitive price. Additionally, if you pay for a year or two up front the price drops. Compare their plans to competitors and you will see many of the Backblaze standard features are paid upgrades elsewhere. This includes the ability to back up external drives.
When using Backblaze, I was particularly impressed with the backup speed information. This features allows you to see how fast the last file was transferred and how many GBs of data your computer will transfer in a day. I saw daily data transfer estimated results of 35GB to 45GB/day. I love knowing this because I can gauge how long it will take to complete the first backup. I am on an entry level cable connection and feel that approx 40GB/day is more than acceptable and should take about 4 days to initially backup my computer.
The only limitations I found to Backblaze is no phone support and no file syncing or sharing. It would be nice to have phone support but it is understandable because the price is so low. If you must have file syncing and sharing this may not be the solution for you. For me I just want to keep my data safe and leave the data collaboration to Dropbox.
Over the years I have seen first hand that Backblaze is a very open and honest company. They backup your entire computer by default where as other companies make you select all the files and exclude audio and video files.
They are very open about how they buy all of their hard drives which includes employees buying them from retail stores when on sale. A process they call drive farming. Check out the Backblaze blog to learn more.
Read on for a detailed account of our Backblaze experience.
Software Installation
Installing Backblaze was very easy and quick, taking only a couple of minutes. After the install I quickly configured the settings to get it up and running. It went to work in the background backing up my computer.
In the settings you can specify the drives to backup, set throttle and backup speeds, schedule a backup with the option to continuously backup, configure file and folder exclusions, set security with private encryption, and view reports and event logs. Everything is laid out in a simple to use interface and easy to find.
File Backup
I backed up 25 GB in the first day. When you think about it, that is a lot of data. On top of that I didn't experience any problems with every day computer use.
File Restore
Once the computer was backed up I logged into the Backblaze website. I confirmed all the files were present and they were in exactly the same order as on the PC. Every drive was there including our external drives. It should be noted that Backblaze backs up external drives with their standard plan, and not as an add-on like other companies.
Files can be downloaded directly from the website or if you have a lot of data, the files are restored to a hard drive or flash drive, depending on the amount of data. There is an extra cost for this option, but it is nice to know this option exists.
Conclusion
Backblaze is a solid, well priced online backup company. They offer unlimited backup with unlimited file size in a simple to use package at a competitive price. I also like that I can backup external drives at no extra charge.
The software is easy to install and I liked that their are advanced settings giving more flexibility.
If you need phone support or file syncing, it is best to look elsewhere, otherwise Backblaze is a great fit.
To wrap it up, at such a low cost you really cant go wrong with this solution.
With unlimited data backup and no file size restrictions, at $5/month, is a very competitive price. Additionally, if you pay for a year or two up front the price drops. Compare their plans to competitors and you will see many of the Backblaze standard features are paid upgrades elsewhere. This includes the ability to back up external drives.
When using Backblaze, I was particularly impressed with the backup speed information. This features allows you to see how fast the last file was transferred and how many GBs of data your computer will transfer in a day. I saw daily data transfer estimated results of 35GB to 45GB/day. I love knowing this because I can gauge how long it will take to complete the first backup. I am on an entry level cable connection and feel that approx 40GB/day is more than acceptable and should take about 4 days to initially backup my computer.
The only limitations I found to Backblaze is no phone support and no file syncing or sharing. It would be nice to have phone support but it is understandable because the price is so low. If you must have file syncing and sharing this may not be the solution for you. For me I just want to keep my data safe and leave the data collaboration to Dropbox.
Over the years I have seen first hand that Backblaze is a very open and honest company. They backup your entire computer by default where as other companies make you select all the files and exclude audio and video files.
They are very open about how they buy all of their hard drives which includes employees buying them from retail stores when on sale. A process they call drive farming. Check out the Backblaze blog to learn more.
Read on for a detailed account of our Backblaze experience.
Software Installation
Installing Backblaze was very easy and quick, taking only a couple of minutes. After the install I quickly configured the settings to get it up and running. It went to work in the background backing up my computer.
In the settings you can specify the drives to backup, set throttle and backup speeds, schedule a backup with the option to continuously backup, configure file and folder exclusions, set security with private encryption, and view reports and event logs. Everything is laid out in a simple to use interface and easy to find.
File Backup
I backed up 25 GB in the first day. When you think about it, that is a lot of data. On top of that I didn't experience any problems with every day computer use.
File Restore
Once the computer was backed up I logged into the Backblaze website. I confirmed all the files were present and they were in exactly the same order as on the PC. Every drive was there including our external drives. It should be noted that Backblaze backs up external drives with their standard plan, and not as an add-on like other companies.
Files can be downloaded directly from the website or if you have a lot of data, the files are restored to a hard drive or flash drive, depending on the amount of data. There is an extra cost for this option, but it is nice to know this option exists.
Conclusion
Backblaze is a solid, well priced online backup company. They offer unlimited backup with unlimited file size in a simple to use package at a competitive price. I also like that I can backup external drives at no extra charge.
The software is easy to install and I liked that their are advanced settings giving more flexibility.
If you need phone support or file syncing, it is best to look elsewhere, otherwise Backblaze is a great fit.
To wrap it up, at such a low cost you really cant go wrong with this solution.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Excellent Price
Very easy to use
Unlimited Data Backup
No limits on individual file sizes
No charge to backup external drives
Very easy to use
Unlimited Data Backup
No limits on individual file sizes
No charge to backup external drives
Cons
No phone support
No file sharing / sync
No file sharing / sync
SJ
Steven Johnson
User reviews
2 reviews
Overall rating
8.0
Ease of Use
9.5(2)
Features
5.5(2)
Space / Price
9.0(2)
Customer Support
7.5(2)
Security
8.5(2)
The Best Value and Speed
Overall rating
9.2
Ease of Use
10.0
Features
6.0
Space / Price
10.0
Customer Support
10.0
Security
10.0
Two years ago I added cloud backup to my life when I signed up with Mozy. At the time, it really was the best value solution available. Sure, there were companies such as Carbonite out there, but I was looking for something that provided unlimited storage with the ability to backup external drives because I keep all my media on an external drive attached to the iMac. Carbonite did not permit this at that time because it only supported internal drives.
Two years later I was looking for a new solution because Mozy had switched over to a pay-per-GB model. This means my costs will more than double when my account renews in June. I started by looking at Charter Cloud Drive because I get my internet from Charter and have been really happy, but their upload speed was clocking at 0.2MB/s and the software was rough. At the same time I came across Backblaze, which offered unlimited storage for $4 per month and had amazing reviews on another backup review site.
The registration, download, and install was trivial. What amazed me most was that you do not do any configuration. It automatically detected all my external drives and added them to the backup. It was offering to backup a total of over 500GB for $4/month on the free trial. I did not need to backup my itunes or movie library, so excluded those and I was down to about 160 GB. The backup started and on my 3MB/s upload I was getting close to 30GB per day. It was amazing.
After visiting this site, I looked at ZipCloud and most of reasons this site claims for giving it a higher rating than Backblaze are actually dubious. First, it is not truly unlimited because you have to pay for a premium account which costs almost $10 per month, the trial is worthless because you are limited to 2MB files and so cannot test its functionality and speed on large hard drives. So, you are down to having online file access, which Backblaze does not offer. My philosophy is that cloud backup should be backup and nothing else. For backup to work it needs to be "Set it and forget it" at a reasonable cost, and Backblaze rules the roost in that respect.
Two years later I was looking for a new solution because Mozy had switched over to a pay-per-GB model. This means my costs will more than double when my account renews in June. I started by looking at Charter Cloud Drive because I get my internet from Charter and have been really happy, but their upload speed was clocking at 0.2MB/s and the software was rough. At the same time I came across Backblaze, which offered unlimited storage for $4 per month and had amazing reviews on another backup review site.
The registration, download, and install was trivial. What amazed me most was that you do not do any configuration. It automatically detected all my external drives and added them to the backup. It was offering to backup a total of over 500GB for $4/month on the free trial. I did not need to backup my itunes or movie library, so excluded those and I was down to about 160 GB. The backup started and on my 3MB/s upload I was getting close to 30GB per day. It was amazing.
After visiting this site, I looked at ZipCloud and most of reasons this site claims for giving it a higher rating than Backblaze are actually dubious. First, it is not truly unlimited because you have to pay for a premium account which costs almost $10 per month, the trial is worthless because you are limited to 2MB files and so cannot test its functionality and speed on large hard drives. So, you are down to having online file access, which Backblaze does not offer. My philosophy is that cloud backup should be backup and nothing else. For backup to work it needs to be "Set it and forget it" at a reasonable cost, and Backblaze rules the roost in that respect.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Least Expensive
Very fast
Incredibly easy to set up
Supports multiple external drives
Truly UNLIMITED storage
Very fast
Incredibly easy to set up
Supports multiple external drives
Truly UNLIMITED storage
Cons
Limited file access maybe perhaps a con, but . . . .
P
Paul
Clean looking install, but slow has some bugs
(Updated: May 09, 2013)
Overall rating
6.8
Ease of Use
9.0
Features
5.0
Space / Price
8.0
Customer Support
5.0
Security
7.0
This company presents itself very nicely and looks promising. It says unlimited backup and does it all automatically.
Because I have some specific needs, I checked to see about scheduling that is more detailed, which they don't have.
Some things I had trouble with was the fact that you cant upload files over 9GB's. This is not unlimited storage. I guess it's reasonable, but they need to be more clear about this limit.
Also I found out after talking to a representative that if you have deleted a file off of your computer it will only remain on backblaze server for 30 days before they delete it. This is kind of odd considering backblaze is supposed to be the backup for deleted files.
other then that, I dont like that they dont have phone or chat tech support. There are other companies that provide this and backblaze could easy do it too.
***** Editor Note *****
Backblaze does not limit the file sizes. We appreciate Alex's review but wanted to correct the fact that you can upload as large of files as you want with Backblaze.
Because I have some specific needs, I checked to see about scheduling that is more detailed, which they don't have.
Some things I had trouble with was the fact that you cant upload files over 9GB's. This is not unlimited storage. I guess it's reasonable, but they need to be more clear about this limit.
Also I found out after talking to a representative that if you have deleted a file off of your computer it will only remain on backblaze server for 30 days before they delete it. This is kind of odd considering backblaze is supposed to be the backup for deleted files.
other then that, I dont like that they dont have phone or chat tech support. There are other companies that provide this and backblaze could easy do it too.
***** Editor Note *****
Backblaze does not limit the file sizes. We appreciate Alex's review but wanted to correct the fact that you can upload as large of files as you want with Backblaze.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Clean
Easy to Use
Unlimited
Easy to Use
Unlimited
Cons
File size limit
Files delete after 30 days
Files delete after 30 days
A
Alex