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Use ChronoSync with Backblaze B2
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    Use ChronoSync with Backblaze B2

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      Article Summary

      ChronoSync is a third-party sync tool that runs on macOS and supports Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage.

      Enable Backblaze B2

      Before you begin: You must have a Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage account. You can sign up here. If you already have a Backblaze account and the left navigation menu contains a B2 Cloud Storage section, your account is already enabled for Backblaze B2.

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under Account, click My Settings.
      3. Under Enabled Products, select the checkbox to enable B2 Cloud Storage.
      4. Review the Terms and Conditions, and click OK to accept them. 

      Create a Bucket

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under B2 Cloud Storage, click Buckets.
      3. Click Create a Bucket.
      4. Enter a name for your bucket.
        Bucket names must be at least six characters and globally unique. A message is displayed if your bucket name is already in use.
      5. Select a privacy setting: Private or Public.
        Files that are in a private bucket require authentication to perform an action, for example, downloading. Public buckets do not require authentication so you can easily share files. You can change a bucket's privacy settings at any time.
      6. If applicable, enable a Backblaze B2 server-side encryption key.
      7. Enable Object Lock to restrict a file from being modified or deleted for a specified period of time.
      8. Click Create a Bucket, and copy the value that is in the Endpoint field; you may need this value for other processes.
      9. Click Lifecycle Settings to control how long to keep the files in your new bucket.

      Create an Application Key

      Application keys control access to your Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage account and the buckets that are contained in your account.

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under Account, click Application Keys.
      3. Click Add a New Application Key, and enter an app key name.
            You cannot search an app key by this name; therefore, app key names are not required to be globally unique.
      4. Select All or a specific bucket in the Allow Access to Bucket(s) dropdown menu.
      5. Optionally, select your access type (Read and Write, Read Only, or Write Only).
      6. Optionally, select the Allow List All Bucket Names checkbox (required for the B2 Native API b2_list_buckets and the S3-Compatible API S3 List Buckets operations).
      7. Optionally, enter a file name prefix to restrict application key access only to files with that prefix. Depending on what you selected in step #4, this limits application key access to files with the specified prefix for all buckets or just the selected bucket.
      8. Optionally, enter a positive integer to limit the time, in seconds, before the application key expires. The value must be less than 1000 days (in seconds).
      9. Click Create New Key, and note the resulting keyID and applicationKey values.
      Note
      When you create a new app key, the response contains the actual key string, for example N2Zug0evLcHDlh_L0Z0AJhiGGdY. You can always find the keyID on this page, but for security, the applicationKey appears only once. Make sure you copy and securely save this value elsewhere.

      Set Up a Source Target in ChronoSync

      Before you begin: You must download ChronoSync on your Mac, and follow the install and registration instructions on this page.

      1. Sign in to ChronoSync, and click Create a new synchronizer task.
      2. Enter a name for the task, and click OK.
      3. On the Source Target tab in the Connect to field, click Choose and select the local folder on your computer that you want to synchronize with Backblaze B2.
      4. In the Operation field, select the method to use for synchronizing files between your computer and Backblaze B2. The default method is Backup Left-to-right.

      Configure the Connection from ChronoSync to Backblaze B2

      1. On the Destination Target tab, select Connect to and select Create connection.
      2. Enter a unique profile name.
      3. Select Backblaze B2 as the connection type.
      4. Enter your Backblaze B2 Key ID.
      5. Enter your Backblaze B2 Application Key.
      6. Click Test, and, if settings are valid, click Next.
      7. Click Advanced, and adjust the advanced parameters.
        1. Enter 120 in the Custom request timeout field.
        2. Select 100 MiB in the Large-file upload block size field.
        3. Click Save.
          Your new profile name appears in the Connect to field on the Destination Target tab.

      Select a Destination Target

      1. On the Destination Target tab, click Choose.
      2. Select the target Backblaze B2 bucket that you created in the Create a Bucket task.
      3. Click Select.

      Configure Performance Options

      You can configure custom settings in ChronoSync to improve performance.

      1. Click Options in the left navigation menu.
      2. Select Dissect in the Package handling field.
      3. If you have a fast Internet connection and you want to speed up the rate of synchronization, increase the number of concurrent operations in the Max. Concurrent Operations field. Backblaze recommends changing this value between 6 and 12 concurrent operations.
      4. Click Save in the top menu.

      Automate and Schedule the Synchronization Job

      You can configure the synchronization job to run automatically.

      1. Click Auto in the upper-right corner of the menu.
      2. Click Add to Schedule.
      3. Configure the options for the scheduled task, and click Add.
        The Scheduled Tasks Manager screen displays your newly scheduled task.
      4. Click Save in the top menu.

      Validate and Start the Synchronization Job

      1. In the main menu, right-click the synchronization job that you created, and select Open & Validate.
      2. Review the validation tasks on the Sync-Task Validation screen.
      3. Click Validate to begin the validation process.
      4. After the validation process is complete, right-click the synchronization job in the main menu, and select Open & Synchronize to start the synchronization job.
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