While the economic crisis continues to be at the forefront of our minds, business at Backblaze is booming. I would like to attribute that explicitly to our execution, but there is another factor at play: storage needs are skyrocketing. Every day, consumers and businesses are generating more digital data both in unit volume (# of… Continue reading Why We Believe the Data Storage Industry Is Recession-Proof
Year: 2008
Brian’s 10 Rules for How to Write Cross-Platform Code
Introduction I’ve had a lot of success in my 20-year software engineering career with developing cross platform C and C++ code. At Backblaze, we just released the Mac beta version of our online backup service, so I thought it an apt time to discuss my 10 rules for writing cross-platform code. We develop an online backup… Continue reading Brian’s 10 Rules for How to Write Cross-Platform Code
Calling All Testers: Backblaze Officially Launches Mac Beta Program
That may have been the most understated title for a blog post about a day like today. Less than three months after our Windows launch, today Backblaze announced a fully-featured Mac online backup service into private beta that followed the same “backup everything; no configuration setup; unlimited storage; $5 per month” approach. This happened so… Continue reading Calling All Testers: Backblaze Officially Launches Mac Beta Program
We’re Honored: Backblaze Selected as “Best of the Best” by PC World
After being selected as one of the AlwaysOn Global Top 250 Private Companies in July, Backblaze was selected as one of the 14 “Best of the Best” and asked to present at the AlwaysOn Venture Summit West. Backblaze was initially selected based on “innovation, market potential, commercialization, stakeholder value, and media buzz.” Held at the… Continue reading We’re Honored: Backblaze Selected as “Best of the Best” by PC World
Is Backblaze Encrypted? How to Make Strong Encryption Easy to Use
This post was originally written to describe the encryption process for Backblaze Personal Backup. To learn more about our security methods today, including our processes regarding Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, please visit our security page. —The Editors Goal: Security Done Right Protecting the privacy of our users’ data is a top priority for us here… Continue reading Is Backblaze Encrypted? How to Make Strong Encryption Easy to Use
Announcing the Official Launch of the Backblaze Unlimited Online Backup Service
Backblaze online backup launched publicly on Tuesday, September 16th, which US News called “gutsy” in today’s age of perpetual betas. I wanted to share a bit about what has transpired over the last few months that led us here. Backblaze Launch Visitors After four months in a stealth beta, we expanded the Backblaze private beta… Continue reading Announcing the Official Launch of the Backblaze Unlimited Online Backup Service
Avoiding Data Loss: A Guide to the 10 Most Common Reasons Backups Fail
1. Your backup strategy is to burn CDs and DVDs. A diamond may be forever, but CDs and DVDs have a shelf-life. Even the Optical Storage Technology Association says an unrecorded disk will only last five to 10 years . And this assumes you’ve selected the right files and remember to do it, which brings… Continue reading Avoiding Data Loss: A Guide to the 10 Most Common Reasons Backups Fail
A Look at Distributed Systems and the Collective Wisdom of Clouds
CloudCamp gathered a crowd of developers, entrepreneurs, business people, and investors last night to have an un-conference focused on honing the future of computing clouds. Despite spending less than a month on the event, Reuven Cohen and his team attracted several hundred people and 22 sponsors including Sun, Microsoft, Dell, Amazon, and a number of… Continue reading A Look at Distributed Systems and the Collective Wisdom of Clouds
What’s Your Name Again? Somethingblaze?
No doubt about it, the name Backblaze is hard. I’ve had people come up to me at parties and say, “I love your Blackblaze site. Or was it Backbaze?” We noticed people coming to our site searching for “back blaze” or “blaze back.” Brian Wilson’s previous company was called Codeblaze, so when he started working… Continue reading What’s Your Name Again? Somethingblaze?
Announcing a Private Beta for Our Next-Generation Backblaze Cloud Platform
Wow. This was not your typical Monday. The Backblaze online backup service has been in a very private beta since early February. Monday we made our beta a bit more public. We showed Backblaze to top 10 blogs TechCrunch and Ars Technica, and great tutorial site SimpleHelp and gave them about 1,000 invites total to… Continue reading Announcing a Private Beta for Our Next-Generation Backblaze Cloud Platform
Why Consumer Trust Continues to Flow Into Online Cloud Services
A decade ago, the idea of entering your credit card information into a web page was reserved for only a few websites, as ecommerce was in its infancy. Purchasing a book from Amazon.com was acceptable, but joesbooks.com saw no customers—even if they were a reputable offline store. Users were not ready to make that leap… Continue reading Why Consumer Trust Continues to Flow Into Online Cloud Services
iPhone Run Over by a Semi?
For over five years I have been tied into ancient cell phones because I had originally signed up for a no-longer-offered $99 unlimited minutes plan and converting to any current plan would double my monthly bill. When the iPhone debuted, I looked longingly at it as I continued to use my 1950’s-era RAZR. But someone… Continue reading iPhone Run Over by a Semi?
The Face of Backblaze
You have met the face of Backblaze. You might have watched her explain that Backblaze provides online backup; or saw her dealing with the deadly plagues that could affect your computer (um, ninjas?); or maybe you just watched the outtakes. Regardless, if you’ve visited the Backblaze website, she has talked to you before. Many of… Continue reading The Face of Backblaze
How Many Bytes Are in a Megabyte? The Answer May Surprise You
This seems like a mathematical question, but is actually one of philosophy or perspective, and continues to cause confusion in its ambiguity. The Confusion Originally megabyte was used to describe a byte multiple (220 = 1024 x 1024 = 1,048,576) in computer programming. However, several international organizations and most storage media (including hard drives and… Continue reading How Many Bytes Are in a Megabyte? The Answer May Surprise You
The Importance of Forced Discipline: Lessons for Data Backup
I attended a presentation a couple days ago by Udi Manber, Vice President of Engineering for Google core search. Manber demonstrated why search is difficult, giving interesting example queries such as “how many calories in a pound,” for which the answer is 9000 trillion, since calorie is a unit of energy and pound a unit… Continue reading The Importance of Forced Discipline: Lessons for Data Backup
A Fun Comparison of Brand Loyalty: Is EMC the Next Coca-Cola?
EMC made an unsolicited bid for Iomega. While Iomega refused it, choosing to stick with the share purchase agreement it struck with ExcelStor Group Ltd. in December, it begs the question: Why was EMC interested in Iomega? CEO Joseph Tucci has long stated exploratory interest in the consumer market: “we’re thinking about it. There are… Continue reading A Fun Comparison of Brand Loyalty: Is EMC the Next Coca-Cola?
How We’ve Hardened Our Data Centers Against Natural Disasters
This weekend we moved into our new data center—a facility we share with companies including Sun Microsystems, Esurance, Ticketmaster, and CNET. It has all the high-tech wizardry you can imagine to keep our customers’ online backup data safe: raised floor with seismic pedestals in case of earthquake 16 data carriers independent PG&E power feed induction coupling… Continue reading How We’ve Hardened Our Data Centers Against Natural Disasters
Light as a Brick
Our PCs are more powerful than ever, so why do they feel so slow? It might be that our expectations have increased. Or, it might be the applications installed on them. A new PC today has one million times (4GB vs 4KB) more RAM than the earliest computers. Creating a program back then meant optimizing… Continue reading Light as a Brick