Introducing release 4.1, the latest update to our Backblaze Personal Backup and Backblaze Business Backup clients. This is our first major release with our new product names. What new names, you say? Our initial product, delivered eight years ago, was Backblaze Online Backup, a good name. Over time we added a second product, Backblaze for… Continue reading Backblaze Release 4.1—What’s in a Name?
Meet the Interns: Alex
It’s summer time and that means our latest crop of interns are coming! Our first intern started a week ago and has been hard at work in our data center, helping our Operations department keep our Storage Pods spinning. Let’s take a moment and learn more about Alex, shall we? What is your Backblaze title?… Continue reading Meet the Interns: Alex
All About FileVault: Encryption for Your Mac
FileVault keeps your data safe if your Mac is ever stolen or lost by encrypting the hard drive. What does that mean, though? Let’s demystify FileVault and find out more about how it works with things like Backblaze. What Is FileVault? FileVault is Apple’s term for disk encryption. It’s been around in its current incarnation… Continue reading All About FileVault: Encryption for Your Mac
Wanted: Office Administrator
Thank you for your interest, but this position has been filled. Please check out our jobs page for additional great opportunities at Backblaze. You will play a pivotal role at Backblaze! You will be the glue that binds people together in the office and one of the main engines that keeps our company running. This… Continue reading Wanted: Office Administrator
Still $5/Month
On June 2nd, 2008, when Backblaze was still just five guys hammering away on a big red box in a one-bedroom apartment turned office, Backblaze went into public beta with version 1.0.0.71. With great fanfare, we announced unlimited online backup of your Windows PC for just $5 a month, the Mac release was a few… Continue reading Still $5/Month
Data Backup: Are You a Hero or a Zero?
June is Backup Awareness month, and Backblaze being a data backup company, is keen to have folks be, well, backup aware. During the year, we publish blog posts and articles on data backup and spend marketing money spreading the word—back up your data. We’re not alone, as there are plenty of other companies doing the… Continue reading Data Backup: Are You a Hero or a Zero?
Backblaze and Dropbox: Complementary Cloud Services
We’ve talked before about the difference between online storage and online backup. One of the most popular online sharing services is Dropbox. Many of us have both Dropbox and Backblaze installed side by side on the same computer. How do they work together to keep your computer data protected? Let’s take a look. What Is… Continue reading Backblaze and Dropbox: Complementary Cloud Services
One Billion Drive Hours and Counting: Q1 2016 Hard Drive Stats
For Q1 2016 we are reporting on 61,590 operational hard drives used to store encrypted customer data in our data center. There are 9.5% more hard drives in this review versus our last review when we evaluated 56,224 drives. In Q1 2016, the hard drives in our data center, past and present, totaled over one billion hours in operation to date. That’s nearly 42 million days or 114,155 years worth of spinning hard drives. Let’s take a look at what these hard drives have been up to.
Don’t Trust the Cloud Alone: Think 3-2-1
It may sound contradictory coming from someone whose livelihood is based on the cloud, but I think trusting the cloud alone with the information that’s important to you can be a mistake. You can avoid it with the 3-2-1 backup strategy. Let me explain. I love music. I bought a lot of audio CDs back… Continue reading Don’t Trust the Cloud Alone: Think 3-2-1
Hiring a VP of Marketing
Thank you for your interest, but this position has been filled. Please check out our jobs page for additional great opportunities at Backblaze. Backblaze is looking to hire a VP of Marketing. I find that both exhilarating and frightening. Why frightening? Because I’ve played the role since the inception of the company, it would be… Continue reading Hiring a VP of Marketing
Wanted: Senior Software Engineer—Java
Thank you for your interest, but this position has been filled. Please check out our jobs page for additional great opportunities at Backblaze. Want to work at a company that helps customers in over 150 countries around the world protect the memories they hold dear? A company that stores over 250 petabytes of customers’ photos,… Continue reading Wanted: Senior Software Engineer—Java
Wanted: Windows Client Programmer
Updated 01/08/2018 Want to work at a company that helps customers in over 150 countries around the world protect the memories they hold dear? A company that stores over 250 petabytes of customers’ photos, music, documents, and work files in a purpose-built cloud storage system? A company that’s restored over 15 billion files for our… Continue reading Wanted: Windows Client Programmer
Storage Pod 6.0: Building a 60 Drive 480TB Storage Server
Storage Pod 6.0 deploys 60 off the shelf hard drives in a 4U chassis to lower the cost of our latest data storage server to just $0.036/GB. That’s 22% less than our Storage Pod 5.0 storage server that used 45 drives to store data for $0.044/GB. The Storage Pod 6.0 hardware design is, as always,… Continue reading Storage Pod 6.0: Building a 60 Drive 480TB Storage Server
Happy Ninth Birthday Backblaze
Backblaze turns 9 today! See what Backblaze has been up to by taking a look back at the last 4 years and all that we’ve been up to…
Can I Use an SSD With Time Machine?
Time Machine is Apple’s built-in backup software for OS X. All it requires is an external hard drive (or a compatible network attached storage system like an Apple Time Capsule) to work. Solid state drives (SSDs) are more affordable than ever, but is it safe to use an SSD with Time Machine? Let’s find out.… Continue reading Can I Use an SSD With Time Machine?
Goodbye to Our $25 On/Off Switch
Looking at the image above you can almost hear Hal saying, “I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” By coincidence, we heard “I’m afraid I can’t do that” any time we suggested to our Storage Pod designers that we replace the on/off switch in our Storage Pods. You know the one: The Frozen… Continue reading Goodbye to Our $25 On/Off Switch
Planned Maintenance (Thursday 2-4 p.m. PDT)
As part of our Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage maintenance window (Thursday 2-3 p.m. Pacific) we are doing maintenance on some core Backblaze systems and may experience longer downtime affecting Backblaze B2, Backblaze Personal Backup, and Backblaze Business Backup systems. The planned maintenance will be from 2-4 p.m. Pacific. During this time, no new Backblaze or… Continue reading Planned Maintenance (Thursday 2-4 p.m. PDT)
Should I Use an External Drive for Backup?
If you’re already using Backblaze or another cloud backup solution, you’re well on your way to bulletproof data storage security. So why clutter up your desktop with an external hard disk drive and its bulky cable if you don’t have to? Well, there are still a few reasons to consider. Read on for details. Primary… Continue reading Should I Use an External Drive for Backup?