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 How to Make Strong Encryption Easy to Use
Backblaze Online Backup Service Launched
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 Backblaze Online Backup Service Launched
10 Reasons Your Backup Will 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 10 Reasons Your Backup Will Fail
The 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 The 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?
Backblaze Launches Private Beta
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 Backblaze Launches Private Beta
Old vs. New How-it-Works Page
Originally I wanted to do a graphic showing the life and times of a user going about their day, backing up their computer online, suffering from data loss and then using Backblaze to restore. I liked some of the information designs done by Megan Jaegerman for The New York Times and wanted to do something… Continue reading Old vs. New How-it-Works Page
Trust Continues to Flow Into Online 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 Trust Continues to Flow Into Online 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? Really?
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? Really?
160,000 Clovers of Luck
Edward Martin Sr. should be pretty lucky by now. He has worked hard to generate that luck for nearly all of his 76 years by finding and collecting four leaf clovers—160,000 four leaf clovers to be exact—earning him a world record. It seems that “luck” is what many count on for backup. Luck that their… Continue reading 160,000 Clovers of Luck
Forced Discipline Isn’t Just for the Military
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 Forced Discipline Isn’t Just for the Military
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 Is EMC the Next Coca-Cola?
Backblaze Hardened Against Disaster
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 Backblaze Hardened Against Disaster
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
Shaping a Logo
When we were thinking about a logo for Backblaze, we knew we wanted an iconic image that could be connected easily to the software. That meant creating something simple enough that could scale to 16×16 pixels for an icon placed in the system tray. Logos are probably the most difficult for me as a designer… Continue reading Shaping a Logo
Ziff Davis CTO Loses His Backup
Robyn Peterson isn’t a computer newbie—after all, he’s in charge of technology for tech publisher Ziff Davis. So how did he lose his backup? Using a popular techie solution for online backup: FTP-ing his files to a web hosting provider. A perfectly reasonable, if somewhat tedious, solution. But as he found out, not such a… Continue reading Ziff Davis CTO Loses His Backup