Ever since Backblaze launched, providing incredibly easy, unlimited online backup for individual users, companies have said, “Hey, but we have laptops and desktops that need to be backed up too!” To help these companies, this week we launched Backblaze Business Backup, making available the same $50 per year per computer unlimited backup. What Is Backblaze… Continue reading Backblaze Business Backup Launches
Backblaze Supports Windows 7
Microsoft has been asking people to throw house parties for the launch of Windows 7. We threw our own… but rather than bags of Doritos, we racked stacks of hard drives. For those of you that did throw a Windows 7 house party, or just bought or upgraded to Windows 7, Backblaze fully supports the… Continue reading Backblaze Supports Windows 7
User Builds “Extreme Media Server” Based on a Backblaze Storage Pod
Don Honabach has the honor of being the first person to successfully build his own Backblaze Storage Pod. (At least the first we know about.) With four servers running at home for media storage, Don was using a fair bit of power (and probably generating a lot of heat and noise and taking up space.)… Continue reading User Builds “Extreme Media Server” Based on a Backblaze Storage Pod
Snow Leopard Bug Deletes Data
Have you upgraded to Snow Leopard? Users on Apple’s forums are reporting a bug that deletes all user data if someone mistakenly logs into the “Guest” account. This issue was originally reported about a month ago on Cnet’s MacFixIt but today is being mentioned across the web as more people are being bitten by the… Continue reading Snow Leopard Bug Deletes Data
Backblaze Storage Pod: Vendors, Tips, and Tricks
Last month’s blog post about building our Backblaze Storage Pods generated a ton of interest and many people are building their own Pods! Our post also generated a ton of questions so, below we answer the common ones and provide more details about where to get components. Detailed Backblaze Storage Pod Parts and Vendor List… Continue reading Backblaze Storage Pod: Vendors, Tips, and Tricks
Backblaze Release 1.0.3
Backblaze has made a new release available and all users are scheduled to be automatically upgraded over the next two weeks. Below are the enhancements in this release: Release Date: 6/8/09 Windows Version: 1.0.3.209 Mac Version: 1.0.3.210 Auto-Update: All Users Enhanced Bandwidth Utilization Streamlined metadata uploads to reduce bandwidth usage and enhance backup speed. Enhanced… Continue reading Backblaze Release 1.0.3
Fallout of the Backblaze Storage Pod Post
Three weeks ago we published a post explaining how to build a Backblaze Storage Pod, the cloud storage hardware we use for our unlimited online backup service, and gave away the design to anyone who wished to build their own. We thought a few people might find it interesting. Perhaps some might even want to… Continue reading Fallout of the Backblaze Storage Pod Post
Petabytes on a Budget: How to Build Cheap Cloud Storage
To get the latest updates and information on ALL of the Storage Pod versions: Click Here. When we started Backblaze, our goal was to provide unlimited computer backup for $5 a month, so we had to figure out how to store hundreds of petabytes of customer data in a reliable, scalable way—and keep our costs… Continue reading Petabytes on a Budget: How to Build Cheap Cloud Storage
Photographer’s Portfolio Saved by Backblaze
Thousands of photographers use Backblaze to protect their digital photos, in part due to the recommendation of some great photo sites such as Photojojo, Stuck in Customs, Digital Composting, TWIP, NSLog(); and many others. This week one of our customers sent us a note to show some of the 400GB of photos recovered from Backblaze… Continue reading Photographer’s Portfolio Saved by Backblaze
Backblaze Release 1.0.1.190 and 1.0.1.191
Backblaze has made a new release available. Users will start being automatically upgraded later this week. Below are the enhancements in this release: Release Date: 8/31/09 Windows Version: 1.0.1.191 Mac Version: 1.0.1.190 Auto-Update: All Users Complete Snow Leopard Support (Mac) Re-written installer to support Snow Leopard security model. 64-bit support for higher performance. Backblaze Preference… Continue reading Backblaze Release 1.0.1.190 and 1.0.1.191
Backblaze Supports Snow Leopard
Apple launched OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard on Friday and not only is it faster and smaller, but also adds a few new features and core services. But for many, the price of just $29 seemed to be the primary reason to upgrade. So, were these really enough for people to rush out and buy the… Continue reading Backblaze Supports Snow Leopard
Backups in Baghdad: Protecting Data Around the World
“Jason,” not his real name, is an electrical engineer contracting for the military. I wanted to share the comments and photos he sent us about his experience with Backblaze in Baghdad: My being here is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I don’t want something like a hard drive failure to sour it. My… Continue reading Backups in Baghdad: Protecting Data Around the World
MacWorld Brings Back Steve Jobs
Sometimes its the little things that warm my heart. In January, many of us hoped to see Steve Jobs on stage as the keynote for the MacWorld event. We decided to show our support by making “Bring Back Steve Jobs” posters and passing them out the morning of the keynote. Today a very cool time… Continue reading MacWorld Brings Back Steve Jobs
Syncplicity Shutting Off Mac Users
Backblaze welcomes all Syncplicity users with a 15% off coupon! While synchronization and backup are not the same, some users try to use sync as a form of backup. Synchronization provider Syncplicity had a Mac version in beta for a while…but last week announced they are pulling the plug on it because of technical issues.… Continue reading Syncplicity Shutting Off Mac Users
Backblaze Release 1.0.1
Backblaze has made a new release available and all users are scheduled to be automatically upgraded over the next two weeks. Below are the enhancements in this release: Release Date: 6/8/09 Windows Version: 1.0.1.161 Mac Version: 1.0.1.162 Auto-Update: All Users This release is primarily a maintenance release to add system checks and make the service… Continue reading Backblaze Release 1.0.1
Backup Awareness Month Winners
June was Backup Awareness Month and every day we chose one person who installed a free trial to receive a one-year subscription to Backblaze. We received a lot of great feedback from the daily winners, many being shocked to have won something and thrilled to have the security of knowing they were backed up. As… Continue reading Backup Awareness Month Winners
Cloud Computing: Takeaways from the GigaOm Structure 09 Conference
One year ago I attended Cloud Camp, a gathering of early adopters of cloud computing. Primary questions there centered on: “How do we define cloud computing?” Last Thursday, I attended GigaOm Structure 09 and the discussions were full of cloud computing success stories, explanations of deployments, insights about how to scale bigger, offerings of cloud… Continue reading Cloud Computing: Takeaways from the GigaOm Structure 09 Conference
Causes of Data Loss and Some Statistics
Nearly one of two people (46%) lose data every year according to a study of Backblaze customers. Shocking? It surprised me at first glance, but then I dug in deeper. Drive Failures According to a Google study of hard drive failures, disk drives over a year old have about a one in 10 chance of… Continue reading Causes of Data Loss and Some Statistics