HP is shutting down its Upline online backup service. No official announcement has been made, but HP has sent its users a notice (shown below) saying it will shut down the service on March 31st. TechCrunch has reported about previous trouble the service had and the current shutdown. Backblaze is offering HP Upline users a… Continue reading A Warm Welcome to Former HP Upline Customers Looking for a New Home
Backblaze Attending TechCrunch Cloud Computing Roundtable
TechCrunch is holding its next roundtable on Feb 27th asking the question, “Whose Cloud Is It Anyway?” Assembling 275 people together, TechCrunch intends to discuss whether clouds will be closed, warring platforms or open, interconnected systems. Other questions I believe should be discussed include: What is the appropriate level for a cloud to exist at?… Continue reading Backblaze Attending TechCrunch Cloud Computing Roundtable
A Look at the Future of Internet Speeds: Is Faster Broadband Coming Soon?
Broadband connections in the United States are 10 times slower than those in South Korea. In fact, we are #15 based on average connection speed, behind not only Japan, Finland, France, and Sweden (which are all at least three times faster) but also countries including Iceland, Poland, and Portugal that are blessed with significantly faster… Continue reading A Look at the Future of Internet Speeds: Is Faster Broadband Coming Soon?
The Story of JournalSpace.com: A Shutdown Due to No Backups
JournalSpace, a six-year-old blog hosting service, closed shop on Tuesday after losing all of its users’ data. Details are sketchy, but the company claims the cause was either an OS failure or a disgruntled employee that deleted the data. Regardless of the cause, since JournalSpace had no backups, in addition to the death of the… Continue reading The Story of JournalSpace.com: A Shutdown Due to No Backups
Hear Our Story: Listen to Backblaze on the Radio This Week
Backblaze’s first and only radio ad.
Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009: A Look Back at Our Year
At the beginning of 2007, we set off on a mission to make sure no one ever lost data again. 2008 saw numerous milestones along this path, so I wanted to take a quick look back and a glance forward into 2009. Realizing that the #1 reason users did not back up was the difficulty… Continue reading Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009: A Look Back at Our Year
Why We Believe the Data Storage Industry Is Recession-Proof
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
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?