{"id":104907,"date":"2022-02-17T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T17:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=104907"},"modified":"2025-12-14T15:43:45","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T23:43:45","slug":"usb-flash-drive-restores-ride-off-into-the-sunset","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/usb-flash-drive-restores-ride-off-into-the-sunset\/","title":{"rendered":"USB Flash Drive Restores Ride Off Into the Sunset"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-104909\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bb-bh-USB-Flash-Key-Thumb-Drive-Restore-Deprecation-e1645029581806.png\" alt=\"USB Flash Key Thumb Drive Restore Deprecation\" width=\"1440\" height=\"820\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Way back in 2012 we decided it was time to <a href=\"\/blog\/the-dvd-is-dead-usb-flash-drive-restores-are-here\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sunset our DVD restore option<\/a> (Yes, that was a thing.) and replace it with USB flash drive restores to accompany our USB hard drives. Today, the time has come to bid farewell to those little flash keys as well.<\/p>\n<p>Demand for USB flash drives has waned considerably since the halcyon days of 2012, while internet bandwidth has made smaller restores far easier. At the same time, demand for our USB hard drive restores has steadily increased. So while we bid a fond adieu to everyone\u2019s favorite spy movie staple, we remain ready and able to fulfill your physical restore needs with larger-capacity USB hard drives should you need to recover a lot of data all at once.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, as of March 3, we will no longer offer USB flash drive restores, but rest assured that the Backblaze Computer Backup service continues to offer many options to <a href=\"https:\/\/secure.backblaze.com\/user_signin.htm?hopto=user_restore.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">restore your files<\/a>, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Download via the web application.<\/li>\n<li>Save files to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage.<\/li>\n<li>Order a USB hard drive to keep or redeem through our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.backblaze.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/217665948-Restore-Return-Refund-program-How-to-return-a-USB-restore-drive-for-refund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Restore Return Refund<\/a> program.<\/li>\n<li>And you\u2019ll still be able to recover your Backblaze B2 Snapshots using our <a href=\"https:\/\/help.backblaze.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/1260807314430-How-to-order-a-Snapshot-Drive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Snapshot Drive<\/a> recovery option.<\/li>\n<li>And if you&#8217;re administering a Business Group, you can utilize any of the above options depending on your configuration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the meantime, fly little USB flash drives\u2026fly!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-104916 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/spooky_drive.gif\" alt=\"Flying USB\" width=\"560\" height=\"373\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USB flash drive restores are going away, but you have many options to restore your files. Check them out in this post. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":104909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[121],"tags":[469],"class_list":["post-104907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backing-up","tag-consumerbackup","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>An Update on Our Restore Options as USB Flash Drives Ride Off Into the Sunset<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Backblaze has decided to sunset our USB flash drive restore program. Learn all the programs that will be replacing this method of restoring your device data.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/usb-flash-drive-restores-ride-off-into-the-sunset\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Update on Our Restore Options as USB Flash Drives Ride Off Into the Sunset\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Backblaze has decided to sunset our USB flash drive restore program. Learn all the programs that will be replacing this method of restoring your device data.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/usb-flash-drive-restores-ride-off-into-the-sunset\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage &amp; Cloud Backup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/backblaze\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-17T17:00:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-14T23:43:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bb-bh-USB-Flash-Key-Thumb-Drive-Restore-Deprecation-e1645029581806.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Yev\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@YevP\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@backblaze\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Yev\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An Update on Our Restore Options as USB Flash Drives Ride Off Into the Sunset","description":"Backblaze has decided to sunset our USB flash drive restore program. 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Yev has a degree in business and communications from the University of Iowa, where he developed an alliteration affinity. Yev enjoys writing in an amusing way about the \"why\" of things and how decisions are made, so that readers can learn and be entertained all at once. 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