{"id":112935,"date":"2026-04-17T16:23:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T23:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/?p=112935"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:23:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T23:23:41","slug":"the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/","title":{"rendered":"The Changing Landscape of Cloud Sync, and What It Means for Your Backup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Backblaze Computer Backup was built on a simple promise: unlimited backup for everything on your computer. That promise hasn’t changed. But the way files live on your computer has, and we want to explain what’s happening, why it matters, and where we’re headed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How cloud sync used to work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Not long ago, when you installed Dropbox or OneDrive, those apps copied your files directly onto your hard drive. They were real, local files. Backblaze would find them, back them up, and you could restore them just like anything else on your machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What changed<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Over the past several years, cloud sync providers have fundamentally rearchitected how they store files at the operating system level. On Windows, tools like Dropbox and OneDrive now use something called the Cloud Files API, which represents your synced files as reparse points<\/a>\u2014essentially placeholders that point back to the cloud rather than storing actual data locally. The file appears to be there, but it’s really a redirect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn’t a bad thing for those apps: it lets them sync efficiently and save local disk space. But it creates a real problem for backup software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why we can’t reliably back up placeholders<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Backblaze Computer Backup encounters a reparse point, we’re not looking at your file\u2014we’re looking at a pointer. Backing that up wouldn’t actually protect your data; it would just save the redirect. And restoring a redirect isn’t a real restore. Since reliable backup and restore is the entire point, we made the decision to exclude folders managed this way rather than give customers a false sense of security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is also consistent with how we’ve always built the backup client: lightweight, unlimited, and focused on real user-generated files rather than duplicating data that already lives in the cloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where we’ve made it work, and where we’re still working<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We’ve successfully added support for iCloud Drive and Google Drive by working within those platforms’ models. Extending the same support to every sync provider is more complex, but it’s something we’re actively exploring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Files where third-party tools have not added reparse points or other placeholder indicators and are stored directly on a customer\u2019s computer, outside of third-party sync folders, continue to be backed up as they always have been. We are actively evaluating how to better support data from synced sources in the future.If you have questions about your current backup coverage, you can read our Docs about backing up third-party application data,<\/a> or reach out to our Support team at helpme@backblaze.com.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how changes in cloud sync technology affect your backup coverage and what Backblaze is doing to keep your files protected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":138,"featured_media":112936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[471,469],"class_list":["post-112935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backblaze-bits","tag-businessbackup","tag-consumerbackup","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Changing Landscape of Cloud Sync, and What It Means for Your Backup<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how changes in cloud sync technology affect your backup coverage and what Backblaze is doing to keep your files protected.\" \/>\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\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Changing Landscape of Cloud Sync, and What It Means for Your Backup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how changes in cloud sync technology affect your backup coverage and what Backblaze is doing to keep your files protected.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/backblaze\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-17T23:23:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-17T23:23:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Generic-Product-updates-Blog-Header-1440x820-2-1.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=\"Natasha Rabinov\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@backblaze\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@backblaze\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natasha Rabinov\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Changing Landscape of Cloud Sync, and What It Means for Your Backup","description":"Learn how changes in cloud sync technology affect your backup coverage and what Backblaze is doing to keep your files protected.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Changing Landscape of Cloud Sync, and What It Means for Your Backup","og_description":"Learn how changes in cloud sync technology affect your backup coverage and what Backblaze is doing to keep your files protected.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/","og_site_name":"Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/backblaze","article_published_time":"2026-04-17T23:23:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-17T23:23:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":820,"url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Generic-Product-updates-Blog-Header-1440x820-2-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Natasha Rabinov","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@backblaze","twitter_site":"@backblaze","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Natasha Rabinov","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/"},"author":{"name":"Natasha Rabinov","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1cb320467c8169617d0654bb693c6240"},"headline":"The Changing Landscape of Cloud Sync, and What It Means for Your Backup","datePublished":"2026-04-17T23:23:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-17T23:23:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/"},"wordCount":450,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Generic-Product-updates-Blog-Header-1440x820-2-1.png","keywords":["BusinessBackup","ConsumerBackup"],"articleSection":["Backblaze Bits"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/","url":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/","name":"The Changing Landscape of Cloud Sync, and What It Means for Your Backup","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Generic-Product-updates-Blog-Header-1440x820-2-1.png","datePublished":"2026-04-17T23:23:38+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-17T23:23:41+00:00","description":"Learn how changes in cloud sync technology affect your backup coverage and what Backblaze is doing to keep your files protected.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Generic-Product-updates-Blog-Header-1440x820-2-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Generic-Product-updates-Blog-Header-1440x820-2-1.png","width":1440,"height":820,"caption":"An image of the Backblaze logo on a gradient background."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/the-changing-landscape-of-cloud-sync-and-what-it-means-for-your-backup\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Changing Landscape of Cloud Sync, and What It Means for Your Backup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/","name":"Backblaze Cloud Solutions Blog","description":"Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Backblaze","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/backblaze_icon_transparent.png?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.backblaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/backblaze_icon_transparent.png?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Backblaze"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/backblaze","https:\/\/x.com\/backblaze","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/Backblaze","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Backblaze"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1cb320467c8169617d0654bb693c6240","name":"Natasha Rabinov","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/natasha-150x150.png","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/natasha-150x150.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/natasha-150x150.png","caption":"Natasha Rabinov"},"description":"Natasha Rabinov is the director of strategic initiatives at Backblaze. With over a decade of experience in IT and cloud, Natasha has continuously advocated for customers and how to best help them protect critical data. After graduating from business school in France, Natasha caught the travel bug and she can now be found traveling and swimming in her spare time, frequently in the company of her family and friends.","url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/author\/natasha\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Generic-Product-updates-Blog-Header-1440x820-2-1.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/138"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backblazeprod.wpenginepowered.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}