The nature of Backblaze is set and forget, which I often did. As advertised, it proceeded to copy my files any time my Mac had access to Wi-Fi.
The app was tiny, occupying 829 KB on my hard drive and using 10 MB of RAM.Īfter a quick hard-drive scan, Backblaze determined I had 92.7 GB of files ready to be backed up, mostly in my User folder. Whether Mac or PC, while a user’s computer is on and connected to the Internet, Backblaze uploads the contents of the hard drive to a custom facility in San Francisco. On OS X, Backblaze is accessible as a System Preferences pane. Starting Backblazeīackblaze customers may install an application for OS X (10.5 and up) or Windows (XP, Vista and 7). To expedite the backups and placate my neighbors, I also backed up overnight for two weeks, using Caffeine to keep my Mac awake and calibrating my battery after 10 days of continuous nightly charges. Once I saw that my vital websites and support files were in both services, I felt safe enough to let them archive my music. I instructed Backblaze and CrashPlan to avoid music for seven days, forcing them to focus on documents and Web files. Using DaisyDisk, I determined that the largest folder - my music - was also the most replaceable. Anyone with backup experience on Windows or with services other than Backblaze and CrashPlan is welcome to share their experience in the comments.Īfter two weeks of backups, I discovered a way to prioritize data. Important note: While the online backup services I tested should also work on Windows machines, I didn’t have access to a computer with Windows OS on which to test. I tested backups from four different locations over a period of three weeks. My test environment was a 2011 MacBook Air running OS X 10.8.2. I’d read reviews of both before and often saw them compared against each other. Many services exist, but I compared the $50-per-year Backblaze service to $50-per-year CrashPlan+ Unlimited package. Offsite backup systems help with disaster recovery by storing versions of files in secure facilities. Then I began to research better ways to safeguard my digital life. Fire, theft, spilled coffee, overwritten files, disgruntled coworkers, zombie attacks - I played out nightmare scenarios in my head. For a recovering digital packrat like myself, who lives (and now dies) by the Web, data loss is a disaster akin to a tornado, which may also destroy backups kept in the same office as the original files. But passwords saved in the OS, cached emails, FTP bookmarks, application preferences and serial numbers, browser history, plugins, color swatches, copies of old browsers for testing… Gone.Īnything digital is susceptible to loss. Photoshop files, local test websites, PDFs and most text files were safe. After copying vital files to a handful of spare hard drives, I took a breath, formatted the disc and reinstalled the OS.Īn hour later I was dismayed to see how many files I’d failed to back up. But “many” is not “all,” and just then my Mac was too erratic for me to tell which fraction I had missed. I kept regular backups of many files using Apple’s Time Machine.
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