Backblaze

This app has a major failing -- it can't restore files by itself, and most importantly, there's no way to restore files to their original location. Why this isn't a priority for Backblaze is beyond me.

This app has a major failing -- it can't restore files by itself, and most importantly, there's no way to restore files to their original location. Why this isn't a priority for Backblaze is beyond me.

WARNING!. This backup service does not back up applications in the /Applications folder and it does not back up aliases anywhere!. This is inexplicable, especially the alias problem. You have to move your applications to another folder and this can mess up some incorrectly-made applications. Also, the search function on their web site as well as in the iOS app sucks, as does navigating through hierarchical file structures.

Hands down still the best remote backup service around. Only 4 ½ stars, though, because you still can't backup /usr/local. A warning: since one update a few months ago—don't know which—bzserv (and therefore Backblaze) is almost unusable on computers with HDDs; maybe it has quietly been optimized for SSD-based systems, but if you still have an HDD, the system (including online page loading speeds) take a heavy hit, whenever bzserv is working in the background. (Reducing Backblaze upload speed doesn't help, because it's what's happening locally on your boot volume that's the problem.) I've been on an SSD for some time, and all is great, but before the switch one to two months of Backblaze on an HDD was a real pita.

Until ISPs in the USA start providing symetrical upload/download (same speed both directions), online backup for the majority of people is not practical. My ISP provides 200 Mbps down, but only 10Mbps up. Even at 10Mbps, a backup of just my data takes over 24 hours, never mind system images. By the time data is backuped, it's already gone through several local update cycles, in other words, the online is never caught up.

Count me in the group that has had NO problems whatsoever with BackBlaze. I've backed up terabytes of date, and have never had any problems with restores. 100% success so far. And $5/month for unlimited storage is unbeatable. Only downside, and this is inherent of all of these services, is that upload speed can be SLOW. This, however, is a problem with your ISP, and not the software.

AVOID BACKBLAZE – As others have noted, test restores of data have been unreliable. Never assume that your data is safe without restoring data and testing results carefully. Backblaze restores were extremely problematic – and 'customer support' was slow, sketchy and unhelpful. I cancelled auto-renew after a year.

not bad, but not great either. One very annoying issue is that folders don't appear to be checksumed. Backblaze support says files are checksumed so if you move or rename it is not backed up again. However, if you have a folder with tens of thousands of files (i had to learn this the hard way) and you decide to rename it, it has to be backed up again. So if you are not a big folder mover and renamer, i think it might work for you.

I can't compare it to other similar services, e.g. CrashPlan, because I haven't tried them, but I love it: fast, easy, fair price, works great on El Capitan, satisfying so far. Some things could be improved, though: I get it that system files and directories will not be backed up. But what about additions that the user has made to the system? Third-party extensions, homebrewed and other binaries in /usr/local/? It would be easy for the Backblaze servers to diff a client's system setup against the standard Apple OS X install and only backup the additional files & directories, those that are not OS X defaults. And /Library/Application\ Support/ does contain a lot of important things for the user, not only his home folder. (!) And why not your /Applications folder? As far as I can see, they don't give us a reason. Well, I have other local backup setups, so it doesn't really matter, if all that stuff isn't backed up to the Backblaze pods… well, except when there's a catastrophic event like a fire… and isn't that what Backblaze is supposed to be for? Getting *all* your important stuff back, when disaster strikes? Not the system, of course, but all the rest? Hmmm… Still, it's a great addition to cloning and Time Machine.