Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Backblaze Computer Backup 8.0

Yev Pusin:

Our latest version is pretty great: It cranks up the speed—letting you upload at whatever rate your local system can attain—all while reducing stress on key elements of your computer by an order of magnitude.

[…]

We’ve also re-architected the way we handle file copies. In our previous 7.0 version of Backblaze Computer Backup, the client app running on your laptop or desktop made a copy of your file on your hard drive before uploading it. In version 8.0, this step has been removed. Now the client reads the file, encrypts it in RAM, and uploads it to the Backblaze data center. This results in better overall system performance and a reduction in strain on HDDs and SSDs on your laptops and desktops.

What about large files that don’t fit in RAM or that would use more RAM than you want? This seems like the perfect time to use an APFS file clone to ensure a consistent snapshot of the data.

In version 8.0, you’ll get more information about what is getting uploaded and when. When we transfer large files, sometimes the app will appear to “hang” on uploading a part of that file, when in reality that file’s already been transmitted and we’re starting to work on the next batch of files. The UI will now reflect upload status more clearly.

The most important question for me is, if the UI reports that the upload is complete, does that actually mean that the file exists on Backblaze’s server and that it can be restored? Or, as with previous versions, does it require additional information to be uploaded by the client over the next 1–8 hours?

And, secondly, does this update address the longstanding issues with large bzfileids.dat files?

8 Comments RSS · Twitter

Do you still have to enter your private encryption key via the browser on a web site to do a restore?

Thanks. Does Backblaze allow to restore a full macOS system? The reviews at MacUpdate are horrible:
https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/31034/backblaze

Any reason you're not simply using Arq with B2 storage directly, or is that not the same pricing structure? I must confess that the history of this software doesn't fill me with great confidence ...

@MaX As far as I know, none of the cloud backup apps handle full systems/clones.

@Sebby I use Arq with AWS and Google cloud storage.

@Michael Tsai
Thanks. Any problems then restoring just data from Backblaze backups. MacUpdate comments strongly indicate that it fails there. For instance: "Ok, backing up actually works, but that's it. You better NEVER have to restore anything".

@MaX I think Backblaze’s restoring does work, subject to the timing and metadata issues discussed at the links above.

I had to restore data from Backblaze a few times and it always worked flawlessly.

Norm Margolus

I've restored data from Backblaze and never had a problem. I've also been impressed with taking over an old backup when I upgrade to a new machine, and that it has never failed to keep backing up, which time machine does occasionally.

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