So, I am a new Backblaze user and am having a significant performance problem with web applications when it is in use. I have a 45Mbps plan with AT&T. With Backblaze running at factory settings my download speedtest drops to like 10-15Mpbs. With Backblaze paused, the speedtest jumps back to 40-46Mbps. I have tried manually adjusting the performance settings, but seem to be getting little performance difference when doing so. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Tim
Are you backing up files, or downloading them?
You might try tweaking the performance setting in Backblaze. And contact their support team – they are very helpful.
I’ve currently got BackBlaze set to “automatic threading/throttle”, but when I started using it it indeed took up bandwidth (for days) to perform the initial backup. I speeded things along by leaving my machine on overnights and manually increasing bandwidth and processor usage, then returning it to normal (or even pausing it) when using my Mac during the day. I don’t remember how long I did this but it was under a week of overnights to back up several Tb.
After the initial backup is completed I doubt you’ll notice any speed drops.
@Wolfie is correct. Many download problems are due to limited upload speed. I’m stuck with Comcast, and their 250Mbps plan only gets a 5Mbps upload speed.
Download suffers when devices cannot communicate with the sender so I limit offsite backups to midnight - 6am.
Thank you all for the quick responses. I will try some of the suggestions provided.
Best regards,
Tim
Just a random note if you’re restricting your upload hours…
With Backblaze, your entire initial backup has to be uploaded within the first 30 days, and the backup has to be verified every 30 days. So if you have a lot of data, and you’re relegating the backup to overnight hours, you might run into issues with not completing in the first 30 days.
What I did for my initial backup (6 TB, without a fantastic uplink, with limited time to actually run the backup) is go to the Settings -> Exclusions tab, and tell Backblaze not to back up any files larger than a particular size. That got me a small enough backup set that it could complete - and once it completes then you have another 30 days.
Then increase the size. Wash, rinse, repeat.
By bumping that up in a few increments, I got the whole backup uploaded over the course of maybe 60 days. And now it’s very manageable as I’m not adding tons of data every day. 
Similar experience here. I am stuck with DSL so my upload speed is about 700kbps. I will often experience general internet sluggishness—well, internet unusability—when Backblaze uploads even a few dozen megabytes. I will pause the backup when this happens. When it automatically retries, it will often proceed without any notice.
Like @bowline, if I have a large backup or if I need to get a lot of work done, I will run the backup overnight instead. This happens maybe once or twice a year.
When the laptop is at work, with good internet I seldom notice any issues at all.
That upload speed is a crime!
Similar I have my backup stuff run overnight to not hog the network until people are asleep in the house.
Yep. Check out the speed you can get in Chattanooga Tennessee.
1GB Up & Down with no caps for $68/month. (10GB for $299!)
Yeah I’m forever jealous…when I move from my parents in Chicago to somewhere else in the city I hope to escape Comcast.
Wow! What country do you live in Wolfe?
To all who responded, thank you again. Just to wrap this up from my side, I reset my energy saver settings, with Backblaze schedule set to continuous, and ran Backblaze most of the day yesterday and all night last night getting a full backup completed. Speeds are now back up to normal for my internet plan.
A question for those who are using Backblaze on the recommended “continuous” schedule - do you make any particular energy save setting adjustments, such as prevent computer from sleeping when monitor is off, etc.?
Thanks again for all your help.
No. No changes to any normal behavior. It just works in the background, without my noticing.
I think I’ll forward your response to my ISP!
I live in an island—both in municipality and technological availability. My neighborhood is in a township surrounded on two sides with another township and the other two sides by a city. From my house I can literally see the signs warning not to dig because of buried fiber lines but the telco won’t run them into the neighborhood because there are only 30 some homes. They don’t think they can make enough money.
Stuck with DSL and far from the CO. I pay for 15 meg down and typically get about 7, But I can see stars at night and it’s quiet…
