I’ve decided to try Backblaze (BB) for backups in addition to Time Machine. I have it backing up my MB HD but BB does not appear to be backing up everything even though it shows the HD bring backed up. For example, my photos are 31gb but BB is not showing this much backup.
You’re right, I looked at that wrong. I saw the MB at the end and jumped to a conclusion. I’m trying to decide if I want to spend $60/year for Back Blaze Everyone raves about it and I like what I read. In another post I debated about whether or not to Import or Index my files to DEVONthink. I may Import if I can work out the workflow and if I decide to back that massive amount of data with BB.
I’m confused about what backing up to Backblaze (or anywhere else) has to do with whether to index or import data in DEVONthink. Say, for example, you have 10GB of data either indexed or imported in DEVONthink, you still have 10GB of data at risk if you have no backup.
I understand why that may be confusing. Most of my data is in the cloud (iCloud or Google Drive). If I index that is still the case. IF I import to DT I’m considering deleting the cloud version to save disk space, thus a backup system beyond my current practice (backing up documents on my hard drive to two external drives located off site in two location. If I important to DT and delete from the cloud, I need a more robust backup system and Backblaze seems like a good addition to the process.
iCloud or (horrors) Google Drive are not backup solutions, IMO. I send everything to both Backblaze, B2 and to other backup devices I control, whether that data are in a cloud service or not.
I agree which is why I do weekly backups to two external had drives, but I think I need to up my game. I will say that I’ve never lost files in over 20 years.
I have a folder on all of my Macs called ~/Local/ which I manually add to Backblaze’s exclusion list.
This gives me a handy place to (usually temporarily) store large files that I don’t want to get uploaded to Backblaze.
I don’t usually use ~/Local for long-term storage, but it has proven very handy as a centralized location for “These Files Are Not Backed Up” without having to keep adding specific files/folders to be excluded.
Although, having said that…I do not exclude ~/Local from Arq/Time Machine/Carbon Copy Cloner (although I could)¹ just in case I do happen to accidentally delete something important from there.
FWIW.
¹ for details, see:
Arq: Excluding Files from Backup (Arq also includes an option to automatically exclude anything Time Machine excludes, which I think is a feature that every backup app/service should offer as an option.)
Backblaze is,IMO, an excellent backup solution. But the standard $60/year plan only retains deleted files for 30 days. If you want to be able to recover lost/corrupted files for up to 1 year the price is $84.
I’m sure I’d ever have a need for a recover period for one year. It seems to me I’d know within 30 days if I needed to recover files. What scenario would require a 1 year recovering period for an additional $14? Chump change I know but I’m curious.
I’ve run into to this more than once. Most commonly, I begin working on a new project and realize that a work product from an earlier project would be helpful. I don’t have the file anymore, or don’t have it in the version (i.e., the original) that I want. I usually keep every draft of every client work product, but that is not always the case. Backblaze saves them for me for sure.
I kept seven years of backups for our accounting department because they had some that they might only use once every few years. If a file was lost, or corrupted (which did happen a couple of times) they wouldn’t know it until it was needed.
I’ve had to restore personal files from years old backups a few times myself.