GoKawiilTLDR: Despite claiming to backup all your data, Backblaze quietly stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders - along with potentially many other things.
A good decade
For ten years I have been using Backblaze for my personal computer backup. Before 2015 I would backup files to one of two large external hard discs. I then rotated these drives between, first my father’s house, and after I moved to the UK, my office drawers.
In 2015 Backblaze seemed like a good bet. Unlike Crashplan their software wasn’t a bloated Java app, but they did have unlimited storage. If you could cram it into your PC they would back it up. With their yearly Hard Drive reviews making good press, a lot of personal recommendations from my friends and colleagues, their service sounded great. I installed the software, ran it for several weeks, and sure enough my data was safely stored in their cloud.
I had further reason to be impressed when several years later one of my hard drives failed. I made use of their “send me a hard drive with my stuff on it service”. A drive turned up filled with my precious data. That for me was proof that this system worked, and that it worked well.
And so I recommended Backblaze for years. What do you do for backup? I would extoll the virtues of Backblaze, and they made many sales from such recommendations.
There were a few things I didn’t like. The app, could use a lot of memory, especially after doing a large import of photographs. The website, which I often used to restore single files or folders, was slow and clunky to use. The windows app in particular was clunky with an early 2000s aesthetic and cramped lists. There was the time they leaked all your filenames to Facebook, but they probably fixed that.
But no matter, small problems for the peace of mind of having all my files backed up.
A disturbing trend
Backup software is meant to back up your files. Which files? Well the files you need. Given everyone is different, with different workflows and filetypes, the ideal thing is to back up all your files. No backup provider knows what I will need in the future. The provider must plan accordingly.
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