r/DataHoarder • u/RenderedKnave 43 TB + Backblaze • 3d ago
Discussion What happened to Backblaze?
I had to wipe my Mac two months ago and I haven't been able to use my Backblaze backup since. When I try to Inherit Backup State, nothing happens. I've been going back and forth with their support team for weeks and I keep getting the same canned "have you tried turning it on and off again?" spiel.
I've had Backblaze in some form or another since 2019. They used to be awesome, reliable, great support, affordable... now this. A thing I paid for and can't use, because they just can't update their software correctly. Before this, I couldn't restore my files, because the date entry field in the web restore UI just straight up wouldn't work.
Anyone else getting lousy service from Backblaze lately?
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u/Disastrous-Boat3339 3d ago
man their support turned into a loop of sending the same kb article 3 times, I had the inherit backup thing fail on me too in january
ended up just uploading everything again from scratch, took like 2 weeks with my terrible upload speed
the web restore ui is a mess now, half the time the date picker just spins forever or picks wrong month
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u/RenderedKnave 43 TB + Backblaze 3d ago
going public was really the nail in the coffin for them wasn't it
many such cases
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u/UltraEngine60 3d ago
I got in on the IPO because I thought it was going to the moon but I underestimated how cheap people are with their invaluable data. Even $9.99 is too much...
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u/essjay2009 3d ago
Your average person doesn’t understand the difference between cloud storage and backups.
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u/hbkforever 3d ago
I had a similar issue last year. It turned out to be a bug in the latest version of their software. They sent me a link to download the previous version. I wasn’t getting anywhere until I asked for my case to be escalated.
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u/Weaselthorpe_House 3d ago
I accidentally discovered that in at least one version of their backup software, inherit backup state will fail if the new computer does not have the exact same name as the old computer in the control panel. SMH.
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u/SupaSaiyan9000 50-100TB 3d ago
they are mostly focusing on B2B , most of the founding team left. its a shit show now.
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u/Hebrewhammer8d8 2d ago
It really difficult to be profitable business for consumers might as well focus on businesses.
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u/SupaSaiyan9000 50-100TB 2d ago
yeah thats fine and all but then they biting the same hand that fed them. backblaze built the business on back of normal paying consumers and what they are doing to these same people is not ethical.
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u/scorpiona 3d ago
I stopped using them in 2020 after they permanently lost my data. If I'm paying them for four years to back up my data, their one job is to not lose my data during a recovery.
Their support was never good back then, either. After they sent me a faulty drive, they were 100% antagonistic and unhelpful the entire time, they basically ran me through "USB 101" while I was sending them diagnostic data and badblocks output showing that the drive was unreadable. They futzed around for days before giving up and said "sorry, your data is gone". :)
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u/RenderedKnave 43 TB + Backblaze 3d ago
that’s horrifying. i’ve had to restore large amounts of data from them before, and thankfully back then the biggest issue i ran into was their web client and its filesize limits
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u/UltraEngine60 3d ago
Did you inherit your backup state on the fresh computer or did it take them more than 30 days to realize your replacement drive was bad?
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u/s_i_m_s 2d ago
From their linked thread it got nuked when they setup their new machine without them knowing which doesn't make sense from the way they currently handle billing but maybe it was different 4+ years ago.
Currently if you replace a machine you have to delete the old backup to free up the license to use on another machine, I don't believe there is any way to do that currently without being forced to confirm you understand you're deleting the backup.What was different 4+ years ago was 1 year version history wasn't included free so they probably didn't have it and may have used inherit backup which wouldn't have given any warnings but would have allowed their old backups to age out.
If you have a machine completely fail the state as of the last successful backup is kept indefinitely ignoring retention rules as long as the bill is paid.
The license transfer is also not currently automatic or required so if you add a new machine it doesn't do anything with the old one it just gives the machine a 14 day trial which you can get another license for without ever touching the old backup.
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u/UltraEngine60 2d ago
if you add a new machine it doesn't do anything with the old one it just gives the machine a 14 day trial which you can get another license for without ever touching the old backup.
This has been my experience too, it just made a new "backup" profile on my account in trial status.
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u/revmachine21 3d ago
I have BB on my subscription possibly cancellation list. This thread kind of seals the deal for me I guess.
What alternate products will you be considering?
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u/Dump7 6h ago
A random question. What else do you subscribe to?
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u/revmachine21 5h ago
Backblaze Entertainment Streaming Accounting software Password manager
I have recurring bills like utilities but can’t cancel those. Looking at how to save money tho within the service. Switching electricity over to time of day pricing then shifting electricity usage
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u/revmachine21 27m ago
One other thing, I looked at insurance, made sure that all insured levels were correct. I've found errors in my policies about the age of my roof, for example, that needed updating. If you carry an umbrella policy, review coverage versus costs. We ended up reducing umbrella coverage for blah blah reasons, in order to capture a premium reduction. Umbrella policies have dramatically increased in costs because 3rd party funded lawsuits have increased dramatically. Cost to insurers have increased from providing umbrellas, so they've been raising the cost to covered person(s).
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u/Lamuks RAID is expensive (160TB HBA IT Mode+Backblaze) 3d ago
Usually it's due to other configurations or software incomparability. On Windows I had this issue due to accidentally having 2 configs for both x86 and x64 and it basically bricked itself. Support was clueless though, ended up carefully testing each and got to work.
I totally think it could be OS related and it can't decrypt or something. Afaik there is a log file you can check.
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u/RenderedKnave 43 TB + Backblaze 3d ago
i think it might be due to macOS 27. with this version, Apple basically decided to force all apps to use their new frameworks/APIs regardless of whether or not they were actually built using Xcode 27, though as usual, developers had about three months to prepare and check for any issues. i say this because the settings panel in bzbmenu loads with all of the tabs missing and half the menu nonfunctional/blank. you’d expect a company their size to be able to update their software on time, but i guess that’s too much to ask
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u/Lamuks RAID is expensive (160TB HBA IT Mode+Backblaze) 2d ago
Apple is notorious about not letting push updates to apps without review. They might have done the work but maybe apple didn't approve it for all we know
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u/RenderedKnave 43 TB + Backblaze 2d ago
that’s not how this works. apple reviews updates for anything submitted to the App Store. outside of that, you can push updates to your heart’s content. they could have solved this day one, they just chose not to
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u/eat_a_burrito 3d ago
I’m looking for off site backup for my Mac and was going to go back blaze. Another recommendations?
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u/wedinbruz 3d ago
Hetzner Storage Box or S3 are both cheap and reliable
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u/HF0XX 3d ago
When you go down that path (aka dumb storage and you take care of the backup itself), then you can use Backblaze's S3 copy called B2. Cheaper than regular S3 and without the issues with their backup product.
I use Restic for the backups and send them to a Hetzner Storage Box and to Backblaze B2. In my case, it still cheaper than having a single copy on S3, especially if I have to restore any backup.
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u/soundtom 100-250TB 3d ago
Duplicati shunting stuff into B2 works great for me. It even automatically runs test restores to confirm things are working (I also periodically run manual file restores to double-check)
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u/s_i_m_s 2d ago
Yeah apple changed some stuff in the current version of Mac OS which broke backblaze's UI so you'll need to use the beta https://www.backblaze.com/status/backup-beta or if you can't stand the idea of using beta software there is a more complicated workaround https://www.reddit.com/r/backblaze/s/swUiEItosx
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u/UltraEngine60 3d ago
Mine's been fine. There is no place I can backup 12TB of data for 365 days for the price I pay backblaze. The only thing that sucks is that when you use their "TNO" encryption they actually decrypt the files on their servers during a restore. If you have things that are really really private make sure you're encrypting with another solution.
I do a test restore every year and run ExactFile against my live drive and the restored drive. Make sure you do not do your full test restore to a folder on your backed up drive... I've done it twice now even though I know better.
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u/bdu-komrad 2d ago
I just did a huge restore from backup a few days ago. The files downloaded fast and the restore went smoothly.
The service worked fine for me.
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u/smstnitc 3d ago
After Mozy, and then CrashPlan, I don't know why anyone would trust cloud backups anymore.
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u/dr100 2d ago
The cloud is somebody else's computer. Depending on who is "somebody else", what contract you have with them and what you do it might or might not be disqualifying.
All examples you gave (including Backblaze Personal) have two major disqualifying flaws:
- no other access than their app. There aren't too many good backup apps, and these surely won't be.
- "unlimited" for a flat fee
If one gets a reasonable amount for a reasonable price/TB, put the stuff there in a way it can be checked automatically with a known provider things are about as safe as they can be. Sure, you can look at a fire in the largest french hosting company and say "OMG cloud is not safe" but that can happen no matter where the data is stored: in your house, with a trusted friend or relative, at work, etc.
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u/englandgreen 100-250TB 2d ago
I’m using Backblaze as my 3-2-1 +1. They are my +1, so if I lose everything before I have to rely on Backblaze, shame on me.
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3d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/gambra 3d ago
What the fuck are you talking about
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u/Mr_Fried 3d ago edited 3d ago
Jesus, whats with the downvotes? Seems like a pretty solid next troubleshooting step - eg what logs to identify whether its timing out.
And if there is really 43tb in there reliant on some janky consumer grade index, then good luck to you on your spirit journey.
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u/gambra 3d ago
Its absolutely meaningless slop you posted. You AI took one look at "43TB" in the flair and ran with that as the issue when the post is clearly talking about a backup of their Mac.
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u/RenderedKnave 43 TB + Backblaze 3d ago
yeah it’s just my macbook + 2tb worth of SSDs i use with it (all data cloned on larger hard drives, which are also mirrored.)
i’m not stupid lmao though it would be a pretty good deal to store that much data for a fraction of the cost. if only their service didn’t suck!
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3d ago
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u/12bitmisfit 3d ago
Had them years ago. Had some drives die and their web ui was so bad for restoration I ended up restoring an older/smaller backup I had on DVDs. The stupid amount of time I had to dedicate to select a file at a time and praying I didn't go over the zip download filesize limit less I had to select them again through the shitty slow web ui... I wouldn't have been so mad if it worked. It did not though, downloads failed constantly and was slower then my initial uploads back when I had 85 down 15 up.
Loved backblaze till I actually tried to restore a large amount of data. If I didn't have a separate backup it technically worked, just with a hidden time and frustration cost that made it a bad value to me. I'm much happier maintaining a second nas at my parent's home, though my wallet isn't.