Installing the Backup Client on macOS 10.14 and Later

In macOS 10.14 and newer, Apple has made significant changes to their Security and Privacy which can prevent our program from performing its job successfully. Here are a couple of workarounds for this, starting with the most current operating systems. Please scroll down the page for info on macOS prior to 13 Ventura.

For macOS 13 Ventura or newer:

If your computer is on macOS Ventura or later, make sure you're using the latest version of the client found on https://secure.backblaze.com/update.htm. The initial installation process should walk you through making sure Full Disk Access is set correctly. If you missed it, you can set it later on by following these steps:

1. While holding the command key on your keyboard, press the space bar to open Spotlight Search. Type "full disk access" without the quotes and press enter/return. This should open the Full Disk Access panel within your System Preferences, as shown below.

The appearance of the above window may vary depending on the version of macOS.

2. Click the switch next to Backblaze & bzbmenu to ensure it is enabled. It may ask for your computer's password when enabling this.

Older versions of macOS will be a checkbox instead of a switch and may require you to unlock the Full Disk Access window by clicking the lock at the bottom left and providing your computer's password.

3. If Backblaze doesn't show up on the list, you can use the plus button at the bottom left of the Full Disk Access window to add it or drag it from the Applications folder. 

4. Restart your Mac. After reboot, once Backblaze does a hard drive scan it should start to back your data up as normal!

5. At this point, you don't need to continue following this article and you should be good to go.

For macOS 10.14 Mojave to 12 Monterey:

Note - if you're on 10.15 Catalina, everything below is required.

If you are running macOS 10.14 Mojave to 12 Monterey, make sure you're using the latest version of the client found on https://secure.backblaze.com/update.htm. The initial installation process should walk you through making sure Full Disk Access is set correctly. If you missed it, you can set it later on by following these steps:

1. After updating to the latest client, open the Applications Folder. 

2. Open the System Preferences on your Mac by clicking the apple icon in the upper-left corner and select System preferences.  

3. Click Security & Privacy settings.

4. Select "Full Disk Access" in the left-hand column.

5. If necessary, click the lock and enter your Mac's username and password to allow you to make changes.

6. Drag the Backblaze app into the Full Disk Access location and release the Backblaze icon into it as show in the images below. 

7. Restart your Mac. After reboot, once Backblaze does a hard drive scan it should back up everything that the Mojave upgrade excluded and your backup should remain safe! 

For macOS 10.15 Catalina to 12 Monterey:

Note #1, the above settings for Full Disk Access is still required.

Note #2, if you're using a more recent version of macOS such as Ventura or Sonoma, the above should have you set to use our program without issue.

If you have external or secondary hard drives connected to your Mac that you would like to backup with Backblaze, and are running macOS 10.15 Catalina to 12 Monterey, you will need to grant "bzbmenu" access to your removable volumes.

Typically macOS will display a dialog asking if you would like to give bzbmenu permission to read your external or secondary hard drives. If you see this dialog, simply click "Yes" or "Allow" and no further steps will be required.

If you accidentally click no, you can go into System Preferences/System Settings > 

Once selected, you will be able to continue backing up external hard drives! Make sure you connect all selected external drives to your computer to allow bzbmenu to verify access on each individual drive, or you may continue to see the dialog after granting permission.