What does Backblaze Backup? What does Backblaze Backup?

What does Backblaze Backup?

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All Your Data 

Across all user profiles on the computer, as soon as installed, with the exception of your operating system, applications, program files, or temporary files. 

Unlimited File Size

The default of No Limit can be lowered in the preferences.
Photos, iPhoto, Aperture, and Lightroom use library bundles that will be backed up at any size.

Connected Drives

USB and Firewire hard drives and internal drives connected at the time of the install or added later in the settings panel. 

No Network Drives

We do not backup network drives (NAS drives) or folders shared from another computer with our Personal/Online Backup product.


MORE DETAILS:

Backblaze Philosophy: Backup All Data

The Backblaze service backs up all your data. We believe you should not need to worry whether you selected all the files you care about, put any files in a different location on your computer, or added any new files that may not be included in your online backup. Therefore, we automatically select all your data.

Excluded Files

Backblaze does not want to waste your bandwidth or Backblaze data center disk space. Thus, we do not back up your operating system, application files, empty folders/directories, or temporary internet files that are transient and would not be useful in the future. You can see these exclusions by clicking on “Settings…” in the Backblaze Control Panel and selecting the Exclusions tab. Some of these excluded files include: ISO (Disk Images), VMC VHD VMSN (Virtual Drives), SYS (System Configuration & Drivers), and EXE (Application Files). All of these files type can be removed from this area. To back up an ISO, you just need to remove .iso from the list.  Backblaze also doesn't backup backups like Time Machine and Retrospect RDB. Backblaze also excludes podcasts in iTunes, thumbnails, and caches from iPhoto, Aperture, or Lightroom. Additionally, aliases, Libraries, Reparse Points, Shortcuts, and Symlinks are not included in the backup.

Please note: Exclusions apply to all drives, meaning all folders and files of the same name would be excluded across all drives. For instance, since C:\Windows\ is excluded, then G:\Windows\ would also be excluded.

Adding or Removing Hard Drives

Backblaze organizes your online backup around the concept of "top-level drives" that are selected to be backed up. When the Backblaze product is installed on your computer, it scans for any permanently attached hard drives (not network drives or removable media like CDs or flash drives) and declares those hard drives are to be backed up. To add or remove a hard drive to be backed up, click “Setting…” in the Backblaze Control Panel and make sure the drive is selected.

Please note that exFAT volumes have a history of issues with both Mac and Windows operating systems. If you are having trouble backing up an exFAT volume, please contact Backblaze Support for assistance.

 

EXACTLY Which Files have been Backed Up

At any time you can visit your account on the Backblaze website and see what files have already been backed up. Sign In to backblaze.com and select "View/Restore Files" to see the EXACT list of files.

Network Drives

Backblaze Online/Personal Backup does not currently support backup of network-mounted drives. We charge a fixed price per computer and backing up network-mounted drives would allow a single Backblaze license to be shared among multiple computers or a workgroup. However, Network drives can be backed up using our B2 Cloud Storage program. You can find out more about that service here.

Archiving Files

The Backblaze service is designed to protect the files you care about. Thus, we will keep a remote backup of any file that exists on your computer. Just in case, Backblaze will even keep multiple versions of that file for up to 30 days by default. However, Backblaze is not designed as an additional storage system when you run out of space. So, please don’t try to upload your external hard drive to us and delete your data off your drive…or we will delete those files from our servers as well. 

In addition, Backblaze must continue running on your computer to perform self-maintenance and maintain the correct mirror copy of your files in the Backblaze data center on an ongoing basis. If for any reason the Backblaze data center has not heard from your computer after six months, the backup copy of your data may be removed from the Backblaze data center and your account is subject to cancellation.

Backblaze does have an extended version history feature, that will allow you to bypass the 30-day limit that was discussed above.  You can choose 1-year of retention or forever.  You can get the instructions to set up the extended version history here.