Safety Freeze (Your Backup is Safety Frozen) Safety Freeze (Your Backup is Safety Frozen)

Safety Freeze (Your Backup is Safety Frozen)

Christopher Christopher

Your Backup is Safety Frozen

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NOTE

Beginning with version 8.5, Backblaze Computer Backup contains a self-healing component designed to prevent Safety Freezes from occurring at all.


The self-healing process has a few requirements:

  • Backblaze Computer Backup version 8.5 or newer\
  • The backup cannot have a Personal Encryption Key (PEK) enabled

The self-healing component does not require or allow for user engagement, and you won’t be able to enter your PEK during this process. You can follow the steps below to resolve a Safety Freeze manually.

If your backup meets the above conditions and is still Safety Frozen, please contact Backblaze Support using this Submit Request link.

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What is Safety Freeze? Why did this occur? 

Safety Freeze is a feature that protects people from losing their backed-up data when errors occur. Backblaze detected a major inconsistency between the backup records on your computer and the records on the servers, and "froze" the state of your backup.

It can be caused by running the same Backblaze installation from multiple locations (due to Migration Assistant, or cloning software), but other factors can cause it, such as restoring from an older local backup. 

 

What do I do next? 

The first step will be to determine if you have lost any data. The Backblaze software will never delete files from your computer, however, an altering event on your hard drive itself could trigger a safety freeze. Determining whether or not the event on your computer has caused data loss will involve comparing what you see on your computer, to what appears on the "View/Restore files" page of your Backblaze.com account.

 

If you notice any data that is only present on your Backblaze account and not on your computer, immediately prepare a restore of any and all missing data. For information on how to do so please refer here. 

Once you have restored all of your missing data, or if you have determined you do not need to, you can move on to resolving the Safety Freeze. 

 

Resolving the Safety Freeze

To start, the Backblaze software will need to be uninstalled and reinstalled. Here are the steps: 

1. Reboot your computer to make sure all Backblaze files are unlocked.
2. Uninstall Backblaze.
• Mac -- Hold down the "option" key and click on the Backblaze menu bar icon and choose Uninstall
• Windows -- use the Add/Remove Programs utility to remove Backblaze.
3. Visit https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm and sign in to your Backblaze account with your email address and password.
4. On the "Overview" page, select the appropriate download link for your operating system at the bottom right-hand corner
5. Run the installer you downloaded.

 (please note: if you are installing on a Mac computer, your computer will ask for permission to install the software, to do so you will see a dialogue box that will prompt you to enter the password for the computer itself, and not your Backblaze.com password)

 

After step 5 you will have a new installation on your account.  To finish resolving the safety freeze, and properly license this installation you can do one of two things; either by using the Inherit Backup State Feature, or transferring the license from your previous installation to this new backup.

 

Both will allow you to transfer your paid license, but the way that they handle your backups differs:

 

Inherit Backup state: This will resume your old backup with the new installation. This is a good option if all the data is the same on your computer and hard drives, and you would prefer to merge your new installation with your original backup. Please click here for our guide on how to do an Inherit Backup State.

 

Transfer License: This will transfer your paid license to another computer/backup. This is a good option if you want to start your backup fresh from the beginning again. Please click here for our guide on how to transfer your license.

 

If you are part of a group please note: License transfers are not possible as a group member. If you are a member or a group, you can resolve a safety freeze either by following the guide to inherit the original backup, or simply deleting the old backup from the "Preferences" page of your account after installing the new one. You can find our guide on how to delete a backup here.

 

If you find yourself encountering multiple safety freezes please see our article Why do I keep Encountering Safety Freezes? If you need further assistance with resolving a safety freeze please contact support from the bottom of our help page.