Backblaze FAQs

For Windows XP:From the Start menu, select Control Panels > Add/Remove Programs > Backblaze. Click Uninstall. Backblaze will be completely removed from your system.

For Windows Vista, Windows 7, and 8:From the Start menu, select Control Panel > Programs and Features > Backblaze. Click Uninstall/Change. Backblaze will be completely removed from your system.

Download the Mac installer

For Windows 10:

Right-click the Start Menu and select Apps and Features

Then scroll down to view the Apps currently on the computer.Locate Backblaze.

Click Backblaze in that view to access the Uninstall option, then click that as well.

For Mac:

and run the bundled Uninstaller to remove Backblaze.

To easily delete all files in a bucket, first, install the B2 Command Line tool installed on thecomputer. If assistance is neededwith setting up this installation, please refer to our Command Line tool documentation here.

Once the Command Line tool is installed, follow these steps:

1) Open Terminal.2) Create a new local directory (e.g., mkdir empty)3) Change into that directory (e.g., cd empty) 4) Run the command: b2 authorize-account [<Key ID>] [< Application Key>] 5) Run the following command: b2 sync --delete . b2://mybucketnamewhere mybucketname is the name of the bucket you wish to remove.

Newer version (7.3.x forward) of the cli will require you to use the --allowEmptySource argument. The command would look like this:

b2 sync --allowEmptySource --delete . b2://mybucketname

This will sync the empty contents of the local directory to thebucket.

However, if there are stillunfinished large files in the bucket, this method by itself will not remove those unfinished listings. The bucket may still report as not being fully empty.

In order to remove unfinished large files, call b2 cancel_all_unfinished_large_files mybucketname. Then, try to delete the bucket once more.

Lifecycle Rules enable the B2 service to automatically hide and/or delete older versions of files stored in B2. This capability is available for the Web GUI, CLI, and API. Lifecycle Rules are applied to some or all of the files in a B2 Bucket with each Bucket having its own Lifecycle Rules. Lets take a look at how you can use this capability to help manage your B2 storage space.

Overview

By default, Backblaze B2 will keep all the files you upload and all of the different versions of a file you upload. While B2 will keep the different versions, it will hide older versions to keep the file list easier to view as shown in the B2 file list (from the Web GUI) below.

B2 documentation section

There are two indicators that we have multiple versions of the same file. First the file name has a (2) at the end. This is the file version count and in this case means there are two (2) versions of the file. The date/time stamp shown is for the most recent version of the file. The second indicator is the missing file information icon on the right.

When you click on the file version count (i.e. the 2), the list will expand to show all of the file versions.

The older version, V2 in the example, is hidden. All versions of a given file are available to download, delete or just keep around as desired. If the file names are different at all, they are stored as different files, so myfile-version1.doc is not the same as myfile-version2.doc, even if the content is identical.

There is no limit to the number of versions you can have of a given file. Also, by default, the length of time older versions stay in B2 is forever, unless you delete them or you stop using the B2 service.

Since all versions of a given file are kept around you can use Lifecycle Rules to help manage the older versions. Lets see how.

Lifecycle Rules and the Web GUI

To use Lifecycle Rules you will have an active Backblaze B2 account and at least one B2 Bucket. It would help to have a few files in your B2 account as well. After logging into your B2 account and clicking Buckets on the B2 Cloud Storage menu, youll see a list of your buckets. For the Bucket of interest select the Lifecycle Settings link as shown in the example below.

The Lifecycle Settings pop-up screen, similar to the one below will appear.

Lets cover the more common ways to use Lifecycle Rules.

File Versions

The file version rules apply to all the files in the bucket, unless otherwise specified. The four options for File Versions work as follows:

Keep All Versions (Default): Keeps all versions of a given file.

Keep Only Last Version: This keeps only the most current version of a file. The previous version of the file is hidden for one day and then deleted.

Keep Prior Versions for this number of Days: Older versions of a file are deleted after the specified number of days. The number of days can be 1 or greater. The most current version of a file is always kept unless it is explicitly deleted.

Lifecycle Rules Below Allows you to construct a rule that applies to one or more files. The three parameters are covered in the next section.

Most common situations can be handled using one of the first three options.

Constructing a Lifecycle Rule in the Web GUI

Before you start constructing Lifecycle Rules, here are a few things to know:

You are not allowed to create two or more rules that apply to the same file or files.

Remember that the old version of a file is automatically hidden when a new version of the same name is uploaded.

Read the file versions documentation to understand how file versioning works in B2.

Only use this option if you know what you are doing. You are giving B2 the ability to hide and then permanently delete your files. Make sure this is something you want to do. Once deleted, files can not be restored by Backblaze. Please be careful.

There are three variables you need to enter to construct a Lifecycle Rule. All three are required for each rule added.

fileNamePrefix: This specifies which files in the B2 Bucket the rules apply to. For example, a value of workinprocess/ will apply to all files in the workinprocess directory/folder. A value of (open quote, close quote, no space) means the rule applies to all the files in the bucket.

daysFromUploadingtoHiding: Setting this value causes the specified files to be hidden automatically after the specified number of days. This applies to all copies of the file, even the most current version. For example, setting this variable to 30 will hide all of the files in the specified directory/folder 30 days after they have been uploaded this includes the most current version of the file. Only use this option if you want to hide all versions of the files specified. Valid values are null or numbers 1 and greater. Null, means no files are hidden based on this rule.

daysFromHidingtoDeleting: Setting this value causes the specified hidden files to be deleted automatically after the specified number of days. Remember that files are automatically hidden when they are replaced with a newer version. For example, if you set this variable to 10, then 10 days after a newer version of the file is uploaded, the older version will be deleted. Valid values are null or numbers 1 and greater. Null, means no files are deleted based on this rule.

Lifecycle Rule Examples

Lets assume that you back up your log files once a day to B2 and that these files are stored in a directory/folder named log. Below are sample Lifecycle Rules you could set-up to manage the log files in B2 based on your data retention policies.

Example 1:

fileNamePrefix: log/

daysFromUploadingtoHiding: 7

daysFromHidingtoDeleting: null

Result: The files in the log/ folder will be hidden 7 days after they are uploaded to B2. This means the current version, as well as any previous versions of every file in the log/ folder, will be hidden after 7 days. The hidden files are still available for download using their specific file_id and continue to count as part of your B2 storage amount.

Example 2:

fileNamePrefix: log/

daysFromUploadingtoHiding: 7

daysFromHidingtoDeleting: 30

Result: The files in the log/ folder will be hidden 7 days after they are uploaded to B2. After the files have been hidden for 30 days, they will be permanently deleted. Until they are deleted, the files are still available for download and count as part of your B2 storage amount.

Example 3:

fileNamePrefix: log/

daysFromUploadingtoHiding: null

daysFromHidingtoDeleting: 180

Result: The files in the log/ folder will be deleted 180 days after they have been either 1) explicitly hidden, or 2) been replaced by a file of the same name (i.e. they are an older version of the file remember older file versions are automatically hidden). Until the files are deleted, all versions of a file are available for download and count as part of your B2 storage amount.

Lifecycle Rules for the CLI and API

Both the B2 CLI and B2 API can utilize Lifecycle Rules.

For the B2 API, the following calls work with Lifecycle Rules:

b2_create_bucket

b2_update_bucket

b2_list_buckets

Each API call has an optional parameter named lifecycleRules that requires the three variables noted above in the following JSON format:

{ daysFromHidingToDeleting: 30, daysFromUploadingToHiding: null, fileNamePrefix: backup/}

In addition, b2_delete_bucket will return the list of lifecycleRules for the bucket being deleted.

B2 Integrations and Lifecycle Rules

Application developers are encouraged to look at Lifecycle Rules to use in their applications that integrate into B2. This is especially true for applications that perform Sync or Backup operations to B2. For example, the user interface of the application could allow the user/admin to specify the number of days older versions of files should be kept in support of data retention rules in an organization.

B2 Command Line Tool

The B2 Command Line Tool provides command-line access to the B2 service. To use Lifecycle Rules with the B2 CLI, you will need to be runningversion 0.7.0of the B2 Command Line Tool. To upgrade to this version you can follow the Get Command-Line Tool instructions on the Backblaze website. The following commands utilize Lifecycle Rules in the CLI.

b2 create-bucket [bucketInfo <json>] [lifecycleRules <json>] <bucketName> [allPublic | allPrivate]

b2 update-bucket [bucketInfo <json>] [lifecycleRules <json>] <bucketName> [allPublic | allPrivate]

b2 get-bucket <bucketName>

The b2 get-bucket command will return all the variables for the named bucket.

Summary

Lifecycle Rules are very handy in helping manage multiple versions of files you are storing in B2. These rules can help save storage space by automatically deleting older, unneeded versions of files and can make the B2 file list easier to navigate and manage. Since Lifecycle Rules will delete older file versions, one recommendation is to start with a large number of days for daysFromHidingtoDeleteing and reduce this number as you become comfortable with this feature. The easiest way to do this is to use the Keep Prior Versions for this number of days: option in the WebGUI.

There is more information on Lifecycle Rules in theof the Backblaze website. The website also has code examples for the API calls, information in the B2 Command Line tool and more. Let us know if you find anything there we need to update or you feel is missing.

In the newer macOS 10.14 Mojave, Apple has made some privacy and security changes and as a result has affected the way Backblaze behaves. If running macOS 10.14 you will need to follow these steps to reenable Backblaze to back up your: Photos, Contacts, Calendars, Safari, Mail, or other Apple items.

***First, Update To The Latest Version (5.4 or higher) of the Backblaze Client here.***

Giving Backblaze Full Disk Access AfterMojave is the OS on the Computer

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

here

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 theFull 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!

**Note: If you are still having issues with the Mac Menu Bar Backblaze icon please click for instructions.

Problem

You have downloaded the Backblaze installer and try to run the installation program on a Windows platform and receive the following error:

ERROR: BzSelfExtractor_Unzip: could not append to file: bztransmit.exe Then once you click OK, on the dialogue box you will get this error: ERROR: RunCommand, Create pipe failed, err = B

Solution

Generally, this is a error that occurs when a security product is preventing the Backblaze installer from completing.

These programs can included various antivirus programs, firewalls, Windows Defender, etc.

To resolve this issue, please temporarily disable any security software you may have installed on the computer. Once this has been completed, please go here https://secure.backblaze.com/update.htm and download Backblaze client for Windows.Then install Backblaze and it should complete properly.

Important Note

If you have multiple security programs, please disable them all temporarily if you are getting this error.

If you're going on vacation or your computer is going to be shut off for extended period of time you may wonder what's going to happen to your backed up data.

If you're leaving your computer at home while you travel...

While files are expunged from the servers after 30 days if they're removed from a computer, your most recent backup snapshot will be retained for 6 months if your computer is completely unable to contact our servers (either it's shut off, or no internet connection). As long as your computer can contact Backblaze at least once every 6 months and perform a full Backblaze file scan operation, you don't delete or transfer the backup and you retain active billing, your most recent snapshot will be retained.

Before you leave your computer, make sure Backblaze is up to date, all external or secondary drives are connected, and the Backblaze control panel or system preference reports 0 files remaining to be backed up. After you've verified that, leave any external or secondary drives connected, then completely shut down your computer so it will no longer contact our servers while you're away. You can disconnect any external or secondary drives while it's powered off.

"Missing computer" email reminders are sent at 14, 21, 28, 60 and 90 days since a computer was last seen by our servers. If you intentionally don't have your computer powered on and able to back up, you can safely disregard these messages, but keep aware of the 6 month limit.

When you return to your computer, make sure all external or secondary hard drives are connected before you power on the computer to ensure that the data on them is not expunged due to the 30 day window.

If you're on a monthly account, you may want to switch to a yearly or biyearly account for billing if you plan on being away for extended periods without access to a computer to make sure you continue to maintain your paid account.

If you're taking your computer with you, but not your external or secondary hard drives and you're going to be away for greater than 30 days...

While Backblaze is designed to retain data for 30 days from the last time data was scanned by the Backblaze software on your computer, you can effectively stop Backblaze from scanning and noting missing external drives by temporarily pausing it. However, the simplest way to avoid the 30 day limit for your files if you are going on vacation is to turn on extended version history This will allow you to extended your backup time to a year, or forever (this feature will be an additional charge). Please click the link above or here to get the instruction to turn on the feature. If you choose not to use this feature please continue reading below.

Before you leave your external drives, make sure Backblaze is up to date, all external or secondary drives are connected, and the Backblaze control panel or system preference reports 0 files remaining to be backed up. After you've verified that, leave any external or secondary drives connected, then open the Backblazecontrol panel / system preference, clicking "Settings" then "Schedule," and changing the schedule to "Backup only when I click <backup now>." While you're away from your external or secondary drives, do not click the Backup Now button or start any backups.

That setting will prevent any forward progress on your backup while you're away (so newly created data while you're away will *not* be backed up), but will stop any disconnected drives from being purged from the Backblaze servers.

"Missing computer" email reminders are sent at 14, 21, 28, 60 and 90 days since a backup was last seen by our servers. If you intentionally have Backblaze paused, you can safely disregard these messages, but keep aware of the 6 month limit.

When you return to your external or secondary drives, first connect them and verify they are working and have all your files on them. Then you can change Backblaze's schedule back to "Continuously" and allow Backblaze to recheck the data on the external drives, and transmit any new/changed files since the last time it backed up.

OnlineBackup:

Backblaze Online Backup backs up PC and Mac desktopcomputers for $6/month, with "unlimited backup" for all the data attached tocomputer, including external USB hard drives. The personal backup product is encrypted and data in the backup is only accessible by the account owner.

The online backup service includes software to automatically manage the backups of a Mac or Windows computer. The Backblaze Online Backup software creates a mirror copy of the data on the licensed computer, except for data explicitly excluded, with a running 30 day file revision history.

Backblaze has introduced extended version history that, for an additional fee, will keep your data for up to 1-year or permanently. Information on how to set this up and the pricing is here.

Backblaze Online Backup is not designed to beused as offsite data archival or offsite storage for data that will not be retained on the licensed computer.

Read more about Personal Backup here: https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup.html

B2 Cloud Storage:

B2 is generic cloud storage. You can use it from any computer, any operating system or any cloud storage purpose.

Service charges for B2 are variable based on the amount of data storage, bandwidth used, and transactions performed. The baseline cost for storage is $0.005/GByte/Month (half of one penny).

Data stored inB2 product is not encrypted, making it possible to share files with other people or serve up data for websites, downloads, or applications.

B2 does not includeanyclient software to interface with the storage. The storage is accessible via web GUI, API (with which third party software can integrate with, such as these: https://www.backblaze.com/b2/docs/integrations.html), or Command Line Tool( https://www.backblaze.com/b2/docs/quick_command_line.html )

As data in B2 is not tied to a specific computer, data archival or offsite data storage are both excellent use cases for B2.

Read more about B2 Cloud Storage here: https://www.backblaze.com/b2/cloud-storage.html

While the computer is actively backing up, you will see a rolling 30 days of backups.

If you change the From drop down, it affects what files are shown according to creation/modified date.

we do keep the last backup for 6 months

You will need to only adjust the To and not the From to be able to properly roll back time to a previous backup.

Please note: if you have enabled extended version history you will be able to see a rolling backup of up to a year of files or everything that has been backed up, including those files that have been altered or deleted, depending on which extended version history option that was chosen.

What you will see if your backup goes past 30 days

When the computer is not able to actively backup.Not able to actively backup means the computer crashed, purposefully stopped by setting the schedule to Only when click, or the computer is not able to communicate with our servers.

As the computer is not able to update, the last backup fills the 30 days. Once past the 30 days, if you try to roll back time, you will just see the same backup on each time available.

For example:

Day 2 of not backing up, shows 2 days of the same backup, and 28 days of previous backups.

Day 29 of not backing up, shows 29 days of the same backup and 1 day of a previous backup. The 1 day is the backup done before the computer stopped uploading files.

You will still be shown the previous 30 days as being selectable in the To drop down, but the backups will not be different.

Connection issues

If the computer is not able to actively backup, and it is not due to changing the schedule settings, most likely it is any or all anti-virus/firewall/network monitoring/computer monitoring programs (security programs) that are interfering. If you are on a PC, you will need to temporarily disable all security programs and install over your current installation without first uninstalling. Once backing up starts again, you can enable security programs once more.

If you are on a Mac, make sure any security programs installed are not blocking Backblaze, or that a connection via proxy is not interfering. Still try to install over your current installation without first uninstalling to start, if that does not work, please contact support for further troubleshooting.

Backing Up External Hard Drives

During install Backblaze will backup any USB or Firewire hard drive you have attached to your computer. You can also add external hard drives from the Backblaze Settings panel.

Adding an External Hard DriveYou can add an external hard drive by opening the Backblaze Settings panel on your computer and clicking the "Settings..." button.

To be selectable for backup, a given drive must be:

1) Nativelyread/write accessible by the operating system. For example, some utilities will allow NTFS drives to be read/write accessible on macOS systems. Drives mounted in this way may be selectable, but are not supported, and we highly recommend against attempting to backup these volumes.

2) Directly connected to the computer (USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt, eSATA, etc)

3) Not a Time Machine backup volume (macOS only)

4) Not mount as a 'removable storage device', as many flash, SD card, CD, DVD, Bluray, and some external SSDs do (Win only)

5) In working condition

What Does Not Get Backed UpNetwork (NAS) drives, remotely mounted computers or volumes, or shared volumesdo not get backed up. The reason for this is not technical, but a business decision. Backing up mounted or network drives can easily be abused. A user could mount the 10 or 20 computers in their home or small business and back them all up to one account for a single license.

Time Machine Drives

To avoid duplicating data, Backblaze will not back up any drive that contains Time Machine data on it. The drive will be listed in Backblaze's "Select Hard Drives to Backup" as Time Machine and will not be selectable.

If you'd like to back up a Time Machine drive to Backblaze, you have two options:

1. Turn off Time Machine, delete the Time Machine data from the drive, and select the drive for backup in Backblaze.

2. Split the drive in to two partitions, one for Time Machine, the other for data. The data drive can be backed up to Backblaze.

How Do I Know my External Hard Drive is Being Backed Up OnlineThe best way to know for sure if a file on your external hard drive is being backed up online, is to sign into the site and click "View/Restore Files". Another option is to view the "Files Scheduled for Backup" log in the settings panel. This log shows the next 1,000 files scheduled for backup. Renaming External DrivesIf you change the name of your external hard drive, you will need to reselect it for online backup in the Backblaze settings panel. Unplugged External Hard Drives (also applies to failed External Hard Drives)Backblaze works best if you leave the external hard drive attached to your computer all the time. However, Backblaze will backup external USB and Firewire hard drives that are detached and re-attached as long as you remember to re-attach the hard drive at least once every 30 days. If the drive is detached for more than 30 days, Backblaze interprets this as data that has been permanently deleted and securely deletes the copy from the Backblaze datacenter. The 30 day countdown is only for drives that have been unplugged. There is no countdown for local files.

When a drive is missing for 14, 21, and 28 days, Backblaze will email an alert to the account email on record. To resolve a missing drive,

Connect all disconnected drives (if any) Review the list of drives selected for backup - unchecking any that shouldn't be backed up, and checking ones that should be (Backblaze system preference / control panel -> Settings -> Select Hard Drives for Backup). Any that say both (unplugged) and are unchecked can be checked, which will combine the two. Ensure Backblaze is set to "Continuously" (Backblaze system preference / control panel -> Settings -> Schedule) Let the computer run for at least 4 hours with *all* your drives connected simultaneously, uninterrupted by reboots, computer sleeps or shutting down

If you are going on vacation for a long time, you can shut down your computer with the external drive attached. Backblaze does not detect that the external drive has been unplugged and won't start the 30-day countdown. You can then leave your computer off and unplug your external drive for six months, and Backblaze will still keep all your files backed up including those on your external drive. When you come back from vacation, make sure to plug your external drive back in 30 days from after you turn your computer on. We have a full article on what to do if you're traveling as well. When an external drive is plugged back in, it may take Backblaze 2 to 4 hours to schedule the files on the external drive to be scanned and backed up.

You can extend the time that Backblaze will keep your backed up files by 1-year or you can choose to keep everything that have been changed or backed up, by selecting one of the extended version history plans, please click here to see the instructions to set up the extended version history, and to see the price scheme for it. Once extended version history has been enabled from that point it will start keeping everything until the point that you have chosen, this will included external drives.

What does Backblaze Backup?

All Your Data

With the exception of your operating system, applications, program files, or temporary files.

Unlimited FileSize

The default of No Limit can be lowered in the preferences.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

Currently we do not backup network drives (NAS drives) or folders shared from another computer.

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 datacenter disk space. Thus, we do not backup 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), 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.

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.

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 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. At this time, we do not have any available services for backing up network devices.

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. However, Backblaze is not designed as an additional storage system when you run out of space. So, pleasedon'ttry to upload your external hard drive to us and delete your data off your driveor 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 datacenter on an ongoing basis. If for any reason the Backblaze datacenter has not heard from your computer in six months, the backup copy of your data will be removed from the Backblaze datacenter 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 setup the extended version history here.

1. Does Backblaze back up Linux?

Linux users can back up to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, our low-cost cloud storage service. Backblaze B2 is priced per-GB and costs 1/4th as much as Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform ($0.005/GB/month for storage and $0.01/GB for download).

Data can be stored and accessed in Backblaze B2 via web, command-line, and API interfaces. In addition, we have a robust list of third party integrations Duplicity, Restic, Cloudberry, Rclone, Duplicacy, 45 Drives, GoodSync, HashBackup, QNAP, and more that support B2 for Linux backup.

We've written a blog post on using Duplicity and Restic with B2, and tutorials on getting started with both Duplicity and Restic.

Links:

Blog post: " Backing Up Linux to Backblaze B2 with Duplicity and Restic"

Tutorial on Duplicity: " How to configure Backblaze B2 with Duplicity on Linux "

Tutorial on Restic: " How to configure Backblaze B2 with Restic on Linux "

2. Does Backblaze offer a family plan?

While wedon'toffer discounts for multiple computers for personal backup, we do offer functionality to manage multiple accounts (be it for a family, team, or business).

For families, teams, or businesses, we recommend our Groups functionality. It allows you to administer and pay for multiple accounts centrally. We wrote a Blog Post on how groups can help you manage your familys backups.

As a cost comparison, the basic Crashplan Family Plan was $12.50 / month. Backblazes 2 year plan is the equivalent of $3.96 / computer / month. For families with 3 computers or less, Backblaze is more affordable.

Families with more computers, or with NAS boxes, may want to consider Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage with one of our partner integrations. Backblaze B2 provides storage at just $0.005/GB/month. As an example, 1TB of data would only cost $5.00/month to store. You would use one of our integration partners (like Synology, Arq, Duplicity, etc.) for the software side and use B2 for storage.

3. Can I select which files I want to back up?

You absolutely can, but youdon'thave to. As a truly unlimited data backup, Backblaze automatically backs up all of your user generated data. You may exclude folders or file types as desired by adjusting your settings inside of your backup client. Unless you set exclusions all filesyour music, photos, files in My Documents, files on your Desktop, external drives, etcare all backed up!

The only files that are excluded are the operating system, applications, and unnecessary files such as your trash, cache folders, and other transient files. Backblaze backs up all individual files, with no limit on file sizes or types or total data storage.

Click here to read more about what Backblaze is backing up.

4. It took me a long time to get fully backed up with CrashPlan.I'mworried about how long it will take to push all my data to Backblaze. Can I send you my data on a hard disk to add to my backup account?

We do not offer an option like that for our Personal Backup service. However, we recently dramatically increased the speed at which you can backup your files to Backblaze. Our new version can back up at over 100 Mbps, meaning that if you have a fast enough internet connection, you could back up nearly 1 TB per day. You can find more information on our blog in the post entitled, How to Migrate All of Your Data from CrashPlan.

We do offer the ability for bulk data import for Backblaze B2 Cloud Storageits called B2 Fireball and you can find more details here.

5. Can I back up my Time Machine drive?

If you wish to back up data using Backblaze instead of Time Machine, see this post. If you would like to back up your Time Machine backup on a Synology NAS to B2, here is a dedicated how-to on how to do exactly that. Note that this also works forQNAP NAS devices. You don't need aNAS to make this work. If your Time Machine data is accessible on a Mac, you can use Goodsync (commercial),or rclone (open source), to move that data to B2 automatically.

6. Can I back up a NAS device?

Customers looking to back up NAS devices will love our Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. Storage is just $0.005/GB/month and downloads are just $0.01 / GB. Its readily available, low latency cloud storage thats similar to Amazons S3 just at of the price. For customers with Synology or QNAP devices, B2 is natively integrated.

For other NAS devices, we have a robust list of integration partners that can be helpful, like GoodSync.

7. Can I back up Windows and Linux servers?

Our Personal Backup does not support backing up servers. Our B2 Cloud Storage does support backing up servers through third party software and integrations.

8. External Drives Do they need to be plugged in every 30 days?

By default, we retain files in your personal backup for 30 days. If a file is deleted or is on a drive thatisn'tattached to your computer for 30 days, it will be expunged from your backup.

However, your most recent backup will be retained for 6 months if your computer is completely unable to contact our servers, such as when it's shut off or has no internet connection. As long as your computer can contact Backblaze at least once every 6 months and perform a full Backblaze file scan operation and you don't delete or transfer the backup and you retain active billing your most recent backup will be retained.

See our FAQ on this topic for more information.

Backblaze does have an extended version history feature, that will allow you to keep files in your backup for 1-year or forever, as opposed to 30 days. To enable this feature and get more information about pricing please click here.

9. Does Backblaze support backup to a local drive?

Backblaze provides backup and storage for the cloud. There are many options available for local data backup. Windows, Macintosh, and Linux come with built-in, free software for backing up data to local drives. Also, integration partners such as Arq can backup to a local drive and Backblaze B2.

10. Can I restore files from the Windows or Macintosh Backblaze client?

The Backblaze backup clients are for uploading data to the cloud. To restore files you would use our web interface, mobile apps, or our dedicated download clients for Windows and Macintosh. With our 5.0 release, we greatly increased the speed of the restore on the web, and upped the number of threads used by the download clients, which makes restores much speedier. We also supported file preview for certain file types and sharing of individual files from our web interface.

For large restores, you can also use our Restore by Mail option to have us send you a hard drive or flash drive with your data. Use our Restore Return Refund program to get a full refund when you return the drive.

11. Will Backblaze offer a discount to incentivize CrashPlan customers?

We welcome all CrashPlan customers to try us for 15 days for free (no credit card needed, no obligations). We want to help people make an informed decision so we have put up a comparison of Backblaze v Carbonite on our blog. The comparable service from Carbonite is nearly 3x Backblazes everyday price. We hope youll give us a shot!

Backblaze automatically backs up all of your data, unless they are explicitly excluded. Your music, photos, files in My Documents, on your Desktop, etc. are all backed up! By default the only files that are excluded are the operating system, applications, and unnecessary files such as your trash, cache folders, and other transient files. Backblaze backs up all individual files, with no size limit. Click here to read more about what Backblaze is backing up.

To see exactly what will be excluded please see the information below:

There are two files that that contain the exclusions for Backblaze. One which is editable and a second which is not.

1) C:\ProgramData\Backblaze\bzdata\bzexcluderules_editable.xml

2) C:\ProgramData\Backblaze\bzdata\bzexcluderules_mandatory.xml

Here is the information that is contained within the two files:

Additions to bzexcluderules_mandatory.xml:

<!-- This block is for Windows system caches and logs -->

C:\$windows.~ws\ - this contains Windows updates

C:\users\<username>\appdata\local\microsoft\onedrive\logs\

C:\users\<username>\appdata\local\microsoft\windowscaches\

<!-- This block is for various anti-virus definitions -->C:\programdata\mcafee\C:\programdata\sophos\endpoint defense\C:\programdata\sentinel\C:\programdata\avg\C:\programdata\f-securelog\C:\programdata\kaspersky lab\C:\programdata\norton\C:\programdata\checkpoint\C:\programdata\symantec\C:\programdata\avast software\C:\programdata\gfi\C:\programdata\malwarebytes\

Additions tobzexcluderules_editable.xml:

<!-- This block is all about various logging and diagnosis -->C:\ProgramData\MicrosoftStorage Health\C:\ProgramData\MicrosoftDiagnosis\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\DeviceMetadataCache\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Power Efficiency Diagnostics\C:\ProgramData\Intel\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Network\Downloader\C:\ProgramData\Seagate\C:\ProgramData\VIPRE Business Agent\C:\ProgramData\PCDr\C:\ProgramData\SupportAssist\C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\FileHistory\<!-- This block is for Windows Packages -->\n\C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.CortanaC:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManagerC:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.WindowsStoreC:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.OneConnectC:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\microsoft.windowscommunicationsappsC:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.CloudExperienceHostC:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\...Netflix_C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Packages\Spotify<!-- This block is for source code control and build temporary files -->Exclude GIT temporary files, which is anything in a ".git" sub-folderExclude Subversion temporary files, which is anything in a ".svn" sub-folderExclude Gradle temporary files, which is anything in a ".gradle" sub-folder

The steps to cancel an account will somewhat vary, based on the services that account is using. The steps to cancel for each service are below. If an account is using both the Online Backup and B2 Cloud Storage services, both sets of steps must be completed.

Canceling the Online Backup service:

To cancel a personal Online Backup subscription, remove all registered backups and licenses. To remove a single backup and license, follow the steps below. Repeat for each backup and license pair to be deleted.

Visit https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm and sign in to your Backblaze account with the registered email address and password.

Select the "Preferences" link on the left side of the page.

Locate the backup to be deleted from the list available.

Select the "Delete Backup" link next to the backup name. This action will immediately and irreversibly delete the backup data contained within, upon confirmation.

Select the "Overview" link from the left side of the page.

In the "Unused License" area found at the bottom, select the "Delete" link and proceed with the deletion.

Canceling the B2 Cloud Storage service:

To cancel an account using B2 cloud storage, delete all of the files, buckets, and application keys under the account. Deleting a bucket will require the bucket first be empty. This guide details how the Backblaze CLI tool can be used to sync a bucket to an empty folder, to quickly delete all of the data: https://help.backblaze.com/hc/en-us/articles/225556127-How-Can-I-Easily-Delete-All-Files-in-a-Bucket-

Once the bucket is empty, it can be deleted via the "Buckets" page. To locate that page, first sign in here: https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm

After logging in, a link to the "Buckets" page is available along the left side. Lastly, after all the files and buckets have been deleted, delete any non-master application keys via the "App Keys" page. A link to this page is also available along the left side of the Backblaze website.

Deleting a Backblaze account:

Once an account is inactive, the account may be deleted entirely. Deleting an account will prevent logins to the account immediately, as well as render access to any data within the account inaccessible. Should invoices or other account-level data be required for your records, that data should be downloaded prior to deletion.

To complete the deletion of the Backblaze account, follow these steps:

Visit https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm and sign in to your Backblaze account with the registered email address and password.

Select the "My Settings" link on the left side of the page.

Locate and select the "Delete Account" link at the top of the "My Settings" page.

Confirm the deletion request to permanently and irreversibly delete the account.

The Safety Freeze feature is designed to protect your backup. If you are encountering repeated Safety Freezes you may want to look into the cause. There are a few things that can cause a Safety Freeze:

1. The files in the Backblaze application/program directory are being removed/modified. This could be caused by disk failure, corruption, or disk utilities. If you have any defrag software, you might want to make sure that they have the Backblaze directory excluded.

2. Backblaze is detecting multiple of the same fguids (unique file ids) This can be cause by cloning, Time Machine, Migration assistant, etc.

Here's one way to try to identify what the cause is: please go to your /Library and rename backblaze.bzpkg to something else (on windows, you will want to rename the /Program Files/Backblaze directory). Then uninstall, reinstall and Transfer Backup State to resolve the Safety Freeze. If the freeze occurs again we will know that it is not the first condition.

Finally, you may want to check the integrity of your disks.

Image files within a Backblaze backup can be previewed from the View/Restore Files page, via any web browser. Jpeg, img, gif, and other common image files types can be previewed so long as they are 30 MB and under.

To preview an image file, first locate the file within the Backblaze backup. Then select the file name to present the window shown below:

If the file type is not currently supported for preview, the file type icon will be displayed rather than a preview.

From the View/Restore Files page, individual files less than 30 MB can be directly downloaded from a Backblaze backup.

To directly download a file, first locate the file within the Backblaze backup. Then select the file name to present the window shown below:

Selecting the "Download" button will download the file directly through your web browser to the default download location used by the browser.

Keep Your Restore Longer

Backblaze keeps .zip restores for 7 days. You can now Keep Your Restore Longer by saving your restores to Backblaze B2 where they will be kept indefinitely, until you delete them.

To use this feature your account must have Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage enabled via the account settings page or through the wizard that comes up the first time you use this feature. Once B2 is enabled, you can store up to 10GB of data for free, with up to 1 GB of download bandwidth free per day. Additional usage will follow normal Backblaze B2 pricing. Your selected files will be stored securely in your private B2 Cloud Storage account as a decrypted .zip Snapshot until you delete the Snapshot from B2.

Select A Restore

Once you have already created a .zip restore, you will see a Keep Longer button appear on the My Restore page next to eligible .zip restore.

Saving Files to B2 From Computer Backup

Name This Snapshot

Once you select the files you wish to send to B2 and press Continue With Restore, the dialog will present a cost estimate for storing the data in B2 and allow you to name the snapshot.

Viewing Your Snapshot

Once you save your restore to a B2 Snapshot, it appears in the Snapshots section of your Backblaze account. From the Snapshots page you can download, order a restore drive, or delete your Snapshot at any time.

Deleting Your Snapshot

To delete a Snapshot, select Snapshot and press the delete button (red circle) to the right of it.

Save Files To B2

You can now select and send files directly from your Backblaze Personal Backup and Business Backup to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. To learn more please go here: .

The first thing you will most likely do when using B2 is create a "Bucket" in which to store your files. Here's what you need to know about Bucket naming rules followed by a short FAQ.

Bucket Naming Rules

Bucket names are globally unique. This means if another B2 user has created a Bucket named for example "myphotos", then you cannot create a Bucket named "myphotos".

Each Backblaze B2 account can have a maximum of 100 Buckets.

Bucket names must be a minimum of 6 characters long and a maximum of 50 characters long.

Bucket names can be consist of numbers (0-9), letters (a-z) and the "-" (dash). No other characters are valid, including "_" (underscore).

Bucket name are case insensitive, meaning that "MYPhotos" is the same as "myphotos".

Bucket names that start with "b2-" are reserved by Backblaze and cannot be used.

FAQ

Q: Why are Bucket names globally unique versus "Account" unique? A: If Buckets names were only Account unique, then the Account name is required to make the URL or API call to the bucket unique. This means the Account name could be publicly visible, depending on how the URL/API is used. To protect B2 users from the inadvertent release of their Account name, we use the unique Bucket name instead. We are considering strategies to change this capability while protecting Account information.

Q: Why can't I use "_" in Bucket names? A: The underscore character is not valid in DNS tables. Allowing the underscore would limit the ability to cache files and also would limit our ability to create vanity URLs (a proposed future capability).

Q: What about creating Bucket names using multi-byte characters? A: Currently multi-byte characters are not supported. Only a-z, 0-9 and "-" are valid.

Q: Can I rename a Bucket? A: No. Currently, renaming a Bucket is not supported.

Q: Do the limitations on Bucket names apply to file or folder names. A: No. In general, file names can consist of any UTF-8 string up to 1,000 bytes long, but there are a few picky rules.

No character codes below 32 are allowed.

Backslashes are not allowed.

DEL characters (127) are not allowed.

File names cannot start with "/", end with "/", or contain "//".

For a complete discussion of file names, file ids, and more, please visit https://www.backblaze.com/b2/docs/files.html.

Backblaze supports and has clients for these operating systems

Windows

Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

Windows 8 (32-bit and 64-bit)

Windows 10 (32-bit and 64-bit)

Intel Mac OS X

Mountain Lion 10.8.x

Mavericks 10.9.x

Yosemite 10.10.x

El Capitan 10.11.x

macOS

Sierra 10.12.x

High Sierra 10.13.x

Mojave 10.14.x

Catalina 10.15.x

Operating Systems that are not supported

Windows

Windows Server of any variety, including SBS

Windows 95

Windows 98

Windows 2000

Windows ME

Windows XP (Backblaze support ended August 1, 2019)

Windows Vista(Backblaze support ended August 1, 2019)

Mac

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (Backblaze support ended February 1, 2013)

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard(Backblaze support ended August 1, 2019)

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard(Backblaze support ended August 1, 2019)

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion(Backblaze support ended August 1, 2019)

Mac OS X Server (10.8 and greater) can be backed up, but not all Server specific areas are allowed for backup, hence it is considered unsupported.

Linux, BSD, Unix and other *nix systems.

These operating systems are not supported and Backblaze can not be installed on them.

Alpha, Beta, Prerelease, and Preview operating systems

These operating systems are not supported. While Backblaze may be able to be installed, features, performance and validity of backups may not have been tested.

Why does Backblaze error with "Backblaze could not create a read-writable '.bzvol' directory on that hard drive." when I try to select a drive for backup?

Backblaze uses a hidden folder named .bzvol at the top level of every drive selected for backup. The directory contains a small file to uniquely identify the drive.

If Backblaze can't create a .bzvol folder, it will produce said error.

Common causes:

Disk Formatting:

If your operating system can read the drive but can't write to it, it will produce this error. Most commonly, this applies to Mac OS X and NTFS drives. Transfer the files to another drive, erase the disk as Mac OS Extended (HFS+) and put the data back on. Then it can be selected for backup.

Permissions (Windows):

Show hidden files if they're not already shown: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/show-hidden-files

Open the drive's top level in Windows' Computer area

If a .bzvol folder exists, delete it. Close the drive's top level window.

Right click on the drive itself, and choose Properties -> Security

See if SYSTEM is listed. If it's listed, make sure it's set for Full Control. If it's not listed, or isn't listed as having Full Control, click Edit

Click "Add", enter "SYSTEM" (all caps) in the Object Names field, and click OK

Make sure SYSTEM has "Allow" checked for all columns. Click OK, and OK again.

Reboot, then select the drive in the Backblaze control panel

Permissions (Mac):

Locate the drive in the Finder

Click on the drive once to select it

Pull down File and choose Get Info

In the Sharing & Permissions section, click the lock icon and enter your Mac's administrator credentials

Ensure that system or me has Read & Write privileges

Select the drive for backup in the Backblaze system preference

You can now send files from your Backblaze Personal Backup and Business Backup to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage.

To use this feature your account must have Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage enabled via the account settings page,or through the wizard the first time you use the feature. Once B2 is enabled, you can store up to 10GB of data for free, with up to 1 GB of download bandwidth free per day. Additional usage will follow normal Backblaze B2 pricing. Your selected files will be stored securely in your private B2 Cloud Storage account as a decrypted .zip Snapshot until you delete the Snapshot from B2.

Save Files to B2

You can now select B2 as a destination for your files during the Restore process. Files saved in B2 as a Snapshot will be kept indefinitely until removed by the user. Select Save Files to B2 as your Restore Method.

Keep Computer Backup Restores Longer With B2

Select Files

Select the files you wish to download. You can select individual files, multiple files, or entire folders and directories. Once selected, press "Continue with Restore".

Please note that the maximum Snapshot size is 10 TB. Additionally, if you already have B2 enabled any caps or limits you have set will also apply.

Name Restore

Once you select the files you wish to send to B2 and press Continue With Restore, you will be given an estimate for how much that data will cost to store in B2, and can give the restore a name.

Viewing Your Snapshot

Once you save your restore to a B2 Snapshot, it will appear in the Snapshots section of your Backblaze account. From the Snapshots page you can download, order a restore drive, or delete your saved Snapshot at any time.

Deleting Your Snapshot

To delete a Snapshot, select that Snapshot and press the delete button (red circle) to the right of it.

Keep Your Restore Longer

If you have a .zip restore already, you can Keep Your Restore Longer by moving it to Backblaze B2. To learn more please go here: .

Backblaze can backup as fast as your Internet connection allows. By default, Backblaze backs up at 256 kbps (about 3 GB/day.) However, if you have a faster connection, you can slide the Throttle setting to the right to backup faster. Test your connection using our Speed Test. If you are not able to backup at the speed shown by the Speed Test, the three most common reasons are:

Other computers are on your network and using your bandwidth.

Other bandwidth-heavy applications (such as videoconferencing, sync, remote desktop, online gaming, etc.) are using your bandwidth.

Comcast PowerBoost or other "temporary speed enhancers" fool the Speed Test into thinking you have more bandwidth than you do.

Latency in the connection from your computer to our servers. This can cause the overall speed to be reduced. Latency can be caused by general internet connection, and geographic/network distance. For more on how geographic distance can affect your speeds, please follow this link for international users.

You may find optimizing your computer and Backblaze's settings will help to improve backup speeds:

Disable computer sleep as Backblaze can't operate when your computer is sleeping (Mac -> Energy Saver system preference. Windows -> Control Panel -> Power Options -> Change when the Computer Sleeps.) If it's a laptop, make sure it's connected to power and the lid is left open when the computer is not in use, so Backblaze can continue in the background.

Set Backblaze's throttle as fast as possible (Backblaze system preference / control panel -> Settings -> Performance -> uncheck Automatic Throttle -> Move slider all the way to the right)

Utilize threading in the client to allow for simultaneous uploading of the amount of threads that you select(Backblaze system preference / control panel -> Settings -> Performance> uncheck Automatic Throttle -> Select the number of threads in number of Backup Threads)CAUTION: If you set the threads too high it can totally utilize all available bandwidth of the network and can cause timeouts and other connections issues across the network, start with fewer connections and go up accordingly.

Set Backblaze's schedule to the default Continuous, rather than On Click or Once Per Day (Backblaze system preference / control panel -> Settings -> Schedule)

Hardwire your internet connection rather than wifi (if possible)

Keep all external drives connected continuously (if applicable)

Our software contains a process called "deduplication" where files are digitally fingerprinted (checksummed) before they are sent to the server. When a file's fingerprint (SHA-1 checksum) matches an already backed up file, but it's renamed or moved (including drive to drive), it's simply updated at the servers, rather than re-transmitted.

You may see these files queued for back up, but once any given file is at the front of the queue, it will be checksummed, compared against the existing backup, and "deduplicate" resulting in it being updated on the server rather than re-uploading

Best Practices for using Backblaze

Backblaze is a great way to get all your data backed up with a minimum of fuss. Here are some suggestions that support a successful online backup strategy.

here

Give Backblaze the Time it Needs to Backup Your Computer

1. We designed Backblaze to work quietly in the background while you go about your usual computing tasks. Backblaze constantly scans your drive to find new or changed files and it can take some time, perhaps several hours, for Backblaze to update any of the numbers you see on the control panel.

2. Backblaze needs your computer to be on and awake to make backups, so during the initial backup we suggest turning off your computers sleep mode to give Backblaze more time to do its job.

3. Backblaze should be able to complete your initial backup in 30 days. If your initial backup is estimated to take longer, then Backblaze may not be the best solution for you.

4. At least once every two weeks make sure Backblaze runs for four hours in "Continuously" backup mode (the default) and check afterwards that the main control panel says "Remaining Files: 0 files / 0 KB. This confirms that you are all caught up and that everything is happening as it should. Its important to remember that Backblaze is intended to be a live mirror of your current hard drive contents and not a permanent archival service. To keep your account active and maintain the backup copy of your data, your computer must contact the Backblaze datacenter at least once every six months.

5. If you have external drives, it is essential that you connect all the drives and run Backblaze continuously for four hours at least once every two weeks. If an external hard drive is detached for more than 30 days, Backblaze will interpret this as meaning that these drives should no longer be included in your backup and it will permanently delete the backup files on these drives from the Backblaze datacenter. When the main control panel says "Remaining Files: 0 files / 0 KB" after five hours of continuous running with your external drives attached, then you know your backup is safe and caught up. Click for more information on using external hard drives with Backblaze.

Check in Periodically on your Backblaze Account

6. Once a week, open up the Backblaze System Preferences/Control Panel and see that Backblaze has been backing up files recently.

7. Once a month, it is a good idea to sign into the Backblaze.com site and restore a few of your files from your local drive and external drive.

Keep your Account and Data Secure

8. Use a unique password for your Backblaze account, which is good advice for all of your online accounts.

9. In addition to Backblazes offsite backup, maintain a local backup of your important files on an external drive so all your files will be in three places (original file, local external drive backup, and offsite Backblaze backup).

10. If you choose to use a private encryption key, be sure to keep a copy of the key in a secure place. Backblaze does not know your private key and cannot recover it. If you ever forget it, Backblaze will be unable to help you regain access to the encrypted backup.

Restore your Data when Needed

11. Prepare your restore FIRST THING as soon as you realize you have lost data. Don't procrastinate, and don't do any other steps before preparing a restore. If you have any problems, please contact Backblaze support. When your restore is ready, download or copy the data as soon as possible, and verify you have all of the data you may want or need.

Creating a Restore:

To start, you will need to sign in to the Backblaze website with your registered email address and password.

Windows here

Selecting the Backup:

Once logged in, you will be brought to the account Overview page. On this page, all of the computers registered for backup under your account are shown with some basic information about each. Select which backup from which you wish to restore data by using the appropriate "Restore" button.

Selecting the Type of Restore:

Backblaze offers four different ways in which you can receive your restore data: downloadable zip file, Save Files to B2, USB flash drive, or USB hard drive. The downloadable zip restore option will create a zip file of the files you request that is made available for download for 7 days. Zip restores do not have any additional cost and are a great option for individual files or small sets of data. Depending on the speed of your internet connection to the Backblaze data center, downloadable restores may not always be the best option for restoring very large amounts of data. Zip restores are limited to 500 GB per request and a maximum of 20 active requests can be submitted under a single account at any given time.

The Save Files to B2 option allows you to move a zip restore to our B2 Cloud Storage service for permanent storage. B2 Cloud Storage is priced at $0.005/GB/Month for storage, and the Save Files to B2 option will quote your estimated storage cost. The maximum size of a Save Files to B2 restore is the same as our zip restore, 500GB. You can learn more here.

USB flash and hard drive restores are built with the data you request and then shipped to an address of your choosing. We ship via FedEx with signature required where available. FedEx does not deliver to PO Boxes.All USB restores are prepared and shipped from the U.S., even if your data is stored in a non-U.S. data center.

USB flash restores cost $99 and can contain up to 256 GB (238,000 MB of data) and USB hard drive restores cost $189 and can containup to 8 TB max (7,000,000 MB of data). Both include the cost of shipping.

Selecting Files for Restore:

Using the left hand file viewer, navigate to the location of the files you wish to restore. You can use the disclosure triangles to see subfolders. Clicking on a folder name will display the folder's files in the right hand file viewer. If you are attempting to restore files that have been deleted or are otherwise missing or files from a failed or disconnected secondary or external hard drive, you may need to change the timeframe parameters.

Put checkmarks next to disks, files or folders you'd like to recover. Once you have selected the files and folders you wish to restore, select the "Continue with Restore" button above or below the file viewer. Backblaze will then build the restore via the option you select (zip or usb drive). You'll receive an automated email notifying you when the zip restore has been built and is ready for downloador when the usb restore drive ships.

If you are using the downloadable zip option, and the restore is over 2 GB, we highly recommend using the Backblaze Downloader for better speed and reliability. We have a guide on using the Backblaze Downloader for Mac OS X here, or for .

By default, files that are deleted, overwritten, or otherwise removed from the system backing up are retained in the Backblaze backup for 30 days, for the purpose of recovery. After 30 days, those files are deleted from the Backblaze backup as well.

With the introduction of our Extended Version History feature in October 2019, you can now retain data that has been deleted, overwritten, or otherwise removed from the computer being backed up for one year, or even forever: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/backblaze-7-0-version-history-and-beyond/

Security Q&A

In General

"How good is the encryption. What do you use?"

We use 2048 bit public/private keys to secure asymmetric AES 128 bit key that changes forevery backup "session" on your computer(usually this is once per hour). You can read aboutour approach here: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/how-to-make-strong-encryption-easy-to-use/ (We copied the design of Microsoft's Encrypted File System,we didn't invent any of this, it is all off-the-shelf OpenSSL library stuff.)

After we encrypt the files, we *THEN* push themthrough HTTPS (SSL, port 443) which is actuallykind of double-encryption, but then we justwanted to make sure customers were comfortablewith the encryption and HTTPS doesn't hurt anythingand actually has some nice side effects (it separatesbackups onto a separate port than the majority of yourweb traffic, allows for traffic shaping if you want to do it).

I Need the Specifics

"What mode of operation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Block_cipher_modes_of_operation ) is AES used in?"

When it is time to back up a file, the Backblaze client reads your file fromdisk ONCE, then all in RAM it generates an AES-128 (CBC) key andInitialization Vector (IV) and bundles up the file in a littleencrypted bundle whichincludes the AES-128 key IV.

The "payload" isthe file which is encrypted with the AES-128 key because symmetric AES-128-CBCis very fast, and the AES-128 key is encrypted by the userPub.pem key. Notice at this point, on the client, the file is absolutely notdecodable becausethe client does not have the userPriv.pem key.(This design is the basis of most good encrypted file systems, very standard,you can read about it on Wikipedia or anywhere about Microsoft's EFS.)

The bundled file, the AES-128 key, the whole thing is NEVER written todisk in any way, it is transmitted directly through HTTPS (yes,full two levelutterly separate redundant encryption) to the Backblaze datacenter. We happen to use libCURL for the HTTPS layer which links with OpenSSLto implement the SSL layer.

"Depending on the block-cipher mode being used; how do you select the IV to be used for each operation?"The IV is randomly generated using /dev/urandom on Mac and CryptAcquireContext(PROV_RSA_FULL, CRYPT_VERIFYCONTEXT)/CryptGenRandom on Windows.

How Protected Am I and When?

"Is a separate AES encryptiondone on my computer before the data is sent to your server?

If not,how does the key generation work?"

At a higher level, Backblaze uses OpenSSL -> so the answerto most of your questions is found by reading up on thattechnology. Luckily this is the widest known encryption library and technology on earth. At Backblaze we specialize in making what is normallyonly for rocket scientists usable by Mom and Pop consumer.

To answer your question, at installation time, a 2048 bit pub/priv key pair is generated on your laptop, and the private key is transmittedthrough HTTPS. The priv key is NEVER written to diskon your system,it is then thrown away after transmission.The public key can be found on your local system hereon a Windows PC (ask if you want to know on a Macintosh): C:\Program Files\Backblaze\userPub.pem This is a standard "OpenSSL PEM File" as decribed here: http://www.openssl.org/docs/crypto/pem.html#PEM_ENCRYPTION_FORMAT.

You can read these files with Notepad or Wordpad, butbe very very careful not to write out any changes or itwill effectively destroy your backup -> make it unrecoverable/unreadable.

The private key stored in your account in the Backblaze datacenteris *ALSO* a PEM file, and by default it is secured (encrypted) by our standard pass phrase.But if you change the encryption on thePEM file this done on the privateKey PEM file on ourservers. Then you are seriously, SERIOUSLY protected,if you forget your password nobody on earth could readthose files, not the US government, not Backblaze, notyou, nobody. If you look at this web page: http://www.openssl.org/docs/apps/rsa.html then search for the term "pass phrase" you can find out morethan you probably want to know.

What About Schrdinger?

"Is the password used directly as the symmetric key, or is the symmetric key derived somehow through an algorithm?

If so, what algorithm is used to derive the symmetric key?"

Not derived. The symmetric AES key is randomly generatedfor each "backup session" (about once per hour), thenthe symmetric key is THEN encrypted with the pub/privkey system and the whole thing is appended to theoriginal file with a checksum at the very end.

What if I am a Very Paranoid User?

"If a user is paranoid (hi! :]) and chooses to protect their RSA private key with a passphrase of their own;

why does the private key (encrypted, with that password, yes?) still need to be sent to your datacenter,

and not simply reside on the client-side?

How do you protect the RSA private key with the user-supplied password? PBKDF2 or similar?

If so, can you share those details? e.g. the number of iterations, underlying hashing algorithm used, etc."

Our product is designed to be secure yet still easy to use. As you point out, if we stored the private key on theclient then we would have to make sure the user understood how important it was to safeguard it against lossor theft. Because of this we choose to store the key on the server and (optionally) protect that key with apassword that *only* the user (you) knows. When a password is used, the private key is encrypted withEVP_aes_128_cbc in OpenSSL using the password supplied by the user.

Verified by Inspector #9

"How is the integrity of backed-up data verified?"

Each file ends with a checksum, and each "batch of files"has an additional checksum. Every few weeks *ALL*of the files in the datacenter are passed over and re-readand the checksums are recalculated. If a cosmic rayhas thrown a bit, we ask your computer to retransmitthat particular file. This rarely, rarely happens, but inour datacenter of quadrillions of trillions of files in 350petabytesof customer data. It *DOES* occur once in a while.

Finally, in addition, inside the encrypted bundle ofdata is a SHA-1 (a type of checksum) of the plaintext version. We cannot get at this until you preparea restore (because it is part of the encrypted bundle)but once we prepare and the original contentshave come out in the original glory. (They always do,but it was code we put in there years ago and it helpsus sleep at night.)

I Don't Trust You, but I am Expecting an Honest Answer.

"If I opt to password-protect my private key, are BackBlaze servers still able to decrypt my data?

(For instance, by sending the password to the server where my private key is stored and decrypting theprivate key on the server)

Or is my data only able to be decrypted on the client?"

ABSOLUTELY NOT. Once the password is set do not forget it, there is no way to recover it.Once protected by a private encryption key Backblaze can only decrypt the backup files when the usersupplies the password. This is done during the restore process and the supplied password is neversaved on our systems, although never to disk, only to RAM.

What it Comes Down to is Trust, but, Unfortunately, I Just Can't Trust You.

"Having the private key outside my computer is unacceptable.

The unfortunate thing is that I can't trust you. I'm not allowed to trust you.

So, I guess my question is why do I have to?It makes most sense that I shouldn't -have- to trust you..."

I understand. What you are describing is conceptually perfectand probably more secure than whatBackblaze provides, unfortunately, it is not easy to use. Backblaze focuses on ease of use. It isbackup for people who need backup and "pretty good security" andwho aren't computer professionals. It is not a perfect choicefor all users on earth, you are unfortunately outside our scope.

Take our default security model -> it is about as secure asa Facebook account. It uses a username and password. You can recover (reset) your password if you have access to your email.That mode is good for many, many people on earth, people whohave pictures of their children they don'twant to lose. Music theywould rather not repurchase. And a few Quicken docs thatthey would not like amalicious person tohave, but they will not *DIE* if somebody reads them. And it'sSUPER convenient torecover their password. What a great system!

Our second level is really, really much more secure. You cannotrecover the password. If you have access to your email account this does notgive you access to the backup, and even a malicioushacker in ourdatacenter could not possibly compromise your data. Now whileit is more secure,it is also harder to use -> if you forget thatpassword you have actually lost the backup, yourwedding photosare gone forever. That's very secure, but it's not as secure aswhat you describe.

We stand by our reputation as trustworthy, careful programmers who haveworkedin the security field for over a decade. You can check us out onLinkedIn, through colleagues that have worked with us, through thepublicly traded companies that have acquired our companies in the past.Here is our team page: https://www.backblaze.com/team.html Welive and work in Silicon Valley,we've been here for 20 years, and weplan to keep doing this for a long, long time, and therefore wehave *LOTS* of interest in keeping our reputations rock solid andutterly clean.

Previously we fought phishing fraud, fought email viruses,and fought spam at a company called MailFrontier. We are totally customer-focused and all-around good people, ask ANYBODY.If you come here to our offices, I'll buy you a cup of coffee.

Is This Line Secure?

"When retrieving backup data, is it sent over https or over http?"

Short answer: HTTPS. But here is the longer answer:

The answer shows a weak point in the Backblaze system. As you prepare a restore, you must type in yourprivate passphrase into the restore server. This isnot written to disk, but held in RAM and for theperiod of timeof decrypting all your files,and they are then storedin "clear text" on our very highlysecured serversuntil they are ZIPPEDup andofferedto you to be downloaded.At that moment you can download them (by HTTPS only),then you can "delete the restore zip"which means youclose the window of time that your files are available inplain text.

So to recap: if you never actually prepare a restore,we cannot possibly know what is in your files, butif you prepare a restore (let's say of a few files) thenfor the couple minutes they are being prepared anddownloaded they are in "plain text" on a HIGHLY SECUREsystem in the Backblaze datacenter. At that moment,if a Backblaze employee were malicious enough anddedicated enough and was watching (which is actuallypretty hard,we get thousands of restores every dayso it would fly by quickly) they could see your filenamesappear on the Linux servers right before they are ZIPPED up into a new bundle. A few minutes ofexposure.

We actually want to improve this to provide a password encrypted ZIP file for download, and then theFINALimprovement is to actually allow you to downloadthe private encryption key, download theencryptedfiles, and provide the pass phrase in the privacyof your computer. We hope to add this functionality in the future.

You can prevent Backblaze from backing up on selected Wi-Fi networks by adding those networks to a block list. If you add a Wi-Fi network to the block list some Backblaze data may still be transmitted, but Backblaze will NOT upload backup data while connected to that network.

Adding a Network To The Block List

In the Backblaze App open Settings and the Performance Tab. You will see your block list towards the bottom of the screen. To add a network, press Add.

Selecting a Network

Once you press Add Backblaze will scan for and display a list of all visible Wi-Fi networks. When you see the Wi-Fi network you would like to block, select that network and press add. You will no longer back up when connected to that network.

Removing a Network

To remove a Wi-Fi network from the blocked list, select that network in the blocked list, and press Remove.

You will now be able to back up when connected to that network.

*Note -> If network changes do not immediately take effect, you may need to press "Pause" on your backup, and then "Backup Now".

Backblaze Performance Settings (Mac)

The Backblaze "Performance" settings can be found on the second tab, as pictured below.

Security Settings (Mac)

At the top, the Backblaze software will estimate how much data can be backed up in a single day, based on the most recent speed test. This estimation also assumes the computer is powered on, awake, and connected to the internet for 24 hours.

The"Automatic Throttle"setting attempts to limit the rate at which the Backblaze software uploads files to 70-90% of your total connection speed to the Backblaze data center. This limit is intended to allow your backups to upload as quickly as possible and allowing other web-based activities to continue unimpeded. The portion of your upload bandwidth used is recalculated once per hour.

Unchecking the "Automatic Throttle" box will enable "Manual Throttle" and reveal a slider which can be used to manually adjust the rate at which files are uploaded. An example can be seen below.

When Manual Throttle is enabled and the slider adjusted all the way to the right, the number of upload threads can also be configured. This is useful for customers who, due to latency or other network conditions, are not able to maximize their upload connection to Backblaze. Normally, Backblaze uses a single connection at a time to upload the data from your computer to the Backblaze data center. Increasing the number of threads means more connections are running in parallel.

If there is a major discrepancy between your total available upload bandwidth and the speed at which you are currently uploading files toBackblaze, increasing the number of threadsmay improve performance. We generally recommend increasing the number of threads incrementally by one, then taking note of the amount of data (not the number of files, but the total number of megabytes) uploaded in a 12 or 24 hour period. Most connections will see little to no performance gains for additional threads above 4. It is also worth noting that each additional thread above oneincreases the system resources used by the Backblaze software while uploads are in progress.

If Backblaze is being used on a Mac OS X computer that has a battery, the option to enable to disable backups when running on battery power will be displayed. Disabling backups on battery power may increase battery life. Desktop computers will not have this option displayed.

Lastly, the "Don't use these WiFi networks:" section allows specific Wireless Internet connections to be added to that list, and not have backup data transmitted if connected to one. Further information in this guide !

Other Backblaze Settings Articles:

Settings Overview (Mac)

General Settings (Mac)

Schedule Settings (Mac)

Exclusions Settings (Mac)

Backblaze Performance Settings (Win)

The Backblaze"Performance"settings can be found on the second tab, as pictured below.

Security Settings (Win)

At the top, the Backblaze software will estimate how much data can be backed up in a single day, based on the most recent speed test and chosen throttle setting. This estimation also assumes the computer is powered on, awake, and connected to the internet for 24 hours.

The"Automatic Throttle"setting attempts to limit the rate at which the Backblaze software uploads files to 70-90% of your total connection speed to the Backblaze data center. This limit is intended to allow your backups to upload as quickly as possible and allowing other web based activities to continue unimpeded. The portion of your upload bandwidth used is recalculated once per hour.

Unchecking the "Automatic Throttle" box will enable"Manual Throttle"and reveal a slider which can be used to manually adjust the rate at which files are uploaded. An example can be seen below.

When Manual Throttle is enabled and the slider adjusted all the way to the right, the number of upload threads can also be configured. This is useful for customers who, due to latency or other network conditions, are not able to maximize their upload connection to Backblaze. Normally, Backblaze uses a single connection at a time to upload the data from your computer to the Backblaze data center. Increasing the number of threads means more connections are running in parallel.

If there is a major discrepancy between your total available upload bandwidth and the speed at which you are currently uploading files to Backblaze, increasing the number of threadsmayimprove performance. We generally recommend increasing the number of threads incrementally by one, then taking note of the amount of data (not the number of files, but the total number of megabytes) uploaded in a 12 or 24 hour period. Most connections will see little to no performance gains for additional threads above 4. It is also worth noting that each additional thread above oneincreases the system resources used by the Backblaze software while uploads are in progress.

If Backblaze is being used on a computer that has a battery, the option to enable to disable backups when running on battery power will be displayed. Disabling backups on battery power may increase battery life.

Lastly, the"Wi-Fi network block list"allows the option to add wireless networks you do not wish to back up over. more info found in this guide !

Other Backblaze Settings Articles:

Settings Overview (Win)

General Settings (Win)

Schedule Settings (Win)

Exclusion Settings (Win)

I understand. What you are describing is conceptually perfectand probably more secure than whatBackblaze provides, unfortunately, it is not easy to use.

Backblaze focuses on ease of use. It isbackup for people who need backup and "pretty good security" andwho aren't computer professionals. It is not a perfect choicefor all users on earth.

Take our default security model -> it is about as secure asa Facebook account. It uses a username and password. You can recover (reset) your password if you have access to your email.That mode is good for many, many people on earth, people whohave pictures of their children they don'twant to lose. Music theywould rather not repurchase. And a few Quicken docs thatthey would not like amalicious person tohave, but they will not *DIE* if somebody reads them. And it'sSUPER convenient torecover their password. What a great system!

Our second level is really, really much more secure. You cannotrecover the password. If you have access to your email account this does notgive you access to the backup, and even a malicioushacker in ourdatacenter could not possibly compromise your data. Now whileit is more secure,it is also harder to use -> if you forget thatpassword you have actually lost the backup, yourwedding photosare gone forever. That's very secure, but it's not as secure aswhat you describe.

We stand by our reputation as trustworthy, careful programmers who haveworkedin the security field for over a decade. You can check us out onLinkedIn, through colleagues that have worked with us, through thepublicly traded companies that have acquired our companies in the past.Here is our team page: https://www.backblaze.com/team.html Welive and work in Silicon Valley,we've been here for 20 years, and weplan to keep doing this for a long, long time, and therefore wehave *LOTS* of interest in keeping our reputations rock solid andutterly clean.

The Outlook data (.pst) file is a file where Outlook stores your emails, tasks and other Outlook related information.

Outlook data file default location on Windows XPOutlook 2010: My Documents/Outlook FilesOutlook 2007 or earlier versions: C:Documents and Settings/YOUR_USER_NAME/Local Settings/Application Data/MicrosoftOutlook

Outlook data file default location on Windows Vista, 7 and 8Outlook 2010: Documents/Outlook FilesOutlook 2007 or earlier versions: C:Users/YOUR_USER_NAME/AppData/Local/MicrosoftOutlook

Outlook data file default location on Mac OSOutlook 2011 database file: MacintoshHD/Users/<yourusername>/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities/Main Identity/

You can learn more about .pst files here:

PST files can be backed up by Backblaze, but there are few caveats to be aware of:

Backblaze can't back up files that are exclusively locked. Your PST file can only be backed up if Outlook is fully closed as it keeps the file in use whenever Outlook is open. For files that are 100MB and larger, Backblaze backs them up a maximum of once every 48 hours

You will also want to make sure that the file does not have any restrictive permissions settings. You can check if there are any issues with the PST file or others by going to Backblaze Preferences > Settings > Reports > Issues (Mac) or

Backblaze Control Panel > Settings > Issues (Windows)

If the file is open in another program it will read 'TEMPORARY_FILE_BUSY', whereas if the file has restrictive permissions it will read 'PERMANENT_BAD_PERMISSIONS'.

Once you have fixed the permissions or closed out of the program you can force an immediate re-scan by holding the 'alt/option' key and clicking 'restore options' on the Backblaze panel.

Storing Content in Backblaze B2 for a CDN

Many customers have expressed interest in hosting static data for their website (ranging from minified Javascript applications to multi-hour 8K video) because of the security, reliability, and affordability of Backblaze B2 storage. One solution to ensuring performance and availability is to route requests through a CDN ( Content Delivery Network ) such as Backblaze's Bandwidth Alliance partner Cloudflare, taking advantage of Cloudflare's performance and the free data transfer between Backblaze B2 and Cloudflare.

How does a CDN like Cloudflare work?

Cloudflare leverages DNS ( Domain Name System ) so that content requests come to Cloudflare's servers. Through caching and private high-speed links, Cloudflare ensures high availability and reliability from storage. A website's domain name is registered with Cloudflare (and transferred from its domain name registrar), so that Cloudflare becomes responsible for serving content from that domain. Behind the scenes, Cloudflare allows a website's domain to be aliased to some other domain, so that a user may see images and content from https://www.coffeemaniacs.com when those images and that content is actually being served from Backblaze B2 ( https://f345.backblazeb2.com/file/coffemaniacs-storage)

Backblaze Buckets are on the Internet Securely

Although all buckets are addressable from the internet, only public buckets can be accessed by just anybody. By default, Backblaze B2 storage is private, which means that access requires authentication. Backblaze's various integration partners have incorporated this security into their tools to keep Backblaze B2 as user-friendly as possible while still maintaining security.

Website Content from Secure Buckets

Putting these elements together means that customers serving data from their website want to serve from their website; they want to store their photos and videos and all of their digital content in a private bucket, available through (and only through) their website. When hosting a website directly, adding the authentication required to pull data from Backblaze B2 is straightforward. Fronting a website through Cloudflare is slightly more complex: now Cloudflare has to access private buckets to retrieve and cache data, which means Cloudflare has to authenticate its requests to Backblaze B2.

Web Workers for the Win

Cloudflare offers web workers, small Javascript snippets that allow rewriting HTTP and HTTPS requests on the fly. These make it straightforward to add authentication headers to content requests, and authenticate the link between Cloudflare and Backblaze B2. Even better, Cloudflare's web workers can be uploaded directly into Cloudflare's servers making the automation of the process straightforward. Web workers are available at all plan levels (including the free plan), for a nominal charge (please see Cloudflare's site for their pricing and plan). At the free level, only one script is possible, but one is enough to allow Cloudflare access to otherwise private data.

Web Workers, Updates, and Authorizations: Working Together

One solution is to use a Web Worker to rewrite the request URLs on the fly, adding an Authorization parameter. Although an authorization is good for any number of requests, B2 authorizations eventually expire (the longest period of time an authorization can persist is 7 days). Manually updating the authorization each week would be a chore: this is something that should happen automatically. Fortunately, both Backblaze B2 and Cloudflare offer APIs that can automate the process. The procedure here uses a Python script and the B2 APIs to get a new B2 download authorization, good for 7 days from the moment the script runs. After embedding that authorization into a Javascript snippet, the Python script uses the Cloudflare APIs to upload the script. By using a scheduler such ascron on Linux or MacOS, orschtasks on Windows, an administrator can automate running the script every day or two, thus ensuring the authorization code is always current. This article contains the complete script, as well as instructions on modifying it with the right parameters.

Setting up to enable access to your private bucket

Building this connection requires:

A Backblaze account

An ApplicationKey and ApplicationKeyID that gives read access to the private bucket

The name of the Backblaze B2 file server for the bucket

A Cloudflare account

A top-level internet domain (such as www.pawneeparks.org )

Cloudflare Web Worker access

The Cloudflare API key

The Cloudflare Zone ID

A Python3 program to get a refreshed authorization token and upload it to Cloudflare along with the worker code (available at Github ). (Once Cloudflare's recently announced Workers KV comes out of beta, we will update this article to store the authorization key in this distributed database.)

A server running cron (or something similar) to run the python3 update at regular intervals

Step by Step

Gather the information needed about your Backblaze B2 account

If you do not already have a Backblaze account, sign up for one here. Backblaze B2 includes 10 gigabytes of free storage and does not require a billing method to get started exploring the possibilities. This is the Python3 script to get a B2 authorization token and upload a web worker to authorize Cloudflare requests to the private bucket is available.

After creating (or signing into) your Backblaze B2 account, go to My Account on the top menu, and then selectBuckets in the right hand menu

This will open the bucket UI screen, and if this is a new account, it will have no buckets (yet).

Redirecting traffic requires having a bucket. Clicking on 'Create Bucket' brings up the bucket creation dialog.

Choose a name (not the one in the dialog). Bucket names must be globally unique across all Backblaze B2 accounts. Choosing a name already in use will return an error; should this happen, simply choose another name. Users of the redirected content will not see this name.

As long as we are here, get the BucketId for this bucket (this is a globally unique identifier). Next, upload a file (it does not matter what). Click on Upload/Download.

Click on upload, and send a text or HTML file up to Backblaze B2 (we will retrieve it as part of testing the integration) later. This file will be referred to later as uploadedFile.html.

Just drag and drop a file, and upload it to the Backblaze B2 bucket.

Find the white i in a small gray circle at the far right of the file listing (circled in green), and click on that. It gives information about the file: we are looking for the fileserver for this account (all buckets from this account will utilize this particular fileserver).

As shown, the fileserver for this bucket is https://f001.backblazeb2.com. Make a note of the fileserver, as this is the top-level domain that is the target of the remap. Also note that the filepath is <fileserver>/file/<BucketName>/filename this pattern is used to source content through the remapped domain (more detail on this later).

Next, get (or create) an applicationKeyId and applicationKey to generate authorization tokens. Once the file information dialog is dismissed, click on the 'Buckets' menu item in the left-hand menu to return to the main Buckets page. Near the top of the page, is a link to Show Account Key and Application Key.

Click on this link to go to the key management.

Although it is possible to use the Master Application Key ID and Master Application Key, it is preferable to use a key with less access. Scrolling down this screen a bit gives:

This will create an ApplicationKeyID and ApplicationKey (and this one is scoped to provide full read and write access to the bucket).Please note that the ApplicationKey is displayed exactly once. Although another key can be created with similar permissions, this particular key cannot be regenerated. This key gives access to your bucket, and should be kept securely.Application keys enable a great deal of flexibility in granting access to your stored content.

Note the ApplicationKey (again: this is the only time it will be displayed) and the ApplicationKeyId for the bucket. The ApplicationKeyId, along with the KeyName, are listed (as are all keys created for an account).

This is all the information required from Backblaze.

Set up the Cloudflare account

If you do not already have a Cloudflare account, sign up for one at Cloudflare.

and sign up:

After signing up, register your top-level domain with Cloudflare by going to 'add record'. Ensure the record type is CNAME. This will map your top level domain (herestatic.pawneeparks.org) to the source that Cloudflare will fetch content from.

Click on 'add record', and then make sure the cloud icon directly to the right of the 'Automatic TTL' choice box and directly to the left of the 'Add Record' button is orange; if it is gray, click it once to change the setting from 'DNS only' to 'DNS and HTTP Proxy'.

The next step requires adding billing information, and a subscription to web workers. After this is accomplished, go the the workers page, and launch the editor.

Do not modify the default script (there is no need).However, the script must be saved by clicking the 'save' button(circled in green). Clicking this button may not appear to do anything, but it is absolutely required for the next step, which is to specify the route on which the worker script is enabled.

Click on the 'routes' tab (circled in green) to show the routes.

click 'Add Route' to add a route, and it should show up.

and the script will show as enabled for this script:

The routing is set up, and the script will be taken care of automatically by python script, but we will need an API key for Cloudflare. Click on 'Dashboard' to return to the main Cloudflare interface, and then go to the Overview.

Several things require attention here. First, SSL should be set toFull (Strict) to ensure that Cloudflare verifies certificates from Backblaze B2 storage. Next, theZone ID is required to upload our worker script, as is the API key. After noting the Zone ID, click on 'Get your API key'.

and scroll down to the bottom of this page. The final section isAPI Keys. The required information is the global API key. ClickViewto display the API key, and make note of it. Cloudflare will require account verification.

It will reveal your API key:

Please note: under no circumstances display your API key in a public forum.

Setting up the authorized web worker with Cron

Since Backblaze B2 authorization tokens expire, feeding a CDN requires updating the authorization token. The simplest way to do this is to replace the entire worker script with a new one, where the authorization token is hard-coded into the Javascript. To make this easier, here is a script which, given the identities, identifiers, and keys, will get a new authorization token from Backblaze, embed it into a web worker script that will add the token as a header to incoming requests, and then upload the script to Cloudflare. By default, the script's authorization tokens are valid for one week (the maximum possible time). If this script is scheduled to run once a day, then the script can be missed for five days before the authorization token expires.

Setting up a Python script to run at regular intervals is beyond the scope of this guide, as is setting up a Python3 environment.

This script requires some customization, as a number of values are specific to the user.

cloudflareEmail

The email address registered as the account owner in Cloudflare

bucketSourceId

The hexadecimal bucket identifer for the source bucket in Backblaze B2

bucketFilenamePrefix

The filename prefix (if any) for which the B2 ApplicationKey is valid

cfZoneId

The Zone ID for the Cloudflare account

b2AppKey

This is the Backblaze B2 Application Key to authorize access to the Backblaze B2 bucket. This is the secret key that is displayed exactly one time and never again.

b2AppKeyId

This is the Backblaze B2 Application Key ID. It is also a long string, but it is displayed in the list of existing keys.

maxSecondsAuthValid

The number of seconds for which the authorization is valid when created. The default script value is a week, which is the maximum time-to-live of any authorization token. The valid time may be set to a smaller value. However, this should be weighed against how often the cron job will run. If the cron job runs once a day, then if it is skipped for a day or two or even five, the authorization remains active if the authorization token lasts for a week.

The pricing page for Backblaze B2 with the calculator is available here.

B2 is ready-access cloud storage that is incredibly affordable, cost predictable, and has no hidden fees. Our single tier pricing means you don't trade off storage affordability versus download costs. In addition, B2 has one one pricing table for all regions. B2 is a pay-for-usage service, meaning you will be charged for the amount of data used and stored, in accordance with the pricing below!

pay to upgrade their support plan

STORAGE

$0.005/GB/Month How much data you have stored with Backblaze B2. This is calculated once a day based on the average storage of the previous 24 hours. The first 10 GB of storage is free.

DOWNLOAD

$0.01/GB Charged when you download files. Charged for any portion of a GB. The first 1 GB of data downloaded each day is free.

TRANSACTIONS

Class "A" transactions Free Class "B" transactions - $0.004 per 10,000 with 2,500 free per day. Class "C" transactions - $0.004 per 1,000 with 2,500 free per day. View Transactions by API Call

DATA BY MAIL

Mail us your data on a B2 Fireball - $550 Backblaze will FedEx you a Snapshot of your data, return the drive for a refund USB Flash Drive - up to 256 GB - $99 USB Hard Drive up to 8TB of data - $189

PRODUCT SUPPORT

All B2 active account owners can contact Backblaze support at help.backblaze.com where they will also find a free-to- use knowledge base of B2 advice, guides, and more. In addition, a B2 user can to include phone service, 24x7 support and more.

EVERYTHING ELSE

Free

Unlike other services, you won't be nickeled and dimed with upload fees, file deletion charges, minimum files size requirements, and more. Everything you can possibly pay Backblaze is listed above.

sign in to your Backblaze account,

TheRestore Return Refund program is for Personal Backup and Business Backup customers who do not need to keep a USB drive after they've recovered their lost data. Backblaze offers refunds for returned drives ($99 for USB flash drives, $189 for USB hard drives) within 30 days of receiving the drive, effectively making the process of restoring free!

This is a great option if a customer needs to restore a large amount of data but does not need to keep the USB drive after the recovery.

A few things to note:

The 30 day timer starts the day you receive the drive, and stops when the returned drive is postmarked.

To make sure this program remains available to all Backblaze Personal Backup and Business Backup customers, there is a limit of 5 returned drives per account per 12 month period. You're free to order as many as you want, however only 5 of them can be returned.

Customers are responsible for return shipping costs back to Backblaze, and for customers outside of the USA, Backblaze will not pay for taxes, duties, customs or fees. Arrange to have them prepaid before shipping or billed to the shipper (you). Packages that arrive postage due, or have taxes, fees, duties, customs or fees upon delivery will be refused.All USB restores are prepared and shipped from the U.S., even if your data is stored in a non-U.S. data center.

It's not necessary to ship with a fast and potentially expensive service, however we do recommend that you use one that supports a tracking number just in case the package does not arrive. If you can specify delivery days with your shipper, please note Backblaze can not receive shipments on Saturdays or Sundays.

Once the drive has been received, the refund will be processed within a few business days. A status email for refunds is typically sent depending on account settings. The Billing page will also reflect the refund. Refunds will be sent to the same card that was used to purchase the drive.

To take advantage of this program, place a USB drive order using the standard process. Once you're ready to return the drive within 30 days of receiving it, erase the drive, pack it back in the inner box, including any cables or power adapters that were included. Please do not include any packing peanuts.

Include a print out of your Billing page from theBackblaze account that placed the order for the USB drive.To access the Billing page, navigate to "Billing" on the left column, and click the "Print" button. Make sure the USB drive purchase shows up on that page - if it does not, you may be signed in to the incorrect account.

To return the drive, ship to:Backblaze Restore Refund500 Ben Franklin Ct.San Mateo, CA 94401USA

Note: USB drives that are returnedwithout a printout of the Billing page can notbe refunded.

What's the best power settings for Backblaze?

Backblaze can only back up when certain power and network criteria is met:

The computer is powered on

The computer is awake

The internet connection is active and functional

Our recommended power settings:

Mac OS X (all versions, different versions may appear slightly different):

Navigate to Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Energy Saver

If it's a laptop, choose the "Power Adapter" tab

Set "Computer sleep" to "never" by dragging the slider all the way to the right

You can set "Display sleep" to whatever setting you'd like

If it's a laptop, ensure that the power adapter is connected and the display lid is left open for backups to progress

Please note that the Power Nap feature is exclusive to Apple built in features, and not available to Backblaze or other non-Apple applications

Windows 7:

Navigate to Start -> Control Panel -> Power Options -> Change when the computer sleeps

Set "Put the computer to sleep" to "Never"

Click "Save Changes"

Windows XP:

Navigate to Start -> Control Panel -> Power Options -> Change when the computer sleeps

Set "System standby" to "Never"

Backblaze online backup can theoretically backup a network drive, network share, or NAS device, but for business reasons do not allow it. Backing up mounted or network drives can easily be abused. A user could mount the 10 or 20 computers in their home or small business and back them all up to one account for $6/month.

However, using our B2 cloud storage service, NAS devices can be backed up offsite. A number of NAS devices can backup to B2 directly using their own native apps, such as Synology, QNAP, and FreeNAS devices.

Synology NAS devices can sync their data to our cloud storage service, B2, via Synology's Cloud Sync software. For more information about Synology's cloud sync, refer here: https://www.synology.com/en-us/knowledgebase/DSM/help/CloudSync/cloudsync

Similarly, QNAP supports backing up and syncing to B2 via their Hybrid Backup Sync software. For information on QNAP's Hybrid Backup Sync, refer here: https://www.qnap.com/solution/hybrid-backup-sync/en/

And for information on TrueNAS and FreeNAS, refer here: https://www.backblaze.com/blog/how-to-setup-freenas-cloud-storage/

Last updated: November 1, 2019

We've encountered an issue on the Mac where Adobe Creative Cloud (version 3.5.0.206)appears to be removing the contents of the first folder at the root of the drive, in alphabetic order. By happenstance, the first folder on most Backblaze customer's drives are the .bzvol folder. You can learn more about this folder and what it does in this article:

https://www.backblaze.com/bzvol.html

Here are two videos to demonstrate the issue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xKlFO3_j5E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHrhygLKtLQ

To correct this, please update your Backblaze client to our latest Beta version:

1. Go to http://files.backblaze.com

2. Download the Mac Beta Installer.

3. Restart the computer.

4. When the computer is up and running, open the installer and click install now.

This update will createa folder named '/.aBackblaze/ at the root of your hard drive, as a decoy folder to negate the Adobe bug.

If you are already receiving a warning from the Backblaze software about an issue with the hard drive, these steps will also need to be completed:

1. Open the Backblaze Preferences pane.

2. Select the 'Settings' button.

3. At the bottom of the pane are the drive selection settings. In those settings, two entries for the hard drive will appear, one selected with the (unplugged) status and the second unselected. Select the currently unselected entry.

4. You may receive a message that this action will replace the "old" drive. Confirm the selection and allow the drive indexing to complete.

5. Select the 'Ok' button to confirm the settings changes. When convenient, reboot the computer. After the reboot, only a single entry for the hard drive will appear in the Backblaze settings. The Backblaze software will require some time to reconcile with the existing backup, after which backups will resume normally, as scheduled.

**If you have any folders alphabetically before .bzvol, you may want to restore them from Backblaze.**

This issue isNOTlimited to Backblaze customers. If you came to this page from an article and are an Adobe Creative Cloud customer that signed in afterinstalling(or auto-updating) to version 3.5.0.206 please check for any folders on your root drive missing files. You can find a video of files being deleted evenwhen Backblaze is not installed here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cnt4IvECa-I.

What changed?As part of new and better support for drives, Backblaze now creates a ".bzvol" directory at the top level of every drive it backs up. Inside this hidden directory is a tiny file that identifies this hard drive for the rest of time. To view the .bzvol on the Mac you can:1. Click on the Finder2. Press the Command + Shift + G3. Copy and paste the following text (ignore the quotes): "/.bzvol"4. The folder should be available for copying and modificationIf you have an external drive use the following text (ignore thequotes) "/Volumes/<volumename>/.bzvol".For example, if you had an external drive named "Media" you would type"/Volumes/Media/.bzvol" into thetext input which appears after you press Command + Shift + G.Why was my drive removed from the backup?If your drive was not connected to your computer at the time of the update to the latest version of Backblaze, then Backblaze could not create the hidden ".bzvol" directory, and therefore had to remove this hard drive from the backup.Do you Clone Hard Drives?If you clone a drive that is selected for backup by Backblaze, it will clone the ".bzvol" directory. This confuses Backblaze, because now the two different hard drives have the same id.RECOMMENDED SOLUTION:two hard drives should never have the same bzvolumeid. Therefore you need to do two things:

Edit your cloning software to exclude the .bzvol folder. Here is how to exclude .bvol onSuperDuper. Here is how to exclude .bzvol onDroboCopy

Remove the contents of .bzvol folder that has already been cloned. The .bzvol folder is hidden. So on the Mac use the finder's "Go to folder..." menu item and type in "/Volumes/ExternalDriveName/.bzvol" and click Go. Then select all the files and move them to trash.

ALTERNATIVELY (not recommended) you can suppress this warning dialog by creating a file called "bzstop_clonewarn" in the ".bzvol" folder of both the Original hard drive and cloned hard drive.

I Am Getting a Warning about Duplicate bzvolume ids?See the above entry for "Do you Clone Hard Drives?"

How do I select my external hard drive again?Easy! Just follow these steps:1. Connect the external hard drive and make sure you an see the files on it.2. Bring up the "Settings..." dialog in your Control Panel and select the drive.

To delete a backup on behalf of a managed user, first login to your administrative account by visiting the following page: https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm and logging in with your account credentials.

Next, select the account from "Users/Computer" from the left side navigation links, under "Business Groups".

To the right of the user account in question, select the silhouette icon, and the "Manage User Account" option that appears in the drop down.

here.

Once logged into the user's account, select the "Preferenes" link on the left side navigation bar. On that page, locate the backup you'd like to delete, and select the "Delete Computer" link to the right of it's name. (just as outlined in this guide, )

Installing Cyberduck

Cyberduck is a third-party software that has integrated with B2 cloud storage.

You can downloadCyberduck from their webpage here: https://cyberduck.io/

Pick the appropriate platform and download the installer.

Master Application Key

When the installer download is complete, run the installer.

Once Cyberduck is installed, you will need a couple of pieces of information from B2 before you can continue with setting up a B2 Connection with Cyberduck.

You will needthe Application Keyand the Application Key ID from the B2 section of Backblaze.

To get this information you will need to go here:

https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm

Type your email address and password used for B2, then click Sign In.

Once you have signed in, click the App Keys link, in the left-hand navigation pane.

Then you will need to either use your or create a new App Key as shown here:

Clicking this link will bring up a screen where your Key ID and Application Key are listed.

Keep this window open, or paste the info to someplace where you can access the Key ID and Application Key for setting up Cyberduck.

Setting up Cyberduck to use B2

Open Cyberduck and then click the open connection icon.

Click the drop-down field that reads, "FTP (File Transfer Protocol)" and select Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage.

Type in or paste your Key ID and Application Key, which we got earlier, into the appropriate fields and click the connect button.

Uploading a file

Before uploading a file, you will need to create a bucket to place the file in.

Click Action, then choose New Folder from the menu.

Choose a bucket name and choose whether you would like the bucket to be private or public. Public allows for viewing or downloading the data via a link.

Note: Bucket names are globally unique, so if at first it fails please alter the name and try once more.

Once the bucket has been created it will show in the Cyberduck window.

Now just drag a file to the bucket name and it will be uploaded.

Once you drag the file to the folder and release it the upload windows will pop up and tell you the rate and give you a progress bar.

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, 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 in to your Security & Privacy settings, navigate to "Files and Folders", and make sure that the "Removable Volumes" checkbox is selected for bzbmenu.

Once selected, you will be able to continue backing up external hard drives!

All traffic for the Backblaze Online Backup and B2 Cloud Storage services use the same IP ranges. The Backblaze datacenter servers are located at IP addresses in the following ranges (these are in "CIDR notation"):

206.190.208.0/21

104.153.232.0/21

2620:12e:c000::/44

45.11.36.0/22

23.144.80.0/24

2605:72c0::/32

If IPv4 notation is required, the above can be converted using a tool such as the one available here: https://www.ipaddressguide.com/cidr

All Backblaze servers use the *.backblaze.com or *backblazeb2.com domains, so it may be easiest to whitelist the appropriatedomain(s).

NOTE: Backblaze is always adding more computers and so the following information WILL CHANGE in the future!

*Backblaze uses cloudflare for www.backblaze.com and help.backblaze.com, so you will see out of block addresses in use for those web pages.

Last updated: September 30, 2019

Resetting progressive billing with the forever selection.

If you wish to remove data from your version history, you can accomplish this by changing the version history option to a lesser choice, which will remove any data past the newly selected threshold.

Example, if you have forever selected and it has five years of backed up data, and there are terabytes of data that you no longer wish to keep.You can remove this data by setting the setting down to one year and click update. This action will remove all of the files that are in the backup past the one year mark immediately, and reset the billing for the account. This applies to data backed up from external drives as well.

Deleting files from your version history from the one-year setting.

Example, if you have one-year selected, and you have backed up a document or file three months ago that should not have been backed up, or needs to be removed from the backup, then you can select the 30-day and click update. This action will remove all of the data that is in the backup past the 30-day mark immediately. This applies to data backed up from external drives as well.

Can I select single files are folders of data to delete from my backup manually?

We are sorry, but this functionality does not exist, at this time.

InheritBackup State

The InheritBackup State feature allows a new installation of the Backblaze software to inherit an existing license and backup under the same account. This will prevent the unnecessary re-upload of files that have previouslybeen backed up. This is useful in a number of circumstances, such asthe following examples:

The Backblaze software was uninstalled and reinstalled on the same computer and no data has been lost, or the lost data has already been restored.

The Backblaze software was installed on a new computer and the data on the new computer matches that of the computer previouslylicensed for Backblaze backups.

The Backblaze backup was Safety Frozen.

If you wish to create an entirely new backup, discarding the old one, follow this process instead.

Ifthere isany data that exists only in the original backup, do not start the Inherit Backup State process. First, restore that data from the original backup to the current computer.

To start the InheritBackup State process, a trial of the Backblaze software must first be installed on the computer. If an existing installation already exists, uninstall and reinstall the Backblaze software. To install a fresh copy of the Backblaze software, follow these steps:

Visit the Backblaze login page and sign in to your Backblaze account with the registeredemail address and password.

On the "Overview" page, select the appropriate download link for your operating computer at the lower right corner.

Run the installer you downloaded to setup a new trial.

Once an active trial has been installed, the InheritBackup State process can be initiated.

Reboot your computer to make sure all Backblaze files are unlocked.

Once the computer reboots, choose "Inherit Backup State" from the Backblaze settings, menu bar icon (Mac), or task bar icon (Windows). See the screenshots below.Can't find the menu? See this article.

Provide your email address and password for your Backblaze account and choose "Sign In".

In the list, choose the previous backup toinherit.

Mac:

Windows:

After the InheritBackup State process starts, Backblaze will queue up the entire contents of all drives selected for backup. As each file comes up in the queue, it's checksummed to create a digital fingerprint. That checksumis then compared to the contents of the inherited backup. During this process the Backblaze software will report it is in the initial backup phase.

If the file exists on our servers, only a summary will be transmitted - things like a new name, location, or new date wouldbe transmitted.

If the file doesn't exist on our servers, then the whole file will be transmitted.For large files, they're segmented first, then each segment is checked under the same process.

If a file is in the inherited backup, but not on the new computer, it will be purged from the backup, just as with files that have been deleted or removed from the computer for more than 30 days.

The end result is that files alreadybacked up will not be transmitted again, any new or changed files will be uploaded, and your backup will be accurate with as little time and bandwidth used as possible.

For a visual guide on how the Inherit Backup State feature works, refer below:

Note: Backups cannot be inherited cross platform. A Windows backup can only be inherited by a Windows computer, and a Mac backup only by a Mac.

Mac Only: If Migration Assistant or a Time Machine backup was used to transfer the data from the old computer to the new, the Backblaze software will need to be uninstalled and reinstalled before proceeding.

Your Backup is Safety Frozen

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. If you have, 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 -- Download the Mac installer and run the bundled Uninstaller to remove Backblaze. 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 corner5. Run the installer you downloaded.6. Click here for the next steps complete the inherit backup state to reconnect to your license and your previously backed up data. Upon completing the Inherit Backup State, the freeze will be removed.

Be sure that you complete step 6 to reconnect to your previous license and backup!

Each new installation of the Backblaze software creates a unique Backblaze ID and backup. This prevents a new installation of the Backblaze software from mistakenly overwriting an existing backup. The new installation of Backblaze installed on the computer will either be running as a 15 day trial, or automatically assigned a new License if in a Business Group, because the license is still tied to the frozen backup. At this juncture, there are two options to move forward: inherit the frozen backup and license using the Inherit Backup State featureORremove the frozen backup. Either via a License Transfer, or deleting the old computer Backup if in a Business Group.

Backblaze creates temporary copies of large data files (over 100MB) during the backup process. You can now move this file to an external drive, or another location, if space is limited on the default boot drive.

Note: Prior to version 6.1 of Backblaze, a "large file" was considered one over 30MB in size.You can change the location by opening the Backblaze Control Panel or Backblaze System Preferences (click on the Backblaze icon) and pressing the settings button. From there, you can make the change to the Temporary Data Drive.

If a file that has already been uploaded is modified, Backblaze will upload the delta. The part that was changed.

However,If the file is over 100MB -thefile is broken into 10MB chunks to be uploaded. If the file simply has data added to the end of the file, only the last chunk will be re-uploaded. If data is entered into the middle of the file, every chunk after that point will need to be re-uploaded, because the data has been pushed back and each following block changed.

This KB Article covers instructions for silent installations. If you're interested in Mass Deployment / RMM tools, please see the article found here

Windows

Download theinstallerfrom http://backblaze.com

Open Command Prompt and cd to the location of the installer.

To create account & install:

install_backblaze -nogui -createaccount [email protected] password-goes-here

If the password is "none" (without the quotes) an automatically generated password will be used and the user can request a password reset on our website.

To sign into an existing account & install:

install_backblaze -nogui -signinaccount [email protected] password-goes-here

Mac

Download theinstallerfrom http://backblaze.com. Mount the DMG.

To create account & install:

sudo/Volumes/Backblaze\Installer/Backblaze\Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/bzinstall_mate-nogui -createaccount [email protected] 'password-goes-here'

If the password is "none" (without the quotes) ... an automatically generated password will be used and the user can request a password reset on our website.

To sign in to existing account & install:

sudo /Volumes/Backblaze\Installer/Backblaze\Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/bzinstall_mate -nogui -signin [email protected] 'password-goes-here'

If successful, theinstallerwill return BZERROR: 1001. If theinstallerreturns any other error code, it has failed.

To upgrade an already installed client to a newer version:

sudo /Volumes/Backblaze\ Installer/Backblaze\ Installer.app/Contents/MacOS/bzinstall_mate -upgrade bzdiy

Note from Backblaze (October 2, 2019): Due to a recent notification from Veeam related to storage gateways, we are retesting this joint solution to ensure its reliability.

Welcome to the getting started guide for Veeam backup to B2 using Tiger Bridge! Once you have completed the steps below, you will have a true set-it-and-forget-it Veeam backup to the cloud solution in place.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows Only

Step 1: Setup your Backblaze B2 account

Important: Please perform this step if youdon'thave a B2 account that you would like to use. If you have an account, with a bucket set up, please skip this step and go to the next one.

1. Create an account at https://www.backblaze.com/business-veeam-backup-create.html

Enter your email address and password to create your Backblaze account.

https://www.backblaze.com/business-veeam-backup.html#contact

2.After entering your email address and password, click the Create B2 Account & Download Tiger Bridge button. You should get this prompt and your Tiger Bridge executable should download.

3.At this point, you can either view the Quickstart guide for Tiger Bridge or go straight to your account.

4. Upon logging into your account, youll automatically be prompted to go to My Settings to set up a phone number for your account. The mobile phone number you enter MUST be able to receive SMS messages.

Note: If you already have a Backblaze account, you can log in at https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm and click on My Settings.

5.Once in the My Settings area, youll need to enter your Backblaze account password and the mobile phone number (remember - it must support SMS messages!). Then, click Send Code. Once you receive the 6 digit code on your mobile phone, type it into the verification field and click to Verify.

You can now retrieve your Application Key and Key ID. You will need these to set up your Tiger Bridge B2 profile.

6.Click on App Keys and then click on the link that reads 'Add A New Application Key.

7.You can then enter a Name for the key and click on the button that says Add a New Application Key.

8.When you have the keyID and the applicationKey, be sure to copy them and keep both of these in a safe location. It is recommended to store these in notepad or any text editor as you will need them later on in this document.

Once you close this window, the current Application Key will not display again and you will need both of these numbers to set up your Tiger Bridge account.

IMPORTANT: If you lose the ApplicationKey, you will need to create another ApplicationKey. The new key that you create will invalidate the old one.

Your B2 account is now created and ready to be used with Tiger Bridge.

Step 2. Download, Install, and Configure Tiger Bridge.

If you skipped step 1 above, you can download the Tiger Bridge Installer from: https://www.tiger-technology.com/dl/b2/TigerBridge.exe.

If you didn't skip step 1, the installer should have automatically downloaded to your machine.

Note: For more details on Tiger Bridge as well as a quick start guide, please visit: https://www.tiger-technology.com/software/tiger-bridge/b2/

To get going on a POC, you can either create a new virtual machine to install Tiger Bridge on or install Tiger Bridge on your Veeam Repository Server.

Option 1: Dedicated TigerBridge server

Install Windows Server

Install TigerBridge

Option 2: TigerBridge installed on Veeam Repository Server

Install TigerBridge on the Veeam Repository server

Double-click the installer to start, accept the licensing agreement, and install missing components if you are prompted to.

Configuring TigerBridge

1. Once installed, the Tiger Bridge Backblaze Configuration Wizard will open up.

2. Press Next to enter your email and B2 Credentials. If you stored them in notepad or a text document, paste them in below.

3. Once done, click Configure

4. Upon success, you will get a summary page as follows:

Note: Tiger Bridge will automatically create a unique bucket name in your account. However, If you create an App Key that is restricted to only one bucket, the installation will give an error that itcan'tcreate the default bucket name, but then will allow you to select the bucket the App Key has access to.

5. Click Finish to close the wizard.

6. Double click the Tiger Bridge Configuration icon on the desktop.

7.Select the default source (C:\....Administrator\Documents\Tigerbridge)

8.On the right side browse to the top level of the Repo Drive (I added one called T:) and create a new directory called TigerRepo1

9. Then click OK then Apply.

Configuring Veeam

1. On your Veeam Backup and Replication Console, select "BACKUP INFRASTRUCTURE" on the left pane and then right click to and select "Add Backup Repository..."

2. Select "Direct attached storage"

3. Select the Operating System Tiger Bridge was installed on, in this case Microsoft Windows.

4. Go Through the new Backup Repository Wizard and configure the Tiger Bridge Repo.

5. Add the Tiger Bridge Server as your new Windows Server

6. Click Next and then select the Credentials you wish to use

7. Click Next and Review the components that need to be installed.

8. Press Apply and Veeam will perform the steps it needs to add the new server.

9. Once complete, you will get a summary screen. You can press the Finish button now.

10. You will now be taken to the "New Backup Repository" Screen. Using the Browse button, browse to the folder you created for backups on your Tiger Bridge Server. Click Next.

11. Uncheck the "Enable vPower NFS Service on the mount server (recommended)" checkbox and click Next

12. Review the settings and press Apply

13. Once all settings have been applied, you will get a summary window as follows. Click Finish.

14. On the Veeam Backup and Replication Console, select the Backup Copy Dropdown, and choose, Virtual Machine..

15. Create a New Backup Copy Job and click Next.

16. Select Add, then choose "From Backups"

17. Choose the Server you wish to base the copy backup job on and click Add.

18. Select the Target you wish to use and the restore points you wish to keep and click Next.

19. Select the Data Transfer mode you wish to use. We recommend Direct. Click Next.

20. Define the schedule on when you wish this copy job to run. Click Next.

21. Review the summary page and click Finish.

At this point you have successfully enabled backup to B2 using Tiger Bridge. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please contact sales: