Backblaze Review | Backblaze Pros & Cons | ChooseWhat.com

Backblaze Comparison and Review



Backblaze Review

Pros:

  • Offers an unlimited storage plan for a low monthly fee
  • Allows you to set your bandwidth usage
  • Allows you to restore files for up to 30 days

Cons:

  • Does not offer phone support
  • Offers below-average customer support (due to lack of real time chat or phone support)
  • Does not offer a free personal storage account

Conclusion:

[Updated 11/6/2014]

Backblaze is a great option for those who want a lot of storage at a low monthly cost but do not require many features offered by other online backup services. Backblaze’s monthly plan offers unlimited storage for only $5 per month. While they don’t offer a free account to test their service, they offer a 15-day free trial (no credit card required) to test the service. Backblaze has a 30 day version history, that will help you restore any files you may have accidentally deleted. If you have any issues with the service, you must submit create a ticket online- they do not offer a phone customer support line.

Features

Backblaze offers a standard backup program that lets you install the program and run an initial backup of every file on your computer that you want backed up. This process may take a while, but after this initial backup the program will perform incremental backups only on files that you have changed since the initial backup. This significantly reduces the time of your system’s backup. Backblaze also lets you schedule backups for when you are out of the office or away from your computer so that you aren’t slowed down by the backup process.

Backblaze creates versions of your files so that you can revert to old copies of a document if something critical was saved over. They also offer a 30-day version history, that will help you restore any files you may have accidentally deleted.

Customer Support

Backblaze does not have phone support, but they’re available by email 24/7. Their support team usually will get back to you within a few hours of emailing a help request. Because they lack any type of real-time support, we found their support quality to be low. Live support is incredibly important to online backup users. For example, if you are unable to access your files before an important meeting and you have no one to get in direct contact with, you could be in trouble. Backblaze offers a range of FAQs and has some tutorials, but none of these are searchable, which makes finding the right help section difficult.

Professional Options

Backblaze offers a business plan that is priced the same per computer as the personal plan, but it provides the ability to manage all the computers under a single account.  They don’t, however, offer file sharing or the ability to backup a server, which can be important for many types of businesses.

Security

Backblaze, Inc. has been around for about seven years. It is important to know that the service you choose is reliable because you risk losing all of your data if the company goes out of business. They use military-grade encrypted storage, using a 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) symmetric key encryption to keep your data safe from hackers.

Pricing

Backblaze’s only plan costs $5 per month for unlimited storage. Compared to the prices of other online backup services, this is a great price. They offer annual and biennial discounts if you pay for an entire year or two upfront. The prices on these contracts work out to $4.17 and $3.96 per month, respectively.

Backblaze News

Monday, May 23, 2011

Backblaze Launches "Locate My Computer"

In addition to offering unlimited online backup for $5 per month, Blackblaze announces the launch of their latest feature, "Locate My Computer," which will help users to locate lost or stolen computers. This feature allows you to see the ISP, IP address, and location of the misplaced or stolen computer.

As long as Backblaze is installed and the computer can connect to the Internet, the "Locate My Computer" feature will enable users to access the:

  • Map - Use our map to get an accurate representation of where their computer is located
  • ISP - See the Internet Service Provider the account is attached to and obtain contact information
  • IP Address - Obtain the specific IP address the computer is using (imperative for police reports)
  • Thief's Files - Use the new "Date Range Restore" feature to see files uploaded after theft

Backblaze's Pricing

Unlimited

$5.00

Annual Discount

Two months free

Free Account

N/A


Backblaze's Features

Professional Options

Yes

Automatic Backup

Yes

Scheduled Backup

Yes

Incremental Backups

Yes

File Sharing

No

File Versioning

Yes

File Restoration

30 days

System Compatibility

Windows, Mac

Mobile App

iPhone

Phone Support

N/A

Live Chat Support

N/A

Quality of Customer Support

Low