Check Your BackBlaze Backups! (They're probably missing stuff)

Forums › Desktop computing › Check Your BackBlaze Backups! (They're probably missing stuff)

muppet

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#324475 15-Apr-2026 07:24

Article here on how BackBlaze have silent stopped backing up anything in your .git folder, or OneDrive or Dropbox.

I know the BB Desktop Client is quite popular here (at least, I've seen it discussed a number of times)

But now they're being weasels and not backing up OneDrive or Dropbox. Which is crap because those are Sync services, NOT backup/restore services.

Anyway, beware. It would be horrible to find out after the fact that your backup service wasn't backing up your important documents just because they're in a Cloud Sync Service but that's what BackBlaze is doing.

Real dodgy IMHO.

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Hammered
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#3480929 15-Apr-2026 07:32

I stopped using Backblaze a few months ago when they made changes to stop supporting iSCSI LUN volumes, without warning, which they'd always supported to that point. It seems they're at it again.

People often mistake me for an adult because of my age.

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#3480972 15-Apr-2026 10:32

Yes, I saw this last night.

People need to understand that OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive aren't backup solutions. At best, they might have a recycle bin to restore something, but that's emptied frequently, and most of the time, there's no version control. A backup solution is very different.

In my case, the family uses OneDrive, and a backup of all these is on my NAS, where we can restore anything deleted in the last year if needed.

But a "backup" that doesn't back up your files because they are on a cloud-synced folder?

That is not a backup.

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alasta

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#3480974 15-Apr-2026 10:42

If you have iCloud backup turned on, is that a 'real' backup? Or does it just characterise the iCloud syncing service as a backup?

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#3480975 15-Apr-2026 10:47

On Windows, they keep nagging you to "turn on OneDrive backup."

Again, that's no backup. It's synchronising to an off-site store. But if you delete it on your computer, it will be deleted in the cloud. It may have a Recycle Bin, but that's emptied frequently. A good backup solution would allow you to restore from different versions for different time periods.

Also, if you lose access to your account, you lose your files. Google seems particularly good at locking people out.

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muppet

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#3480994 15-Apr-2026 11:22

alasta:

If you have iCloud backup turned on, is that a 'real' backup? Or does it just characterise the iCloud syncing service as a backup?

Does iCloud do version control? Can you restore a version of a document on it from 3 months ago?

If not, then it's not a backup solution IMHO, it's a file syncing service. Sure, they keep a copy of the most recent version of your file, which is great when you get a new device etc.

But a backup should be "whoops I overwrote my important file with hot garbage accidentally two weeks ago and didn't notice, at least I can restore from my backup from 3 weeks ago" in my opinion.

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#3480997 15-Apr-2026 11:41

muppet:

alasta:

If you have iCloud backup turned on, is that a 'real' backup? Or does it just characterise the iCloud syncing service as a backup?

Does iCloud do version control? Can you restore a version of a document on it from 3 months ago?

Nope, iCloud is just a mirror (like onedrive)...

For a Mac you need to use "Time machine" or other 3rd party backup..

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alasta

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#3481009 15-Apr-2026 12:08

That is a bit concerning. An elderly person with just an iPhone and no Mac (i.e. my mother) would assume that the iCloud backup is actually a backup, and they are not realistically going to be able to configure some sort of complicated third party solution.

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#3481034 15-Apr-2026 14:04

Poking around, appears they stopped the OneDrive backup a couple of years ago.... apparently due to a MS change which prevented the BB agent from working with the OD folders.

Bit annoying as I've had a personal client on BB for years and didn't know their primary files were no longer being backed up (as they have them in OD).

Alternative time....

XPD / Gavin

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#3481038 15-Apr-2026 14:24

The 3-2-1 backup rule follows these requirements:

You create three copies of your data—the original data on your primary device and at least two copies.
You use two different storage media—the choice of which two is up to you: your PC, an external hard drive, a USB flash drive, a DVD, a NAS, or cloud storage (not a sync folder!).
You keep one of the backup copies off-site—by keeping copies of your data at a remote location, you prevent data loss due to a local disaster or site-specific failure scenario.

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muppet

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#3481164 15-Apr-2026 20:35

alasta:

That is a bit concerning. An elderly person with just an iPhone and no Mac (i.e. my mother) would assume that the iCloud backup is actually a backup, and they are not realistically going to be able to configure some sort of complicated third party solution.

It's a backup if you define backup as "someone stole my computer but I've still got my files".

It's not a backup if your Mum says "I accidentally deleted 50 photos of Uncle Bob 2 months ago when I was trying to free up space for my emails, how do I get those back?" because that's not what iCloud is.

Maybe think about it like tape backups. iCloud is a single point-in-time tape. Proper backups are ~14 tapes that you rotate on a weekly basis.

aj6828

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#3481179 15-Apr-2026 22:01

What are your guys' thoughts on Mega? They do upto 30tb im tempted ..

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#3481218 16-Apr-2026 07:18

aj6828:

What are your guys' thoughts on Mega? They do upto 30tb im tempted ..

Their pricing page says they have up to 20TB for individual users, but the calculator implies pricing up to 10 PB.

They also charge for transfer so depending on how much you are going to store, the first hit might be a lot.

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muppet

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#3481219 16-Apr-2026 07:23

aj6828:

What are your guys' thoughts on Mega? They do upto 30tb im tempted ..

My opinion on any of these is: Don't use their client. I use BackBlaze for a large number of backups, but I use restic against their B2 backend.

I'd suggest doing the same with Mega, use restic or something similar, probably have to use rclone as well to talk to Mega.

Then you, 100%, control what you backup.

Of course using your own tools to do backups probably means that any "X for free/unlimited" type things aren't available. I'll take reliable backups over half-baked cheap ones though.

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#3481220 16-Apr-2026 07:24

And I still have a sour taste regarding Mega, due to its origin story.

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#3481253 16-Apr-2026 09:37

muppet:

aj6828:

What are your guys' thoughts on Mega? They do upto 30tb im tempted ..

My opinion on any of these is: Don't use their client. I use BackBlaze for a large number of backups, but I use restic against their B2 backend.

I'd suggest doing the same with Mega, use restic or something similar, probably have to use rclone as well to talk to Mega.

Then you, 100%, control what you backup.

Of course using your own tools to do backups probably means that any "X for free/unlimited" type things aren't available. I'll take reliable backups over half-baked cheap ones though.

Yeah this is what I do. I use rclone with Backblaze's B2 and it allows me to sync some directories and do proper backups for the directories where I'm more worried about losing stuff.

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