A recent Backblaze update dramatically reduces the backup service’s storage footprint by shrinking log files made excessively large by eliminating errors associated with unreadable cloud-based files.

The results of our poll asking about your backup strategy show that most TidBITS readers employ a variety of backup methods to facilitate recovery in different disaster scenarios.

The relatively new Backblaze Restore app makes it much faster and easier to restore backed-up files to your Mac, but if your initial restore fails with a “Permission denied” error, here’s the solution.

Online backup service Backblaze will soon increase the fee it charges to restore data by shipping you a USB hard drive from $189 to $279. However, the change is largely moot since the company refunds the full amount when you return the drive.

Online backup company Backblaze has announced that it will be raising prices on 3 October 2023 for new purchases and renewals, but everyone will be able to get the $2-per-month 1-year extended version history for free.

What third-party apps would you install on a clean Mac to restore your preferred working environment? Adam Engst recently had the opportunity to learn just what apps he really uses—here’s the list.

If you're trying to decide which large hard drive model to buy, check out Backblaze's drive stats for 2022, which show the reliability of each drive model the company uses in its data centers.

After spending several days helping some elderly friends with their Macs, Adam Engst came away with a new appreciation for how difficult some aspects of Mac use are for older people. Some Apple efforts are a step in the right direction but may not be available to today’s users. And there’s plenty of room to improve.

Online backup service Backblaze is raising its prices to $70 per year to accommodate larger backups and higher component costs. But you can lock the previous $60-per-year price in for another year by prepaying now.

macOS 11 Big Sur has thrown a cryptographically signed monkey wrench into the inner workings of backup apps that make bootable duplicates. There are now workarounds, and Apple promises to fix the necessary underlying tool, but Adam Engst suggests that we need to rethink the role bootable duplicates play in a modern backup strategy.

Backblaze has again released annual hard drive statistics that report on the company’s hard drive reliability stats for 2020. In spite of everything else that happened last year, hard drives became more reliable.

When you buy a new Mac and migrate your old Mac’s files to it during setup, Setup Assistant moves over numerous settings and configurations. But don’t assume you’ll just be able to pick up exactly where you left off, since there are quite a few apps and services that require additional post-migration attention.

Backblaze’s annual poll asking how often people back up their data shows small improvements across the board. But the percentage of people who either don’t back up at all or back up once a year or less is still far too high.