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The CTO just said the truth. How else would he say that the customer's data will be deleted? Sure it was straight up blunt, but I think he was just speaking cas

The CTO just said the truth. How else would he say that the customer's data will be deleted? Sure it was straight up blunt, but I think he was just speaking casually.

olalonde 5y ago
I am very confused by the email, especially the second point. I've never used Backblaze so maybe I'm missing some critical information. To me, it sounds like Backblaze was happily keeping a backup for a paying customer until said customer booted their laptop. They then threaten to delete the backup if customer doesn't update their software. I understand about warning that the software no longer works but why threaten to delete the backup?
- kjaftaedi 5y ago
  Likely some sort of encryption/privacy issues. Since the software version no longer works, they wouldn't be able to do a restore anyway. Keeping their old data on the live servers longer could be a liability. (just a guess, but i imagine it's something along these lines)
  - chalupa-man 5y ago
    > they wouldn't be able to do a restore anyway. The Backblaze software doesn't handle restores, it just backs things up. To restore, you download zip files of selected folders from the website.
    - treesknees 5y ago
      They also offer a separate app for performing downloads/restores https://www.backblaze.com/help-backblaze-downloader-win.html https://www.backblaze.com/help-backblaze-downloader-win.html
- koheripbal 5y ago
  My guess is that this one installation was causing a broader production issue. I agree that a better solution would have been to remove the backup to a secondary system that the client could later access if needed. Deleting in 7 days is unreasonable.
- qorrect 5y ago
  I'm with you , that email does not in any way make me feel like Backblaze has my best interest in mind , sounds like they were knowingly charging you for a defunct account then threatened to delete all your data in 7 days ?! I want to like Backblaze I love their harddrive report but this is not helping.
- curryst 5y ago
  There's might be some ancillary issue on the backend. Something like that they changed backup formats, but can't reformat the customer's existing backups because of E2EE, so they need the customer to power up their laptop so the client can reformat the backups. That would explain why the client doesn't work, and why they're so keen to have them do a new backup. It wouldn't have been unreasonable to move away from SHA1 in that time period, for example. They may have needed the original files to get a SHA256 hash. I think it must have been blocking some organizational objective. I can't think of any reason why they would bother to send that email, much less to go all the way to the CTO to send that email.
ehsankia 5y ago
I don't mind the bluntness, but you should either delete the data cancel the sub, or keep the sub and the data. I don't understand why you'd do one and not the other if you cared about the customer. And again 7 day is a bit short, though in a follow up email they extended it to 2 weeks.

The CTO just said the truth. How else would he say that the customer's data will be deleted? Sure it was straight up blunt, but I think he was just speaking casually.

olalonde 5y ago

I am very confused by the email, especially the second point. I've never used Backblaze so maybe I'm missing some critical information. To me, it sounds like Backblaze was happily keeping a backup for a paying customer until said customer booted their laptop. They then threaten to delete the backup if customer doesn't update their software. I understand about warning that the software no longer works but why threaten to delete the backup?

kjaftaedi 5y ago
Likely some sort of encryption/privacy issues. Since the software version no longer works, they wouldn't be able to do a restore anyway. Keeping their old data on the live servers longer could be a liability. (just a guess, but i imagine it's something along these lines)
- chalupa-man 5y ago
  > they wouldn't be able to do a restore anyway. The Backblaze software doesn't handle restores, it just backs things up. To restore, you download zip files of selected folders from the website.
  - treesknees 5y ago
    They also offer a separate app for performing downloads/restores https://www.backblaze.com/help-backblaze-downloader-win.html https://www.backblaze.com/help-backblaze-downloader-win.html
koheripbal 5y ago
My guess is that this one installation was causing a broader production issue. I agree that a better solution would have been to remove the backup to a secondary system that the client could later access if needed. Deleting in 7 days is unreasonable.
qorrect 5y ago
I'm with you , that email does not in any way make me feel like Backblaze has my best interest in mind , sounds like they were knowingly charging you for a defunct account then threatened to delete all your data in 7 days ?! I want to like Backblaze I love their harddrive report but this is not helping.
curryst 5y ago
There's might be some ancillary issue on the backend. Something like that they changed backup formats, but can't reformat the customer's existing backups because of E2EE, so they need the customer to power up their laptop so the client can reformat the backups. That would explain why the client doesn't work, and why they're so keen to have them do a new backup. It wouldn't have been unreasonable to move away from SHA1 in that time period, for example. They may have needed the original files to get a SHA256 hash. I think it must have been blocking some organizational objective. I can't think of any reason why they would bother to send that email, much less to go all the way to the CTO to send that email.

ehsankia 5y ago

I don't mind the bluntness, but you should either delete the data cancel the sub, or keep the sub and the data. I don't understand why you'd do one and not the other if you cared about the customer. And again 7 day is a bit short, though in a follow up email they extended it to 2 weeks.