9 ms·

I use B2 as the backend for my personal backups using restic (which I would highly recommend https://github.com/restic/restic https://github.com/restic/restic).

I use B2 as the backend for my personal backups using restic (which I would highly recommend https://github.com/restic/restic https://github.com/restic/restic). I don't have a ton of data to backup, so even with hourly backups (restic only backs up when there are changes) I have ~100GB and it runs me a whopping $0.60/month. I almost feel guilty when I get the bill. But the minute I need to pick a storage platform in a professional context I know what my first choice will be. (I am _not_ affiliated with Backblaze in anyway. Just a happy user)

cvalka 3y ago
Rustic is better
- antx 3y ago
  Better in what way? Restic is well written, and is "mature". Rustic, is still considered "beta" software.
  - cvalka 3y ago
    It supports append only(which is a MUST for backup software) and is declarative.
    - dsissitka 3y ago
      restic has supported append-only repositories since before rustic was a thing.
      - cvalka 3y ago
        Only for one backend (restic server). It does NOT support append only for S3 or other backends which is the most frequently used scenario.
        dsissitka 3y ago
        And some setups with rclone. How is that different from restic? The documented rclone setup doesn't support append-only in any meaningful way.
        cvalka 3y ago
        Sorry, I do not understand your comment. I will reiterate my statement. Use Rustic instead of restic.
    - gmiller123456 3y ago
      I a world of 8 billion people, it's important to realize what one considers a "must" is another person's "don't care". I'm one of them.
      - cvalka 3y ago
        You are entitled to your own personal opinion. Backup software must support append only. Otherwise it's a glorified version of rsync(rclone).
- sureglymop 3y ago
  For anyone just passing by, from the rustic website[0]: > Stability: Currently our tools are in beta state and miss regression tests. It is not recommended to use them in production backups, yet. [0]: https://rustic.cli.rs/ https://rustic.cli.rs/
autoexec 3y ago
What plan are you using? Their website suggests that their plans for a single user costs are ~$6-$10 a month. https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/pricing https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/pricing It's still a pretty good deal though...
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- phpisthebest 3y ago
  B2 is not Cloud Backup, B2 is there S3 compatible storage that you pay by the GB your links are to their "backup" service which is only for Windows and Mac computers, and is limited to their backup app which many people report having throttling and other issues, it is "unlimited" in the sense that it should only be used for a single computer, which is why they never support Linux on it, because they believe (probably correctly) that linux support would mean most people will install it to NAS devices and ruin the business model for everyone else Historically that has been the case for all of the backup solutions that offered "unlimited" data for a fixed price monthly, I think BackBlaze is the only remaining vendor in the game that does
- MertsA 3y ago
  Backblaze B2 is their generic object storage platform similar to S3. You pay what you use and it scales into petabytes. There's no minimums so if you're only using small amounts, you get a small bill at the end of the month. It's not backup software, just the underlying cloud storage platform.
- artimaeis 3y ago
  Cloud backup != B2. https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing $6/TB/Month. Very manageable egress-fees. If you're using it for cold-backup, hopefully you rarely have to pay them.
  - cweagans 3y ago
    No egress fees if you aren’t downloading more than 3x what you’ve stored!
sudhirkhanger 3y ago
Is their any difference in storing to B2 via Restic or Duplicity vs BackBlaze Computer Backup? Do you have access to your file via mobile access, sharing feature, etc.? https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup
- justusthane 3y ago
  Yes, big difference. With B2 you’re just getting the raw storage, so all backup and restore operations have to be done through restic. With their personal computer backup offering, there’s a web interface that you can use to download individual files from your backups, share files, or even have them mail you a flash drive containing your full backups.
- CTDOCodebases 3y ago
  Restic is good for storing files on computers you don't control because the private key doesn't get exposed. It also has features for snapshots and testing backups. You can select a percentage to test so if you have a slow internet connection you can get some piece of mind without having to download all your backup data.
quickthrower2 3y ago
For $9/month you would get a lot more features from the backup service. The interesting ones being File Sharing and Extended Version History. So it depends if you want those, as well as a nice web UI. And at 1TB the numbers get closer, at 2TB it becomes cheaper to use the backup service. The main thing for me is legacy. In my will it is a lot easier to explain how to get files from the standard backup plan, rather than install a tool from Github etc.
- epcoa 3y ago
  That’s $9 per computer, not directly comparable to raw storage to use however you want. I get there are ways around this (host a local centralized backup) but that then sort of destroys the turnkey part anyway.
  - quickthrower2 3y ago
    The per computer thing made me move to iDrive but I will move back for the UX. I am going to do a hybrid where one computer is backed up with the majority of files, and for other computers use free Dropbox tiers.
    - southernplaces7 3y ago
      Depending on which service from iDrive you use, the total lack of deduplication with its personal backup service was a complete no-go for me. If you can't dedupe, any changes to your folder names or locations provoke a whole new upload cycle, which is absurd.
  - asaddhamani 3y ago
    You can get Arq backup where you pay for storage and not devices.
- tzs 3y ago
  First make sure you understand how they handle encryption. The features and ease of use come at the cost of some security. They generate a public/private key pair for the user. The client gets the public key and the server gets the private key. During backups the data is encrypted on the client with a symmetric key (which I believe is generated on the client). The encrypted data is sent to the server. The symmetric key is encrypted using the public key and also sent to the server. On a restore they use the private key on the server to decrypt the encrypted symmetric key, use that key to decrypt the backup data, and then make the decrypted files available in a zip file that the user can download. The download is over HTTPS so is encrypted in transit. If you don't like the idea of them having such access to your private key they do offer an option to add additional protection [1]: > The user’s private key which is stored safely in our data center is protected by a password that is highly guarded. But for some users this is not good enough and we allow the user to secure this file with their own password. When this is done it is impossible to access the data without the user’s password. Unfortunately, this also means we can’t help the user if they ever forget this password so we don’t recommend it for most users. If you do that then when you restore you have to enter that password on their site when requesting the restore, so their server can decrypt the private key. They give some more detail in their "Security Question Round-up!" [2]: > The answer shows a weak point in the Backblaze system. As you prepare a restore, you must type in your private passphrase into the restore server. This is not written to disk, but held in RAM and for the period of time of decrypting all your files, and they are then stored in "clear text" on our very highly secured servers until they are ZIPPED up and offered to you to be downloaded. At that moment you can download them (by HTTPS only), then you can "delete the restore zip" which means you close the window of time that your files are available in plain text. > So to recap: if you never actually prepare a restore, we cannot possibly know what is in your files, but if you prepare a restore (let's say of a few files) then for the couple minutes they are being prepared and downloaded they are in "plain text" on a HIGHLY SECURE system in the Backblaze datacenter. At that moment, if a Backblaze employee were malicious enough and dedicated enough and was watching (which is actually pretty hard, we get thousands of restores every day so it would fly by quickly) they could see your filenames appear on the Linux servers right before they are ZIPPED up into a new bundle. A few minutes of exposure. > We actually want to improve this to provide a password encrypted ZIP file for download, and then the FINAL improvement is to actually allow you to download the private encryption key, download the encrypted files, and provide the pass phrase in the privacy of your computer. We hope to add this functionality in the future. [1] https://www.backblaze.com/blog/how-to-make-strong-encryption-easy-to-use/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/how-to-make-strong-encryption... [2] https://help.backblaze.com/hc/en-us/articles/217664798-Security-Question-Round-up- https://help.backblaze.com/hc/en-us/articles/217664798-Secur...
the_svd_doctor 3y ago
Same, but with rclone. My bill is <1$/m. Love it.
- NicoJuicy 3y ago
  Yeah, me too. Wrote a bit about it here: https://blog.sapico.me/posts/how-i-backup-my-servers/ https://blog.sapico.me/posts/how-i-backup-my-servers/ I'm basically backing up to: /backups/type/{day-of-month} and backups/type/latest every day.
CTDOCodebases 3y ago
B2 is great if you don't test your backups.
- Gazoche 3y ago
  Your comment worries me - are there known data integrity concerns with B2?
  - dsissitka 3y ago
    I'm curious, too. I know they've had some issues in the past: https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/3268#issuecomment-783195404 https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/3268#issuecomment-78... On the other hand, I tested around 15,000 backups last year (multiple hourly backups, daily tests) and they all passed.
    - fennecbutt 3y ago
      I mean reading that thread, the problem itself is certainly worrying but the response from B2 is pretty golden, that's some great customer/technical support.
  - CTDOCodebases 3y ago
    Sorry to cause concern. If you are backing up daily and testing daily egress charges become an issue. If you are doing it 3x a month then it's a good deal. B2 is for achiving in my use case.
throwaway2037 3y ago
The numbers you are shared are mind-blowing to me. Can you confirm: Do you pay your bill (1) monthly and (2) by automated credit card payment? If yes, don't the credit card transaction fees paid by Backblaze exceed the amount!? This post has literally inspired me to sign-up. I have put off Internet backups for a long time!
- Semaphor 3y ago
  It seems around 0.6€ is where they judge it worthwhile to create an invoice. I have even less data (because I only backup my server there, for my PC I use backblaze personal with payments every 2 years), and they charge me 0.6-0.85€ every 2 months.
nullify88 3y ago
Another fan of B2 here. I do the same instead using k8up to backup my k8s PVCs to B2. K8up uses restic in the background.
atYevP 3y ago
Yev from Backblaze here -> It's all good and we love you being a happy customer! If you want to buy a backup license, feel free ;-)
cvalka 3y ago
I recommend rustic

cvalka 3y ago

Rustic is better

antx 3y ago
Better in what way? Restic is well written, and is "mature". Rustic, is still considered "beta" software.
- cvalka 3y ago
  It supports append only(which is a MUST for backup software) and is declarative.
  - dsissitka 3y ago
    restic has supported append-only repositories since before rustic was a thing.
    - cvalka 3y ago
      Only for one backend (restic server). It does NOT support append only for S3 or other backends which is the most frequently used scenario.
      - dsissitka 3y ago
        And some setups with rclone. How is that different from restic? The documented rclone setup doesn't support append-only in any meaningful way.
        cvalka 3y ago
        Sorry, I do not understand your comment. I will reiterate my statement. Use Rustic instead of restic.
  - gmiller123456 3y ago
    I a world of 8 billion people, it's important to realize what one considers a "must" is another person's "don't care". I'm one of them.
    - cvalka 3y ago
      You are entitled to your own personal opinion. Backup software must support append only. Otherwise it's a glorified version of rsync(rclone).
sureglymop 3y ago
For anyone just passing by, from the rustic website[0]: > Stability: Currently our tools are in beta state and miss regression tests. It is not recommended to use them in production backups, yet. [0]: https://rustic.cli.rs/ https://rustic.cli.rs/

autoexec 3y ago

What plan are you using? Their website suggests that their plans for a single user costs are ~$6-$10 a month. https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/pricing https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup/pricing It's still a pretty good deal though...

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
phpisthebest 3y ago
B2 is not Cloud Backup, B2 is there S3 compatible storage that you pay by the GB your links are to their "backup" service which is only for Windows and Mac computers, and is limited to their backup app which many people report having throttling and other issues, it is "unlimited" in the sense that it should only be used for a single computer, which is why they never support Linux on it, because they believe (probably correctly) that linux support would mean most people will install it to NAS devices and ruin the business model for everyone else Historically that has been the case for all of the backup solutions that offered "unlimited" data for a fixed price monthly, I think BackBlaze is the only remaining vendor in the game that does
MertsA 3y ago
Backblaze B2 is their generic object storage platform similar to S3. You pay what you use and it scales into petabytes. There's no minimums so if you're only using small amounts, you get a small bill at the end of the month. It's not backup software, just the underlying cloud storage platform.
artimaeis 3y ago
Cloud backup != B2. https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-storage/pricing $6/TB/Month. Very manageable egress-fees. If you're using it for cold-backup, hopefully you rarely have to pay them.
- cweagans 3y ago
  No egress fees if you aren’t downloading more than 3x what you’ve stored!

sudhirkhanger 3y ago

Is their any difference in storing to B2 via Restic or Duplicity vs BackBlaze Computer Backup? Do you have access to your file via mobile access, sharing feature, etc.? https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup https://www.backblaze.com/cloud-backup

justusthane 3y ago
Yes, big difference. With B2 you’re just getting the raw storage, so all backup and restore operations have to be done through restic. With their personal computer backup offering, there’s a web interface that you can use to download individual files from your backups, share files, or even have them mail you a flash drive containing your full backups.
CTDOCodebases 3y ago
Restic is good for storing files on computers you don't control because the private key doesn't get exposed. It also has features for snapshots and testing backups. You can select a percentage to test so if you have a slow internet connection you can get some piece of mind without having to download all your backup data.

quickthrower2 3y ago

For $9/month you would get a lot more features from the backup service. The interesting ones being File Sharing and Extended Version History. So it depends if you want those, as well as a nice web UI. And at 1TB the numbers get closer, at 2TB it becomes cheaper to use the backup service. The main thing for me is legacy. In my will it is a lot easier to explain how to get files from the standard backup plan, rather than install a tool from Github etc.

epcoa 3y ago
That’s $9 per computer, not directly comparable to raw storage to use however you want. I get there are ways around this (host a local centralized backup) but that then sort of destroys the turnkey part anyway.
- quickthrower2 3y ago
  The per computer thing made me move to iDrive but I will move back for the UX. I am going to do a hybrid where one computer is backed up with the majority of files, and for other computers use free Dropbox tiers.
  - southernplaces7 3y ago
    Depending on which service from iDrive you use, the total lack of deduplication with its personal backup service was a complete no-go for me. If you can't dedupe, any changes to your folder names or locations provoke a whole new upload cycle, which is absurd.
- asaddhamani 3y ago
  You can get Arq backup where you pay for storage and not devices.
tzs 3y ago
First make sure you understand how they handle encryption. The features and ease of use come at the cost of some security. They generate a public/private key pair for the user. The client gets the public key and the server gets the private key. During backups the data is encrypted on the client with a symmetric key (which I believe is generated on the client). The encrypted data is sent to the server. The symmetric key is encrypted using the public key and also sent to the server. On a restore they use the private key on the server to decrypt the encrypted symmetric key, use that key to decrypt the backup data, and then make the decrypted files available in a zip file that the user can download. The download is over HTTPS so is encrypted in transit. If you don't like the idea of them having such access to your private key they do offer an option to add additional protection [1]: > The user’s private key which is stored safely in our data center is protected by a password that is highly guarded. But for some users this is not good enough and we allow the user to secure this file with their own password. When this is done it is impossible to access the data without the user’s password. Unfortunately, this also means we can’t help the user if they ever forget this password so we don’t recommend it for most users. If you do that then when you restore you have to enter that password on their site when requesting the restore, so their server can decrypt the private key. They give some more detail in their "Security Question Round-up!" [2]: > The answer shows a weak point in the Backblaze system. As you prepare a restore, you must type in your private passphrase into the restore server. This is not written to disk, but held in RAM and for the period of time of decrypting all your files, and they are then stored in "clear text" on our very highly secured servers until they are ZIPPED up and offered to you to be downloaded. At that moment you can download them (by HTTPS only), then you can "delete the restore zip" which means you close the window of time that your files are available in plain text. > So to recap: if you never actually prepare a restore, we cannot possibly know what is in your files, but if you prepare a restore (let's say of a few files) then for the couple minutes they are being prepared and downloaded they are in "plain text" on a HIGHLY SECURE system in the Backblaze datacenter. At that moment, if a Backblaze employee were malicious enough and dedicated enough and was watching (which is actually pretty hard, we get thousands of restores every day so it would fly by quickly) they could see your filenames appear on the Linux servers right before they are ZIPPED up into a new bundle. A few minutes of exposure. > We actually want to improve this to provide a password encrypted ZIP file for download, and then the FINAL improvement is to actually allow you to download the private encryption key, download the encrypted files, and provide the pass phrase in the privacy of your computer. We hope to add this functionality in the future. [1] https://www.backblaze.com/blog/how-to-make-strong-encryption-easy-to-use/ https://www.backblaze.com/blog/how-to-make-strong-encryption... [2] https://help.backblaze.com/hc/en-us/articles/217664798-Security-Question-Round-up- https://help.backblaze.com/hc/en-us/articles/217664798-Secur...

the_svd_doctor 3y ago

Same, but with rclone. My bill is <1$/m. Love it.

NicoJuicy 3y ago
Yeah, me too. Wrote a bit about it here: https://blog.sapico.me/posts/how-i-backup-my-servers/ https://blog.sapico.me/posts/how-i-backup-my-servers/ I'm basically backing up to: /backups/type/{day-of-month} and backups/type/latest every day.

CTDOCodebases 3y ago

B2 is great if you don't test your backups.

Gazoche 3y ago
Your comment worries me - are there known data integrity concerns with B2?
- dsissitka 3y ago
  I'm curious, too. I know they've had some issues in the past: https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/3268#issuecomment-783195404 https://github.com/restic/restic/issues/3268#issuecomment-78... On the other hand, I tested around 15,000 backups last year (multiple hourly backups, daily tests) and they all passed.
  - fennecbutt 3y ago
    I mean reading that thread, the problem itself is certainly worrying but the response from B2 is pretty golden, that's some great customer/technical support.
- CTDOCodebases 3y ago
  Sorry to cause concern. If you are backing up daily and testing daily egress charges become an issue. If you are doing it 3x a month then it's a good deal. B2 is for achiving in my use case.

throwaway2037 3y ago

The numbers you are shared are mind-blowing to me. Can you confirm: Do you pay your bill (1) monthly and (2) by automated credit card payment? If yes, don't the credit card transaction fees paid by Backblaze exceed the amount!? This post has literally inspired me to sign-up. I have put off Internet backups for a long time!

Semaphor 3y ago
It seems around 0.6€ is where they judge it worthwhile to create an invoice. I have even less data (because I only backup my server there, for my PC I use backblaze personal with payments every 2 years), and they charge me 0.6-0.85€ every 2 months.

nullify88 3y ago

Another fan of B2 here. I do the same instead using k8up to backup my k8s PVCs to B2. K8up uses restic in the background.

atYevP 3y ago

Yev from Backblaze here -> It's all good and we love you being a happy customer! If you want to buy a backup license, feel free ;-)

cvalka 3y ago

I recommend rustic