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Backblaze Review & iPad Mini Giveaway

I have a terrifying fear of one day waking up and all of our family photos and videos being gone. It’s a well founded fear because it nearly happened to us.

 

Backblaze Logo

Tablets received.

A few months ago Dave and I got a new computer. It had been up and running for less than 30 days when the entire thing crashed. We had gone away for the weekend to visit my family and when we returned the computer wouldn’t turn on. Dave got on the phone with the company who walked him through a series of tests which revealed there was nothing that could be done. Everything was lost.

Just a week prior we had transferred all of our family photos and videos to it and I started uploading new files as well. I was immediately worried about what happened to all of these files when Dave reminded me we still had the old computer with the older files on it.

However everything new was gone. All of the pictures and videos I took at Christmas were gone and we’ve never been able to recover them.

While this is very upsetting, I’m really glad we didn’t lose everything. I can’t imagine Kora & Logan growing up with no pictures or videos of their childhood at home.

That’s why I was excited about Backblaze, an online backup service that is incredibly affordable. For as low as $3.96 a month for unlimited data you can backup all of your files, photos, and videos and never have to worry about losing precious memories like we did.

I downloaded Backblaze to both our desktop and laptop. After a quick installation, it immediately started backing up my files. We have a lot of files on our desktop so it will take some time to get it all backed up but the laptop finished backing up in only 2 days.

I like that you can click a link in the control panel and it will tell you how long your initial backup is going to take and it gives you tips on how to speed it up.

Backblaze BackupOnce you start the backup, Backblaze backs up everything on your computer except operating systems, applications and temporary files. This is great because once it’s set up you don’t have to do anything. However, if you prefer you can exclude more files or folders from being backed up as well. It’s easy to do and with a simple click you can exclude those that don’t need to be backed up.

Backblaze ExclusionsOnce everything is backed up you can set it to backup continuously, daily, or when you click. I am using the continuous backup option and I’ve been  impressed that there is no slow down on either computer. This is because Backblaze developed a special single read engine to ensure the backup doesn’t affect your computer speed. If you are worried about it though, there is also an option to change whether you want a faster computer network or a faster backup.

Backblaze SpeedAnother feature I like is that Backblaze will backup external hard drives too. When researching online backup companies I found that many of them don’t offer this service so it’s nice to know that these files will be safe too.

While I hope to never have my computer crash leading me to restore everything, we all know it can happen. That’s why I’m glad to see that Backblaze makes restoring your files simple. They can be restored anytime by downloading a zip file or having a USB hard drive or flash drive sent.

Backblaze Restore FilesBackblaze is currently offering a free 15 day trial. To try it out simply head over to their website and create an account by entering an email address and password. Then download Backblaze and get started.

BackblazeI’m excited about all that Backblaze has to offer at such an affordable price. I’m also happy about the chance to host the fantastic giveaway below!

 


Comments

  4. My favorite feature has to be the fact that you can set it up to back up all of your files daily

  6. I like that Backblaze backs up everything on your computer except operating systems, applications and temporary files.

  7. I like that once everything is backed up you can set it to backup continuously, daily, or when you click.

  16. I love the security feature because you’d hate to backup a virus along with your files. Thanks for the chance to win.

  22. External hard drives,, too? That’s awesome. All our pics are on external drives but it still makes me nervous.

  34. I love the options to set the backup and that it doesn’t slow down your computer. Usually, when I go to back up my files, it means I can’t touch my computer for at least half an hour.
    Thanks!

  40. I love the automatic backup settings with frequency control and the great price

  50. I like that you can choose when to back up continuously, daily, or when you click. No more worries!

  52. the continuous backup option and how easy and affordable it is. ferriza2(at)yahoo(dot)com

  55. I love that they offer the option of having backed up data sent to you on a hard drive or flash drive – that could be a nice alternative for a large collection of files!

  59. First of all, I love that its simple. I also like that it will also backup to an external hard drive.

  63. I like that it says how long the backup will take!

    thanks for the awesome giveaway!

  66. I love that it backs up everything except operating system and temporary files. I’ve been looking for a solution to protect my picture files.

  69. I like that you can set the back up to any time or as often as you like..!! Thanks for this giveaway!

  74. I like that they developed a special single read engine to ensure the backup doesn’t affect your computer speed so that you can run it all the time. thank you!

  78. Couple things caught my eye. The Continuous Backup and the Military-Grade Encryption ard two vety important things to me.

  79. I like that it doesn’t effect the computer speed even though you can run it continuously..that’s a great feature

  86. I like that once it’s set up I don’t have to do anything – it will back my files up regularly.

  96. Thank you for telling us about this valuable service. I have not been able to get all of our photos (or even 10% of them) in scrapbooks so we, too, would lose everything if it wasn’t backed up.

  111. I like your Gadgets section of the blog – I learn a lot. I can be technically challenged.

  116. I love that you can set it to backup continuously, daily, or when you click! I too would love to use the continuously option!

  118. I like that you can choose how often it backs everything up! I think I might do it manually once a week or so.

  127. Woops, used the wrong email…. just said the comment below. “The fact that they backup external hard drives is insane! Pretty cool service!”

  128. The fact that they backup external hard drives is insane! Pretty cool service!

  130. I like that they will backup external hard drives since I store most of my photos on a couple of external drives. Thanks for the chance to win!
    mrsmchappell at gmail dot com

  133. I like that you can set it to backup continuously, daily, or when you click

  135. I like that it won’t affect your computer’s speed. Thank you for the giveaway:)

  143. If you computer crashes you have 3 ways to restore it on of which is free if you are not able to do a web download they can send you a file via fed ex that is awesome

  147. I like that once it is set up, you don’t have to do anything. I love that I would never have to worry about losing everything on the computer.

  149. i love this online backup service that is incredibly affordable. For as low as $3.96 a month for unlimited data you can backup all of your files, photos, and videos and never have to worry about losing precious memories like we did.

  150. I love that it makes back up the hard drive so easy! And that it backs up external hard drives as well!

  158. I like that Backblaze developed a special single read engine to ensure the backup doesn’t affect your computer speed

  163. I like that its an affordable online backup service. Speaking of backing up, I need to do my computer ASAP.

  166. I think the price is great for unlimited data! I also like that you can customize how often to back things up.

  170. I like that is seems easy to restore your files if need be. My computer crashed a few months back and restoring everything was a nightmare.

  172. My favorite feature is definitely the price. We’ve looked at cloud based storage but haven’t purchased anything yet for the same reasons you’ve mentioned – to preserve our family photos and music.

  179. Using this service would chase away the panic felt when I’ve clicked on a suspicious email.

  180. I really like that I can set it to automatically back up my data. :-) Thank you.

  189. Backblaze developed a special single read engine to ensure the backup doesn’t affect your computer speed what I am using now does slow my computer down alot

  190. Backup Multiple Computers is fabulous, between hubby and me, home and work, we use multiple computers, this is one great feature.

  192. The Backblaze “Locate My Computer” feature is exciting , easy to use, but for me the best would be that it automatically finds files. I wish I backed up my computer before hurricane sandy killed my pc. I had some files on my older computer which made it so it wasn’t a total loss

  193. Sadly, I have lost some photos on a computer too :( I like that you can set up daily backup, and I LOVE the price!!

  200. I love that it back ups periodically for me because I would always forget to do so :)

  201. I love that it will backup external hard drives! I often worry that something will happen to my hard drive (it will fall, something will spill on it, etc.) and all the pictures and documents that I have believed are ‘safe’…well, won’t be.

    Thanks!
    h4schaffer at gmail dot com

  203. I like that you can schedule it to backup when you want it to. You can do it daily or weekly continuously as you work. That is awesome. I would set it up to do it daily at the same time.

  204. I like that you can program it to back up continuously. I can be forgetful at times and that’s a great feature to have.

  209. I like that Backblaze will work on external hard drives also. That they give a free trial followed by low price points for services makes them appealing as well.

  212. I like having a free trial. To much software promises what they fail to deliver.

  217. My favorite feature is that I will not lose anything. I have lost pics and videos from 2 computers crashing.(you would have thought I would have learned my lesson the first time.) I so need to sign up and get this. Thank you so much.

  218. The Affordable Price! Very Budget Friendly, Also Like The Restore Options!

  225. Once you start the backup, Backblaze backs up everything on your computer except operating systems, applications and temporary files. This is great because once it’s set up you don’t have to do anything

  226. I like that Backblaze can backup all the computers in the family to one account for just $5 per computer per month.

  238. I like the continuous backup!! I am super paranoid about losing all my photos. Almost happened one time, but my stepdad is an IT guy, so he was able to save all my stuff off my computer.