[Trias11]

Are you (BackBlaze) still happily deleting user's backup files if user's computer does not contact BackBlaze servers within some arbitrary time?

Yes/No?

Source: https://help.backblaze.com/hc/en-us/articles/217664898-What-...

This is malice.

If you are still doing this to your users - your service is a non-starter. Backup service that deletes user's valuable files under some TOS excuse should not exist.

[MrGilbert]

> [...] within some arbitrary time?

It's 6 months - and you receive notifications after 14, 21, 28, 60 and 90 days. It should be possible for the backup machine to connect to the backblaze server twice a year. I think it's reasonable.

[Trias11]

Is it reasonable to expect that paying recurring fee for backup service is enough to keep my data safe?

Or should I pay for service AND do some time critical technology acrobatics to comply with confusing fine-printed TOS to keep my data safe?

[atYevP]

Yev here -> yes, under our ToS you need to be a customer in good standing in order for us to provide service. We do want to see your computer ping home every now and again to make sure its running up-to-date and supported versions. The Computer Backup service is a backup, not an archive. If you need to put your data somewhere and have it be there forever until YOU remove it, we recommend our B2 Cloud Storage service which has a ton of integrations that make backing up easy -> https://www.backblaze.com/b2/integrations.html?use-case=back... (I filtered by "backup" to make it easier to see all of the integrators).

[Trias11]

Thank you for your response.

With all due - I'd argue with the statement: "Computer Backup service is a backup, not an archive".

It's like saying that banking is a process of sending money to the bank but there is no guarantee that money will be there unless "customer is in good standing".

Computer backup is a process (backup) AND storage (archive). Without BOTH of these components in place the customers will be facing a big surprise down the road when their valuable data is not there.

[atYevP]

I think what's at play is definitions of Syncing, Archiving, and Storage (I wrote this up a while ago, but could use a refresh - https://www.backblaze.com/blog/sync-vs-backup-vs-storage/). It's important to know what your services do. In your case it sounds like you want more of an archival storage solution - which you can do with our B2 service. On the computer backup side, we try to be pretty explicit about the 30 day version history (now 1 year and forever is available) - so that customers aren't caught unaware - and if we don't see an external drive or your computer for a while, we'll send a notification alert to try and make sure you know what's going on. We know we'll likely not be the right service for everyone, but we try to good enough for most!

[theshrike79]

Backblaze is a backup service, not a file storage service.

If the computer you are backing up isn't online for 6 months, it clearly isn't that important. If it is, you can use B2 to store files indefinitely.

[paranoidrobot]

> If the computer you are backing up isn't online for 6 months, it clearly isn't that important.

Internet connectivity in some parts is particularly terrible.

My grandmother's ADSL 12/1Mbit connection was never particularly reliable and would go down any time it rained for days at a time. Every 6-12 months it would go down hard and not come back requiring a visit - the techs would fiddle around, find a different working copper pair and get it going again.

Finally, about two years ago it died completely, and the Telco threw up their hands and said they couldn't fix it, there just wern't any working pairs. There will be, at some point, a FTTC rollout, but in the mean time we're getting her limping along with an overly expensive and even less reliable 4G connection. The data limits are absurdly low, so I can't afford to let Backblaze actually run backups.

But the data that was backed up prior to the DSL outage we want to keep - I'm paying the license for it, they should keep it.

[cerberusss]

That setup is simply not suitable for using Backblaze, or actually any kind of off-site backup.

What would be an interesting solution, is to run a simple gigabit ethernet line to a neighbor or even the backyard shed. And set up a backup endpoint there. It's not totally off-site but sure beats the alternative.

[Dylan16807]

It's not suited for it right now, but it very much disproves "If it's offline for six months, it clearly isn't that important."

[theshrike79]

A single product can't work for everyone.

If you live in the outback and your network connection is literally provided by pigeons, maybe an online backup service isn't the correct solution.

External drives and TimeMachine/Windows Backup should be sufficient.

[aweb]

Is it though? What if I plan to travel for a long time and still want my data to be backup up just in case?

[cerberusss]

Malice is quite strong, just because it doesn't do what you expected.