Ever since my first hard drive crashed, backing up my precious digital memories has always become a priority for me. A few months ago however, after lots of reading and research I have finally signed up for an online backup account so all my memories are safely backed up somewhere else as well. Recently I had the privilege to chat about online backup with Yev Pusin from Backblaze. Read on to find out why Yev thinks Backblaze is different.
6 video modules - over 30 videos containing step-by-step instructions for Windows or Mac programs like Lightroom, ACDSee, Picasa and Photos.
All my e-Books for free - all my products are included.
Completely self-paced. Learn at your own pace and take as long as you want until you learn how to organize your photos. More info
Yev Pusin is the Social Marketing Manager at Backblaze, he uses social media to spread the word about Backblaze and helps create marketing and advertising strategies to make sure that more people learn about the importance of backup.
How important is to backup pictures and videos? Technology seems a lot more reliable today, so why do I have to bother with backup? Since your company uses consumer grade hard drives for everything…do hard drives still fail today?
Yes, it’s imperative to back up your data. We do studies every year and only 10% of the population back up on a regular basis. This year we took a look at how many drives fail in our system, and we published the statistics in our post, How Long Do Disk Drives Last? (See resources at the end ). It’s not a matter of if a hard drive will fail, it is a matter of when a hard drive will fail, and Backblaze takes great care in making sure that our system is built to handle those failures. So even for us, hard drives do indeed fail, and it’s important to have multiple copies and backups to protect against those events.
When the company was created what did you have in mind? How were you to be different than other online backup companies?
Backblaze was designed to be the easiest online backup solution available. And we think we’ve succeeded in that goal. Unlike the other backup companies, you don’t have to select any data. All of your data files are backed up by default, there is no picking and choosing. Additionally, we don’t throttle, so users can get their data uploaded and achieve peace of mind quickly. We also wanted to have a flat pricing structure, so we came up with $5/month for unlimited backup. We stuck with it for over 6 years now, and the company was bootstrapped at the beginning, so it is a business model that works.
How safe is backblaze for my data? What are you doing to keep the data safe and Backblaze in business?
Backblaze has been in business for over 6 years now and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. In fact we’re growing. All the data is uploaded, encrypted and stored encrypted, keeping it safe on our servers and available to you should you ever need it back. Backblaze is quick and is the easiest way to back up your data online.
Do you rent your data center or do you have your own?
We currently have space in two different collocations. We try to keep the cost of Backblaze to a minimum so that we can offer inexpensive online backup for everyone, and collocations are great because they are secure and a great value.
Most other companies have plans that limit the storage space? You only have unlimited plans? Why is that and how committed are you to stick with offering unlimited plans.
Backblaze believes in inexpensive backup, and in order to provide it we had to design are own storage servers. You can read all about them in another blog post called 180TB of Good Vibrations (see resources at the end ). We are committed to unlimited online backup, and you can read our CEO’s thoughts on that in this article: Backblaze is Committed to Unlimited Backup. We don’t plan on changing the pricing or the service any time in the near future.
Online backup resources
- Click here to visit the Backblaze website. I use and recommend Backblaze (affiliate link).
- Should you backup online? Here are my main reasons for choosing Backblaze.
- From the Backblaze blog
Essentials for organizing your digital photos
Here are the essential products and services I have come to rely on for many years to keep my media collection organized and safe. Even though these are affiliate links, I wholeheartedly recommend them. 
Excellent Lightroom and Picasa alternative. If you need a cheaper and simpler photo manager then ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac (save 20% until Feb 15) or ACDSee Pro for Windows (save $20 until Feb 15) is my preferred solution for organizing all my media. It has a very fast browser, great image editing and it's simple to use.
If you do a lot of image editing like I do, I recommend using Adobe Lightroom Classic CC via the annual Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Lightroom has best photo editing capabilities even though it comes with a steeper learning curve. If you do image editing, Adobe Lightroom is my favorite.
I recommend Backblaze Cloud Backup for affordable & reliable unlimited cloud backup. I have been using Backblaze for backing up all pictures & videos for more than 5 years now. All my invaluable digital memories are safe and secure. This is the best solution especially if you have a large quantity of media files.
Use a reliable & affordable external hard drive for backing up everything on your computer. It is absolutely essential for keeping all your memories backed up and safe.
Start organizing now using detailed, step-by-step instructions and videos:
Personal Coaching (closed) Independent Course Private Lessons
Reference book Basics book Picasa book
YOURS FREE! 10 crucial steps most people miss when organizing their digital photos
Most people want to just organize their digital pictures and ignore these crucial steps right at the beginning...when they are shooting and transferring their digital pictures. Then they wonder why they can't organize their digital photos! Avoid most people's mistakes and start on the right track!
