Let’s take your Backblaze backup from the Crock-Pot to the cooktop!
What in the world does that mean?
If you saw the first post in this series, you know just how easy it is for Backblaze to automatically backup your entire computer and any external hard drives plugged into it. It’s about as easy as using a Crock-Pot … just set it and forget it. Time passes and when you return you have a delicious meal (and a completed backup).
Sometimes, though, you may want more control over what’s happening … kind of like cooking on your cooktop. You can customize a few things, adjust some settings, tend to it periodically, and it produces fantastic results.
In this post I’m going to share some tips and tweaks for optimizing and confirming your backup.
Select drives to backup
Backblaze backs up your entire computer, including any external hard drives that are plugged in. To tell it which drives to backup, open the Backblaze control panel, click Settings, and then select the drives by checking the box next to their names.
Choose a speed
Next, click on the Performance tab in the control panel, uncheck Automatic Threading/Throttle and move the slider all the way to the right for Faster Backups. In the dropdown menu below it, select the recommended number of Backup Threads. These changes keep everything moving quickly during the backup process. #NeedForSpeed
Select a schedule
Control when backups occur on the Schedule tab, and you’ll see that backing up Continuously is recommended. I’ve noticed that if I’m trying to work while backups are running as fast as possible, it can slow down my computer. It’s especially noticeable when going through a backup stage called Producing File Lists when Backblaze is reviewing to see what files need to be backed up. To prevent that slowdown, I select Only when I click <Backup Now>.
Super important tip … at the end of the day (or when you’ve finished working), be sure to click Backup Now from the control panel or change the Schedule tab back to Continuously. You must do one of these things to ensure your backups start again.
Watch closely
While Backblaze is busy doing its thing, the control panel displays the total number of items selected for backup along with the size of the backup. Pay attention to the size of the backup over time. If it decreases significantly (and you haven’t deleted a bunch of things that no longer need to be backed up), it could indicate a faulty drive that is no longer being backed up. Ask me how I know that. I had a drive that didn’t back up for months and I didn’t notice it, which brings me to my last tip …
Consider extended version history
Backblaze provides access to old backups for 30 days, but you can extend that to 1-Year or Forever for a small additional investment. Thank goodness I had 1-Year version history when I experienced the hard drive failure! I was able to easily restore my data from months earlier when the drive last backed up successfully. That would not have been possible with only the 30-day version history.
Backblaze is easy to customize and gives me incredible peace of mind knowing I don’t need to worry about losing files. Sign up today to start a free trial and see for yourself. Now we’re cooking!
Click the button below if you’d like more help with your digital photos beyond backing them up.
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