Backblaze

Backblaze is a data storage provider. It offers two products:

Backblaze
Developer(s)Backblaze Inc.
Initial release2007 (2007)
Operating systemAndroid, Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, XP, Mac OS X 10.5+
PlatformWindows, macOS
Available inEnglish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean
TypeOnline backup service, Cloud storage
LicenseProprietary
Websitewww.backblaze.com

Overview

Founded in 2007, Backblaze has raised a total of $5.3 million in capital and is profitable.[4]

Integrated Backup

Backblaze's first product is its Computer Backup offering. It allows the user to back up data continuously, manually, when the computer is idle, or on an hourly schedule. The service makes use of AES encryption for security, and uses data compression and bandwidth optimization to reduce upload and download times. Files that need to be restored can be delivered in the form of a digital download,[5] on an external USB hard drive up to 8 TB or a USB flash drive up to 256 GB.[6]

Backblaze B2 Storage

In September 2015, Backblaze launched a new product, B2 Cloud Storage. Being an Infrastructure as a service (IaaS), it is targeted at software integration (though a web frontend and APIs are also available). It directly competes with similar services Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.[7] In April 2018, Backblaze announced cloud computing partnerships[8] that directly connect Backblaze's data centers with its partners, Packet and ServerCentral, offering high-performance cloud computing for data stored in B2 Cloud Storage with no transfer fees.

Technology

Data centers

Backblaze has four data centers; three are in the United States and one is in Europe. Two U.S. data centers are in Northern California near Sacramento, and one is in Phoenix, Arizona. Backblaze's data center in the European Union (EU) is in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[9]

Data replication

Data uploaded onto Backblaze's data center is sharded into 17 data shards plus three parity shards for each file. Parity shard bits are computed by the Reed–Solomon error correction algorithm. The shards are stored in 20 storage pods, each in a separate cabinet to increase resilience to a power loss to an entire cabinet. Backblaze states that its Vault architecture is designed with 99.999999999% (eleven 9s) annual durability.[10]

Encryption

For Computer Backup, Backblaze uses a combination of AES and SSL encryption to protect user data. Data is stored in Backblaze Storage Pods and Vaults using Reed-Solomon erasure coding and encrypted with the user's private key, which is secured with the user's password and username. The default encryption of private keys is done server side, which is unlikely to protect against government subpoena or serious data breach. Users desiring additional security and privacy can use the optional private encryption key (PEK)[11], but the PEK passphrase is sent to the server when it is initially set, and must be sent again to restore any data[12].

For Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, data is stored in Backblaze Storage Pods and Vaults using Reed-Solomon erasure coding. Encryption is handled entirely by the user and client software used to manage the stored data, making it immune to government subpoena or data breach and protecting the data during transfer and ultimate storage in Backblaze's data centers.

Storage Pod open design
A server case using the open design of the Storage Pod.

In 2009 and 2011, Backblaze released CAD drawings of the computer case used by the storage servers in its datacenters. With commercial off-the-shelf components such as x64 processors, disks, and motherboards, high-density storage servers can be built at a lower cost than commercial ones.[13]

In February 2013, version 3.0 of the pod was introduced with increased storage capacity and other upgrades.[14]

In March 2014, version 4.0 of the pod was introduced which is faster, simpler and less expensive,[15] and then a "tweaked" version 4.5 in March 2015.[16]

In November 2015, version 5.0 of the storage pod was released, in which the motherboard, CPU, and SATA cards were upgraded, and the memory was increased to 32GB. [17]

In April 2016, version 6.0 of the storage pod was released.[18]

gollark: The W is silent.
gollark: As Far As I Wyattisdumb Know.
gollark: It might be that.
gollark: What matters is which computers get their responses to you *first*, and I don't think more modems helps with that. It might, I'm not sure.
gollark: 512 ender modems for listening to all channels.

References
  1. Lardinois, Frederic. "Backblaze drops download pricing for its B2 storage platform by 60%". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  2. Chartier, David (2008-06-02). "Making off-site backups brainless: hands-on with Backblaze". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  3. "Online Storage Service Backblaze Now More Unlimited Than Unlimited". TechCrunch. 2011-10-26. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  4. "How a startup went from building servers out of wood to a $20 million business — without giving control to outside investors". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-04-26.
  5. "Backblaze: Online Backup With Time Machine's Finesse". TechCrunch. 2008-06-02. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  6. "Larger Longer Faster Better". BackBlaze. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  7. "B2 Cloud Storage Pricing". 2 January 2018.
  8. "Backblaze Announces B2 Compute Partnerships". Backblaze.com. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  9. "Backblaze opens data center in Amsterdam, retains same pricing as US". TechRepublic.com. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  10. "Backblaze Durability is 99.999999999% — And Why It Doesn't Matter". Backblaze.com. Retrieved 2018-07-17.
  11. "Online Backup Security & Encryption". Backblaze. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
  12. "Security Question Round-up!". Backblaze. 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2019-11-08.
  13. "Petabytes on a Budget v2.0:Revealing More Secrets". Blog.backblaze.com. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  14. "180TB of Good Vibrations - Storage Pod 3.0". Blog.backblaze.com. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  15. "Storage Pod 4.0: Direct Wire Drives". Blog.backblaze.com. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  16. "Storage Pod 4.5 – Tweaking a Proven Design". Backblaze.com. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
  17. "The Hardware Inside B2 Cloud Storage – Storage Pod 5.0".
  18. "Storage Pod 6.0: Building a 60 Drive 480TB Storage Server".
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