BackBlaze Intros Mac Beta of Unlimited Online Backup Service

Filed in archive Online on December 12, 2008

Backblaze this week introduced a Mac version (currently in beta) of its $5-a-month online backup service.

"Backblaze joins such services as CrashPlan, MozyHome, and SteekUP in offering Mac users simple online backup and restoration of large amounts of data at a low cost," writes TidBITS' Joe Kissell. "For $5 per month (or $50 per year - equivalent to $4.17 per month), Backblaze lets you back up unlimited data from a single computer."

"Configurable via a System Preferences pane, Backblaze can work on a schedule or run in the background to keep an eye on file changes as you make them, and your files are encrypted before transmission with AES military grade encryption, and transmitted over an encrypted SSL connection," writes Ars Technica's David Chartier. "For extra security, you can use a private encryption key which Backblaze never stores, but if you lose that key, your backup files are as good as gone."

"Backblaze may be a harder sell on the Mac than it is on Windows, as Time Machine (the best backup utility I've ever used) is already included in the most recent version of the operating system," writes TechCrunch's Jason Kincaid. "Online backup has some advantages over local storage (its disks aren't open to theft or destruction during a flood or fire), but for most people the deciding factor will be simplicity, and it takes far longer to backup via the web than over USB..."

The Mac version is currently in private beta, but invites are available from a wide range of sites including TUAW, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, VentureBeat and TidBITS.

More here from TUAW ... more here from VentureBeat ... more here from TMCnet ... and the press release is here.