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Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

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Re: Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

#401

Post by whimblepop »

carefulfungi wrote: post #333
whimblepop wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole "just sync everything, and if you can't seek everything, pretend to sync everything with fake files and then download the real ones ad-hoc" model of storage feels a bit ill-conceived to me. It tries to present a simple facade but I'm not sure it actually simplifies things. It always results in nasty user surprises and sometimes data loss. I've seen Microsoft OneDrive do the same thing to people at work.

I’ve lost data not realizing I was backing up placeholder files (iCloud). Hiding the network always ends in pain. But never goes out of style.

My own approach to simplicity generally means "hide complexity behind a simple interface" rather than pushing for simple implementations because I feel that too much emphasis on simplicity of implementations often means sacrificing correctness.

This particular example is a useful one for me to think about, because it's a version of hiding complexity in order to present a simple interface that I actually hate. (WYSIWYG editors is another one, for similar reasons: it always ends up being buggy and unpredictable.)

Re: Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

#402

Post by Jolter »

raptor99 wrote: post #61
Jolter wrote: post #20

To the author: please use a darker font. Preferably black. I’m only in my 40’s, I don’t require glasses (yet) and I have to actively squint to read your site on mobile. Safari, iPhone. I’m pretty sure you’re under the permitted contrast levels under WCAG.

[flagged]

The who?

Re: Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

#403

Post by bombcar »

Neil44 wrote: post #179

The issue with a client app backing up dropbox and onedrive folders on your computer is the files on demand feature, you could sync a 1tb onedrive to your 250gb laptop but it's OK because of smart/selective sync aka files on demand. Then backblaze backup tries to back the folder up and requests a download of every single file and now you have zero bytes free, still no backup and a sick laptop. You could oauth the bac…

The issue really isn't that it's not backing up the folder (which I can see an argument for both sides and various ways to do it) - it's that they changed what they did in a surprising way.

Your backup solution is not something you ever want to be the source of surprises!

Re: Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

#405

Post by bombcar »

Chaosvex wrote: post #252
Aerroon wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google and Youtube, especially Youtube.

YouTube is constantly reencoding videos to save space at the expense of older content looking like mud, so arguably even they're having their struggles.

We all know the "nobody has watched this video in ten years, login at least once or it'll be yeeted" email is coming, someday.

Re: Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

#407

Post by GrinningFool »

> I made several errors then did a push -f to GitHub and blew away the git history for a half decade old repo. No data was lost, but the log of changes was. No problem I thought, I’ll just restore this from Backblaze.

`git reflog` is your friend. You can recover from almost any mistake, including force-pushed branches.

Re: Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

#408

Post by bombcar »

kccqzy wrote: post #315
embedding-shape wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any company that does the "unlimited*" shenanigans are automatically out from any selection process I had going, wherever they use it. It's a clear signal that the marketing/financial teams have taken over the businesses, and they'll be quick to offload you from the platform given the chance, and you'll have no recourse. Always prefer businesses who are upfront and honest about what they can offer their users, in a s…

I just read the Reddit post by their developer and my takeaway is that they have a very good understanding of “unlimited” really means. It’s not a shenanigan. It’s just calculated risk. It’s clear to me that they simultaneously intend to offer truly unlimited backups while hoping that what the average user backs up is within a certain limit that they can easily predict and plan for. It’s a statistical game that they…

The problem is you have to play with them - and sure, maybe they're willing to be the Costco to the unlimited backup's $1.50 hotdog - but for how long? Will their dedication to unlimited and particular price points mean you have to take Pepsi for awhile instead of Coke, or that your polish sausage dog disappears? Wait, where did the analogy go? I'm hungry.

It's a bit safer when you know your playbook - if there was unlimited (as it is now) and unlimited plus (where they backup "cloud storage cached files") and unlimited pro max premier (where they backup entire cloud storages) you'd at least know where you stand, and you'd change "holy shit my important file I though was backed up isn't and now it's gone forever" to "I have to pay $10 a more a month or take on this risk".

Re: Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

#409

Post by calmbonsai »

WJW. This sort of blanket policy change should be called-out in ALL CAPS, bold-faced, and underlined as it changes one of the implicit assumptions with the service's execution.

The technical and performance implications of backing-up cloud mount-points are real, but that's zero excuse for the way this change was communicated.

This is a royal screw-up in corporate communications and I would not be surprised if it makes a huge negative impact in their bottom line and results in a few terminations.

Re: Backblaze has stopped backing up OneDrive and Dropbox folders and maybe others

#410

Post by pixl97 »

pkaeding wrote: post #329
pixl97 wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, you really shouldn't do that for any kind of file that acts like a (an impromptu) database. This is how you get corruption. Especially when change information can be split across more than one file.

Sorry, what are you saying shouldn't be done? Backing up untracked/modified files in a bit repo? Or compressing the .git folder and backing it up as a unit?

> Backing up untracked/modified files in a bit repo?

This. It's best to do this in an atomic operation, such as a VSS style snapshot that then is consistent and done with no or paused operations on the files. Something like a zip is generally better because it takes less time on the file system than the upload process typically takes.

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