I have started my own journey into Backblaze storage

[AudioDoctor]

The price simply can not be beat, and it gives me more peace of mind knowing I have all my music, personal data, as well as business data, in 3 separate locations. Backblaze also integrates right into TreuNAS and an app called Forklift which I use to keep various networked storage devices in sync with each other across the internet.

 

now I just have to wait a week or so for all the data to be uploaded.

[AudioDoctor]

No affiliation with any of the above, just a happy customer.

[AudioDoctor]

3 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Awesome. Keep us updated on how it goes. 

 

I'm using iDrive and have been very happy so far. The interface is less than stellar, but the price for 20TB is right. 

 

https://www.idrive.com/pricing

 

You're not wrong, that's a great price!

 

Currently I am estimating ~300 a year for 5-6TB, but we'll see once it is all uploaded. I specifically like I can set permissions for each "bucket" which is kind of like a dataset on the TrueNAS so my wife or kids cant accidentally delete my music, for example.

[AudioDoctor]

1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I have a feeling the other shoe will drop and the price will shoot up, just like Amazon storage did years ago.

 

That was precisely my thought process when seeing amazing, too good to be true and feasible long term storage deals.

[AudioDoctor]

11 minutes ago, Jud said:

I think there’s been one modest price increase, maybe two, since I started using the service. (I’m using the unlimited personal plan, not as capable but substantially cheaper than the B2 storage plan @AudioDoctor has.) The owners said they intended to keep the service low cost. However, I believe ownership has changed since then. As always, we’ll just have to wait and see. But I’ve had no complaints so far.

I did have the B2 storage at one point and thought the capabilities and numerous available interfaces were excellent.

 

I started with the personal plan and then decided to switch to the B2 Cloud Storage. It is more expensive, but also interfaces with the TrueNAS and Forklift App, and can more easily backup the business data because of it. I personally don't find the price outrageous compared to some of the others and I feel that they will be in business for a while and not disappear overnight unexpectedly as well.

 

Plus, with this little Applet (Forklet?) I can sync my entire NAS to Backblaze. I need to set it up still, but the point stands.

 I can also keep versioned backups of files for a time I can determine from no time to more than a year. Or Indefinitely. The cost will increase over time with that of course.

 

[AudioDoctor]

@Jud Your previous endorsements of Backblaze also played a role in my decision.

[AudioDoctor]

Just now, Jud said:

When I had B2, I was very happy with Rclone (free, open source, mature, capable, works with any OS we’re likely to be running), particularly the web GUI version that is designated experimental but which never gave me the least problem.

 

I have read good things about Rclone because I am having a real heart to heart with myself right now about switching to Linux and am investigating the software that would replace what I currently rely on on the Mac platform, like Forklift. I am tempted to stick with Mac as my user interface, so to speak, to what is essentially entirely Linux (and BSD) behind me on my network.

 

The need to replace my iPhone 7 that works just fine only so I can  purchase an Apple Watch opened my eyes to the fact that this will also happen to Apple Silicon computers as well. It also soured me on the watch purchase, which I haven't done yet either.

[AudioDoctor]

7 hours ago, jcbenten said:

When I last looked at BB it was too expensive but at $70/yr for unlimited requires another review...re-ripping or replacing my music would be a PITA (5-6 TB).  Question is: Is it truly Unlimited?

 

iWatch: I wanted one to monitor Blood Oxygen as I am on a CPAP.  When it detected AFIB (post a bad Covid experience) my wife is all into it and allowed the upgrade to 8 Ultra.  I like it much more than I though I ever would.  The new OS Beta just added cycling sensors (power/cadence/speed) and is a much more useful device than Garmin (which just added ECG to one device).

 

Apple's obsolescence plan is better than Google's...my Pixel 2 XL is just fine but updates stopped after 3 years.  New Pixels get 5 years now (I think) but my wife's old iphone 7 only recently stopped getting updates and it is older than my Pixel.  I switched to the iPhone at 12 and plan to get a 15 for the USB connector. 

 

I had 5 TB of stuff backed up to my personal account before I switched to B2.

[AudioDoctor]

47 minutes ago, Rsmaximasr said:

I’ve been in the IT/storage (hdd, NAS, SAN, raid, solid state storage ssd/nvme) environment for over 4 decades, and have used every RAID configuration available on EMC/Netapp/LSI/other storage arrays. 
I have to ask why any personal/small business/even large businesses storage setup would require a NAS or SAN? I wrote a paper that’s still on websites describing why DAS is a much better way to go over a NAS or SAN.

You have many options for setting up storage for your environment and if you want that storage replicated offsite. Word of caution, anytime you go outside of your network, you have to worry about security; who actually has access to your data, and is your data being backed up. 
 

Many people think that just because you are using a RAID setup on a NAS/SAN or replicating data to a remote site your data is protected, you would be wrong. I worked at a large company that the DBA’s replicated the databases to 5 different servers and they told management they would never lose data. I told them that was false, because if any piece of data gets corrupted/deleted/inadvertently modified, that data is replicated to all your sites/replicated storage servers in seconds. This is why backups are so critical. Taking snapshots throughout the day is a good way of recovering your data to a later point in time than just using your last backup.

 

I use a DAS environment for my storage, using hdd and a mix of ssd/nvme m.2 storage. If you need more storage than the computer has available, consider getting a jbod unit from owc and use their soft raid to make it a RAID 1 configuration. Then get a good reliable backup process going that takes daily backups with hourly snapshots if possible. 
 

If you need to replicate your data offsite, setup an sftp/rsync process to do this syncing. I rotate my backup drives and store my last 2 in an offsite vault/safe in case of a robbery or fire

 

 

If you did in fact work in the field you say you did then surely you are aware of ZFS and the fact that it is not supported on Mac so my only option is to offload that storage to a NAS, in my case a TrueNAS, which runs on ZFS and Debian. You would also be aware that ZFS is the most robust file system for storage there is against data corruption and disks going bad etc...  Additionally, you would be aware that before my NAS sends a bit of data to Backblaze B2 it checks the checksums and ensures it matches with the parity. If it doesn't, it fixes it, and then sends it.

 

There is no directly attached storage apparatus on the planet that protects against any of that unless you also run Debian based linux as a desktop OS.

 

Backblaze B2 also has an option for encryption in which only I hold the decryption keys. So unless my Data is deemed important enough for them to go through the effort to crack that key, I am positive I am safe.

 

And finally, my data is in 3 separate locations geographically. My house, my brothers house in an identical NAS, and backblaze B2 servers.

[AudioDoctor]

A Mac Studio Ultra M3 with ECC RAM and a Thunderbolt connected Thunderbay 8 on which I can use ZFS is my dream storage array but that's not possible. SoftRAID doesn't protect against bit rot or corrupted data.

[AudioDoctor]

1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Plus, if you want to give access to other apps, music servers, or even via SFTP, a desktop OS is far from ideal. A Linux appliance NAS is literally built to do all of this. 

 

Like Minimserver, for example!

[AudioDoctor]

10 minutes ago, Jud said:

These days I feel the line between NAS and DAS is getting rather blurry. I've got my computers (and directly attached storage) in the office, and my audio system in the living room, so playback is over the network in any case. If I decided to switch to NAS (and I believe I will in perhaps the mid-term future), then I'd simply be running optical fiber from the NAS to a switch in the office, rather than USB cables from external HDDs to my computers. And just as I do now, I'd be syncing to offsite commercial backup. It doesn't really seem like that profound a difference to me.

 

I see what you're saying, and I think you're using Linux, right? and if so I can see even more where the line would be blurred even more. In my case however, ZFS is something I just can't trust to directly attached USB or Thunderbolt drives on a Mac. I tried, it kept me up at night wondering which of the bugs was going to get me. If it was Oracle that convinced Apple not to pursue ZFS it really makes me dislike them. If I were using Kubuntu, for example, then I could plug drives in and use ZFS on a supported system and sleep soundly at night. So I think it really depends on which OS you're using.

[AudioDoctor]

32 minutes ago, Rsmaximasr said:

I have many endpoints and also use Roon ARC for streaming to the cars. Remember, music data is small. I’m used to building large databases with thousands of concurrent users, now that’s real data throughput and had all hba’s in a large AIX server saturated. I also setup CEPH over 7 servers with 100Gb networks and saturated the network using MySQL. You can stream to 20 concurrent  endpoints with Roon  and you might get 1 or 2% disk utilization, half of 1 rotation of the hdd can read a whole album into memory. DAS access is the fastest without the overhead of RAID. RAID 5/6 is terribly slow on writes, ok for reads. RAID 1 or 10 is expensive and can be as fast as DAS. 
You can build a RAID 1 using multiple drives on any apple computer. You can purchase a cheap jbod from owc with or without softraid to handle RAID 0 thru 5. 
If using Linux use mdadm over a bunch of das disks. 
All I’m saying is that there are many options out there. I loved ASM which can be implemented over DAS, the best feature of EMC were bcv’s. Check out CEPH.

 

Perhaps you don't realize that I have no desire to learn what all those acronyms are much less how to use them. This is not my job this is my hobby for fun and I want to keep it that way.

[AudioDoctor]

5 hours ago, Jud said:

What would motivate me to use a NAS?

 

I have no idea Jud, we all make these decisions for ourselves and the only person I can speak for is myself.

[AudioDoctor]

22 minutes ago, Jud said:

I did go on to answer that rhetorical question. 🙂 Two reasons, first because I want something that is purpose built to stay running 24/7 (my current desktop isn’t, so I have to remember to turn it on when I want remote access to my local music collection); and second because I might get some geeky fun out of building a NAS if I decided to go that route instead of buying.

 

In my case, I can split the cost of two identical NAS systems and Backblaze 3 ways between business, myself, and my brother, who all share in the expense and use of the NAS.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, Jud said:

That seems to be one of the two key distinctions in my reading between Ceph and ZFS. Ceph would appear to work better with a system distributed across multiple nodes (usually servers).

 

The other distinction is that Ceph is more configurable, but by the same token that means more complexity.

 

I personally think I would be happier with a single server and easier configuration.

 

TrueNAS makes it stupidly simple to do this stuff with TrueNAS Scale and TrueCommand

 

https://www.truenas.com/truecommand/

 

edit: I did pay for a year of 24/7 phone support so that if I have questions I can get help and hopefully learn enough from that year that I won't need it anymore.

[AudioDoctor]

in an estimated 3 hours my Backblaze backup will be complete... Finally.

[AudioDoctor]

1 minute ago, Jud said:

 

Scale is relatively new. Anything you've noticed that's a missing capability you'd like to see, or that's not completely solid?

 

I am probably the worst person to ask, but no. Everything I want to do, short of running Minimserver on it, it does.

[AudioDoctor]

5 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

That by itself is a huge selling point. When I have a QNAP issue, support is good but it can take a week or more to get it resolved via messaging. 

 

I am sure I am the smallest of potatoes to IxSystems, creators of TrueNAS and the hardware they sell, but they never make me feel like it and are super helpful.

[AudioDoctor]

Just now, Rsmaximasr said:

If you use Apple products, you will be using APFS and truenas had issues with this a while back. Also you read in these posts that you might get support within a week for a freeware app, that’s uncalled for.

For home use, and if I needed to use RAID, I’d use Apples built in disk utilities to build a RAID 0,1,10,01 or jbod. If I need anything more robust, I’d buy an older Mac Pro and get the pcie raid card. Or just run virtualbox with Linux running mdadm.

 

I have my time machine backup living on my TrueNAS backup without problems.

[AudioDoctor]

Backblaze is increasing prices effective October 3rd.

 

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/2023-product-announcement/

 

edit: Taking your data from Backblaze and moving to a new provider is now free. The increase is 1$/TB/month for B2 and 9$/month for personal, up from 7$. Click the link if you want more specifics, it's not a huge increase.

 

edit 2: This is important for Personal backups as well

Free One Year Extended Version History: Also effective October 3, all Computer Backup licenses may add One Year Extended Version History, previously a $2 per month expense, for free. Being able to recover deleted or altered files up to a year later saves Computer Backup users from huge headaches, and now this benefit is available to all subscribers. Starting October 3, log in to your account and select One Year of Extended Version History for free. 

[AudioDoctor]

49 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

This makes B2 very close to the same price as  Computer Backup (personal unlimited) for me, and with free data egress from B2 it might even be cheaper in the event I lost my data at home. So I'll likely go back to B2. I prefer B2's greater availability of tools for moving data and checking its status at Backblaze, and the fact that it works with all my OSs (personal is either just Windows or just Windows and MacOS, I forget which).

 

 Personal works with Mac OS, I know that for a fact.

[AudioDoctor]

Using Forklift I can use an Applet to sync my mounted NAS Music Share to Backblaze with a few mouse clicks. I do this when I add music to my NAS.

 

 

 

 

[AudioDoctor]

What I uploaded was this album which I was surprised to not already own in CD quality for 10 GBP, about 12+ USD, from Bandcamp.

 

 

[AudioDoctor]

One thing to note, if anyone is considering this, that I did not before uploading to Backblaze is that Xfinity/Comcast has a data limit on my internet that I am not allowed to go over without incurring charges. I have never come close to that number until August while uploading to Backblaze.