If you’ve ever told an IT professional that you’re using Dropbox to back up files and were greeted with a side eye and a stifled “well, actually…” it’s because Dropbox isn’t actually a backup. It’s for syncing data. The distinction is subtle, but critical.

If you’re reading this post, you probably already know that data is always at risk of loss to accidental deletion, system updates, or even if you forget your password and get locked out of your account. The difference between backing up and syncing is that syncing your data will not protect it from these risks.

It’s easy to accidentally lose access to a sync service where you might be keeping files or images that no longer live on your computer. Many colleges and universities now even offer file hosting service subscriptions to students for free—until they graduate. After students earn their diplomas and leave the dorms, these services graduate, too, and students either get locked out of their accounts or have to choose between switching to a free tier and compromising on storage space or paying the fees to keep their existing subscription tier.

To make sure your data stays safe and secure, you’ll want to make sure you have a copy of it on your local device as well as a copy backed up to the cloud. A 3-2-1 backup strategy is always your best bet for securely storing your data. In this post, we’ll walk you through downloading your data from Dropbox and some strategies for backing up your downloaded files.

How to Download Files From Dropbox

Note: If you are using the Dropbox client to sync the files that are on your computer, the option to download your files may be replaced by an option to open them, instead. Clicking on “Open” will open up the files directly from the file on your computer where they are saved.

To download a file or folder from Dropbox, follow these steps:

1. 1. Sign in to your Dropbox account. (We know, this is pretty self-evident. We’re just trying to be thorough here).
   2. Find the file or folder you’d like to download and hover your cursor over it.
   3. Click on the three dots.

   

   4. Select Download. Your files will appear in the Downloads folder on your computer, and folders will be downloaded as .zip files.

   It’s also important to note that Dropbox only supports downloads of folders that are less than 20GB and contain fewer than 10,000 total files.

   How to Back Up Your Dropbox Data

   Now that you have all of your Dropbox files downloaded to your computer, you’ll want to follow through with the next steps of the 3-2-1 backup strategy. By saving a copy of your data on an external or secondary device (like a hard drive), and a third copy in an off-site location (like the cloud) your data will be protected from any number of possible risks. Backblaze Personal Backup automatically and continuously backs up a copy of all of the data on your computer to the cloud, making it that much easier to fulfill the 3-2-1 backup strategy.

   Bonus: How to Export a File From Dropbox to an App on Your Phone or Mobile Device

   If you want to send a portion of your files elsewhere for safekeeping, or to share with another app, you can follow the set of instructions below. Just remember that downloading your files to your phone or emailing them to yourself isn’t the same as keeping a full copy of your data on an external device—your data is still susceptible to damage or loss.

   First, you’ll need to download the Dropbox mobile app to access your synced files on your mobile device.

   1. Open the app and select the three dots next to the file or folder you’d like to export. On an iPhone or iPad, the dots will appear horizontal, and on an Android device they’ll be vertical.
   2. Select Share.
   3. Select Export file, which will show a list of apps that can open the file. Choose the app you’d like to open the file. Note: once you export the file, if you make any changes to that file in the other app, those changes may not be saved back to your Dropbox account unless the app integrates with Dropbox.

   Back Up Your Dropbox Before It’s Too Late

   Have a lot of Dropbox data you don’t want to take up space on your computer? Upload and store your data in Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage as a part of your 3-2-1 approach. Also, let us know in the comments if you’d like to see more guides to downloading and backing up the data saved to other sync services.

The post How to Download and Back Up Dropbox Data appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

On the Backblaze blog, we’ve been sharing tips for backing up and doing more with your data, especially when it comes to data digitally scattered across social media platforms. We asked what you, our readers, wanted to know about protecting your data online and you responded with this question: How do you download and back up data on Microsoft OneDrive?

OneDrive is an online file hosting service that many users take advantage of to sync the data on their computer. Although it offers 5GB of storage space for free, users pay a fee to store data that exceeds tiers of 100GB, 1TB, and 6TB. OneDrive even notes on their website that to free up space on your OneDrive account, you should download that file or folder to a location outside of your OneDrive folders, and then delete the OneDrive copy of the file or folder to reduce your storage amount. Of course, this means that the document is no longer syncing. And by doing so, you’re forced to constantly juggle the amount of data saved in OneDrive to stay under the free limit. Worse yet, the data you remove from OneDrive is no longer protected using the 3-2-1 backup method.

This guide walks you through ensuring your data on OneDrive is safely backed up and how to keep your data safe using the 3-2-1 backup strategy. So, read on to learn how to save your OneDrive data, including:

• A step-by-step guide to accessing and downloading your data.
• What to do with your downloaded OneDrive data to ensure it stays protected.

How to Download Data From Microsoft OneDrive

1. 1. 1. Open your OneDrive account and select the files or folders you want to download. You can select individual items by clicking the circle check box next to each item. You can also select several files at once by clicking on one file, scrolling down the list, then left-clicking while holding down the Shift key on the last item in the list you want to select. To select all of the files in a folder, click the circle to the left of the top row, or simply press CTRL + A (or COMMAND + A on a Mac).
      2. In the top menu, select Download. You can also right-click an individual file and select Download. If you choose multiple files or folders and then select Download, your browser will download a ZIP file containing all the data you selected. If you’re in a folder and you select Download without selecting any files or folders, your browser will download everything saved in that folder.

   

   1. Save your OneDrive data on your computer. Your browser will download your files to the Downloads folder of your computer. Select the files and save them to a permanent location. For some users, your browser may prompt you to choose the location where you want to save the download.

   Now that you’ve downloaded your OneDrive data, keep reading to find out how to ensure that data is safely backed up.

   The 3-2-1 Method in a Nutshell

   Back up your data based on these principles:

   1. Redundancy. Have several copies of your data.
   2. Geographic Distance. Have those copies in different locations.
   3. Access. Have different types of access to your backup data. A good example here: you don’t want all of your data to be connected to the internet to reduce the risk of cyberattacks. You also don’t want all copies of your data stored in your home in case of disaster or theft.

   How to Back Up OneDrive Data

   Once you have all of your OneDrive data downloaded on your computer, you’ve fulfilled the first step of the 3-2-1 backup strategy by storing your data on your local device. Next, you should make sure to follow the next steps and save your data on a secondary, external device and in a third, off-site location. Cloud storage is the one of the best options for easily securing your data off-site.

   If you’re using Backblaze Personal Backup to protect all of the data on your computer and external drives, you’re all set! Backblaze automatically and continuously backs up a copy of all of your data to the cloud.

   Another option to consider when you want to securely store your data and offload some of it from your local device is to upload your data to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage directly. As long as you are still keeping a copy of that data on other local drives or devices, you’re still fulfilling the 3-2-1 backup method. You can learn more about the difference between using Personal Backup and B2 Cloud Storage and how to save and organize your data in cloud storage by reading this blog post.

   Read On to Get the Most Out of Backblaze and OneDrive

   Our help section is filled with useful guides on maximizing the integration of Backblaze and OneDrive. Check out our guides for Windows or Mac to learn more.

   Don’t Rely on Sync Services to Secure Your Data

   Chances are, the data you have saved in your OneDrive folders is data you want to keep. Don’t wait until you accidentally get locked out of your account or a software update wreaks havoc on your synced data. Back up your data today, and comment below to let us know what else you’d like to know about to help you keep your data safe.

The post How to Download and Back Up OneDrive Data appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

March was Women’s History Month, and throughout the month, Backblaze’s employee-led, internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee educated our team on the contributions of women throughout history. In a company-wide Slack channel, DEI committee leaders shared facts and resources about women who were pioneers in a range of fields.

Many of our team members found these facts useful to inform and expand their own worldviews. Team members shared articles they found themselves, and some even used the content as part of their homeschooling curriculum. (As a bonus, the DEI Committee also surveyed employees to generate a word cloud that describes the women of Backblaze, which you can see in the image above.)

The initiative was so popular with our team, we thought we would share some of the content with you even though we are well on our way into April, because any day is a good day to recognize the diverse range of women who have made contributions to our everyday lives, whether it’s still Women’s History Month or not.

Keep reading to learn about important figures and events in the history of technology, Hollywood, politics, and more!

Women in History

In 1756, long before the women’s suffrage movement gained any traction, Lydia Chapin Taft was legally allowed to vote.
Lydia Chapin Taft’s husband, Josiah Taft, was a prominent member of their community in Uxbridge, Massachusetts; he served several terms as a legislator and presided over town hall meetings. When he died, the townspeople agreed to permit Lydia Chapin Taft to vote in her husband’s place. The decision was made in keeping with the slogan of “no taxation without representation,” since Josiah Taft was the town’s largest taxpayer. Lydia Chapin Taft went on to cast several more votes, contributing to the town’s stance on important matters like financial contribution to the French and Indian War.
Read more about Lydia Chapin Taft here.

The 1900s brought significant milestones for women and money in the United States.
In 1938, the federal minimum wage was established as a result of the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act, eliminating many pay differences between men and women for hourly jobs. In the 1960s, women gained the right to open a bank account. Shortly after, in 1974, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act passed, which aimed to prohibit credit discrimination on the basis of gender. Before it passed, many banks granted credit cards to women only with their husbands’ signatures and outright refused to issue them to unmarried women.
Read more about economic rights for women in the U.S. here.

Wyoming refused to join the United States without a guarantee that women would be allowed to vote.
In 1869, the territory of Wyoming made history when it passed a law granting women aged 21 and older the right to vote. That law was threatened two decades later when Wyoming applied for statehood. Congress stated that it wouldn’t allow the territory to join the Union unless women were disenfranchised. Wyoming called Congress out on its bluff, replying via telegram, “We will remain out of the Union one hundred years rather than come in without the women.” Congress relented and Wyoming became a state in 1890, with women’s right to vote intact. True to its past, Wyoming’s state motto today is simply, “Equal Rights.”
Read more about Wyoming and women’s right to vote here.

The British suffragettes learned jiujitsu to defend themselves and evade arrest.
Campaigning for women’s enfranchisement was a dangerous act back in the early 20th century. Many suffragettes in the UK were incarcerated, and some were even force fed in jail as punishment for their self-imposed hunger strikes. To protect women from going to jail and facing this abuse, which could have disastrous health consequences, one suffragette had the bright idea to teach her fellow protesters jiujitsu. Edith Margaret Garrud used her martial arts background to secretly train a unit of 30 members of the Women’s Social and Political Union in self defense. The group was alternately known as “The Bodyguard” and “The Amazons,” and was highly effective at resisting arrest.
Read more about how suffragettes in the UK used martial arts to defend themselves here.

Arabella Mansfield became the first female lawyer in the United States in 1869.
Admitted to the Iowa bar, Mansfield made her career as a college educator and administrator. Despite an Iowa state law restricting the bar exam to males, Mansfield had taken it and earned high scores. Shortly after her court challenge, Iowa amended its licensing statute and became the first state to accept women and minorities into its bar.
Read more about Arabella Mansfield here.

In 1964, Patsy Mink became the first woman of color elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mink’s Congressional career spanned decades (1964–1977; 1990–2002). She was a key author for Title IX, a law that advanced gender equity within federal funding policies for education. This law was later renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act in her honor.
Read more about Patsy Mink here.

No list of formidable Irish women would be complete without tomboy icon Gráinne Ní Mháille, aka Grace O’Malley, the notorious “Pirate Queen” of western Ireland.
Born on Clare Island in 1530, O’Malley famously cut off her hair after her father refused to take her on a voyage in case her locks got caught in the ropes. In her prime, O’Malley commanded three galleys, 20 ships, and over 200 men against her perpetual nemesis—the English—and even met with Elizabeth I before living to the ripe old age of 73.
Find out more about Grace O’Malley here.

Cork, Ireland native Annie Moore became the first immigrant to be processed through the newly-opened Ellis Island in New York on January 1, 1892.
Just 17 years old at the time, Moore looked after her two brothers on the ship voyage from Ireland to America, before going on to have 11 children of her own with German Catholic salesman Joseph Augustus Schayer. Moore died in 1924. Her previously unmarked grave was identified over eight decades later in 2006, and a Celtic Cross made from Irish Blue Limestone was later unveiled at her final resting place.
You can read more about Annie Moore here.

Tammy Duckworth, the Illinois senator and retired National Guard lieutenant colonel, is responsible for an impressive list of firsts.
Duckworth is the first Congress member to be born in Thailand, the first to give birth while in office, the first Asian-American woman to represent Illinois in Congress, and the first woman with a disability to be elected to Congress. She lost both of her legs following a helicopter attack in the Iraq War. “People always want me to hide it in pictures,” she told Vogue in 2018. “I say no! I earned this wheelchair. It’s no different from a medal I wear on my chest. Why would I hide it?”
Find out more about her here.

In 1985, Wilma Mankiller became the first woman to be Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, leading the largest tribe in the United States.
During Mankiller’s decade-long chiefdom from 1985 to 1995, “tribal enrollment grew, infant mortality dropped, and employment rates doubled,” according to Time. In 1998, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton.
Learn more about Wilma Mankiller here.

Women in Art

Toshiko Takaezu was a trailblazer in ceramic art making during the 1970s.
Takaezu is best known for creating large, closed-vessel sculptures. At the time, fellow artists expressed shock that a woman could make such large pieces, some taller than the artist herself. Takaezu merged aspects of Japanese tea ceremony, calligraphy, and American Abstract Expressionism to create a new style from these diverse art traditions. She had a long career as an artist and teacher at the Cleveland Institute of Art and Princeton University.
Learn more about Toshiko Takaezu here.

Emily Kauʻiomakaweliokauaionalaniokamanookalanipo Kukahiwa Zuttermeister, also known as Aunty Kauʻi, is a revered Kumu Hula (master hula teacher) from Hawaiʻi.
Zuttermeister trained in the hula pahu tradition of Samuel Pua Haʻaheo before becoming a teacher in 1935. Zuttermeister helped revitalize ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (the Hawaiian language) and culture by teaching hula. She was part of a community of leaders who raised awareness about hula as a storytelling art form created by the Hawaiian people to recall and share their knowledge.
Learn more about her here.

No one did sultry better than Anna May Wong.
The Los Angeles-born screen siren landed her breakthrough role at age 17 in 1922’s “The Toll of the Sea.” Wong was also quite the trend setter—in 1934, the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York voted her the “world’s best-dressed woman,” a massive fashion world honor at the time. Success in Hollywood came, but certainly not equal to her talent. As her Turner Classic Movie biography sums it up, stateside audiences considered Wong either “too Chinese” or “too American.” In Europe, the actress received a wider range of roles and due critical acclaim.
Learn more about Anna May Wong here.

Best known as the frontwoman of 4 Non Blondes, Linda Perry’s prolific behind-the-scenes work—as both a songwriter and producer—helped define modern pop music.
Perry worked on hit songs with P!nk, Christina Aguilera, and Alicia Keys. While a woman has never won a Grammy for Producer of the Year (Non-classical), in 2019, Perry received a nomination for the award from the Recording Academy. The singer-songwriter is one of a handful of women to achieve success in production and with her own music.
Learn more about Linda Perry here.

Delia Derbyshire was an innovator in electronic music who pushed the boundaries of technology and composition.
Derbyshire is most well-known for her electronic arrangement of the theme for “Doctor Who,” an important example of Musique Concrète. Each note was individually crafted by cutting, splicing, and stretching, or compressing, segments of analogue tape which contained recordings of a plucked string, oscillators, and white noise.
Learn more about Delia Derbyshire here.

During a two-decade career that began in the mid-1960s, Sonia Pottinger held the distinction of being Jamaica’s first female record producer.
Cutting tracks with the likes of Joe White & Chuck and Culture, her production spanned a variety of Jamaican genres, from rock-steady to ska to reggae.
Read more about Sonia Pottinger here.

Geena Davis starred in two movies about female empowerment: “Thelma & Louise” and “A League of Their Own.”
As Davis got older, she realized how unempowered women were in Hollywood. In 2004, she founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to collect data comparing the number and types of male and female roles and to use that data to convince the industry of the need for change.
Listen to her speak about her career here.

Rita Moreno has influenced the entertainment industry for over 70 years as an actress, singer, and dancer.
Moreno became the first Latine woman to earn the vaunted EGOT: an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. In 2004, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her many contributions to the arts.
Learn more about Rita Moreno here.

Women in Technology

Hedy Lamarr was much more than “the most beautiful woman in the world” during Hollywood’s Golden Age.
The Austrian-American actress was also a mathematically-minded inventor who learned about military technology from dinner party conversations between her arms-manufacturer husband and Nazi German generals, before escaping to America where she eventually invented a new torpedo guidance system for the U.S. Navy.
Read more about Hedy Lamarr’s inventions here.

Rear Admiral Grace Brewster Murray Hopper was a STEM pioneer.
Grace Brewster Murray Hopper brought the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. The history of computer hardware invention is mostly a male-oriented affair. This isn’t unexpected given that early computers had more to do with heavy engineering than logic. However, when it comes to software, the picture is a little different. Hopper was responsible not only for the development of the Cobol language, but also for continuous advocacy within the industry to make computers and computing more accessible.
Find out more about Grace Hopper here.

Ada, Countess of Lovelace was born 200 years ago, but her name lives on.
There is often an unfairness in the reporting of the history of computing. The software people are nearly always passed over in preference for the hardware people. Ada, Countess of Lovelace worked with Charles Babbage on his Analytical Engine and is generally accepted as the first programmer. Later, in the 1970s, the Ada language was named in recognition of her status as the first computer programmer. In 2009, Ada Lovelace Day was inaugurated to celebrate the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, and math.
Read more about her here.

In 1996, after being named a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Columbia by NASA, Kalpana Chawla became the first woman of Indian descent to fly in space.
The shuttle orbited around earth 252 times in a little over two weeks. Chawla’s second—and last—trip to space came in 2003 when she and six other astronauts completed more than 80 experiments over the course of 16 days. She and the entire crew died when the ship disintegrated upon reentering the Earth’s atmosphere. In 2020, Northrop Grumman named a spacecraft after Chawla in her memory.
Read more about her here.

Share More Information on Women in History

Did you learn something new that you didn’t know before? Or, do you have a fact to share about a woman in history? Comment below and help us expand this list!

The post Learn About Women in History With Us! appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

We hear it all the time: “I don’t need to back up my data, it’s already synced.” But backing up your data and syncing your data are two different animals—only a backup service actually protects all of your data while also making it accessible to you even when you’re away from your computer.

Are you using a sync service like Dropbox or OneDrive without a backup solution? If so, we’ll make the case for why you should use backup over sync, including the Backblaze features you won’t find from a sync service.

Read on for a refresher on the difference between backup and sync, and find out why choosing Backblaze over a sync service could be more beneficial to you.

Review: What’s the Difference Between Backup and Sync?

With the myriad of cloud services available, many people don’t understand the difference between sync and backup. You can read more about the difference between the two services here, but here’s a brief refresher:

• Sync: These services allow you to access your files across different devices. You can also use sync services to share files with other users, where they can make changes from their computer that will be visible to you from your device.
• Backup: These services usually work automatically in the background of your computer, backing up a copy of your new or changed data to another location (e.g., the cloud). Most backup services catalog and save the most recent version of your data, and some now offer features like Extended Version History, which you can use to recover files from even farther back in time than the standard 30 days.

The Disadvantages of Sync Services

While sync tools are great for collaboration and 24/7 access to your data, they are not a viable backup solution and relying on them to protect your data can lead to trouble. If you or someone you shared a file with deletes that file, you are at risk of losing it forever unless the sync service you’re using has a version history feature. Sync services do not create a copy of your files for backup, and require additional setup to make sure you have some data protection enabled.

Data in sync services is also vulnerable to corruption by bad actors or malware as it does not provide a backup of your uncorrupted files. If your computer is hit with a ransomware attack and automatically synchronizes your data afterwards, all of your synced files will be corrupted.

Lastly, many people choose not to pay for a sync service, instead opting to use the free tier. For the most part, the free tiers of sync services have a cap on the amount of data you’re able to sync, meaning there will still be a portion of your data on your computer left unsynced, neither accessible by the service or protected in any capacity. Paying for more data in a sync service can become costly over time, and still does not offer protection against data loss.

The Backblaze Features You Won’t Get With a Sync Service

Sync and backup shouldn’t be thought of as opposing services—they’re better together. However, if your budget only allows for one, backup is the way to go.

Now, hear us out—as a backup provider, we may seem biased, but in reality, the benefits of using a backup service speak for themselves. Here are the Backblaze features you won’t get with a sync service:

• Automatic, comprehensive data protection: Backblaze protects all of the data on your computer, not just the files in your synced folders. Think about all the things you save on your computer, but not in OneDrive or Dropbox. I imagine that might include important confidential documents like taxes, financial information, or legal documents, or just random stuff that doesn’t get saved to your sync service. With Backblaze, in case of potential data loss, you can find a copy of each of your files saved in the cloud. Also considering how much of our data is scattered across devices and platforms, having a backup of all of your data is valuable to keep it safe in case you can’t access a profile or device for any reason. (Check out our Backup Pro Tip below to learn more about how to back up your digital life.)
• Fast and easy data restores: In the case that you lose your computer or it crashes and you need to restore all or some of your files, backup services like Backblaze allow you to download the important files you need via your internet connection and opt to have all of your files sent to you via USB hard drive. Meanwhile, downloading your data from a sync service depends on your internet bandwidth and can take days if not weeks. Also, with the Backblaze mobile apps for iOS and Android, all of your backed up data is with you, no matter where you are.
• Extended Version History: Most backup providers offer version history for all of the data you are backing up. With this feature, you can restore your entire backup history, or just one file, from a specific point in time. Backblaze offers Extended Version History, so you can choose if you’d like to keep all versions of your data protected longer than the standard 30 days for a small additional fee. You can choose to keep versions for up to one year or forever. Not only does this feature provide better security for your data and the ability to restore files in the event of a potential cybersecurity breach, but it also gives you the ability to see changes to your edited files over time, much like with a sync service. Want to invite someone to collaborate on a file you’ve edited? You can even share files with other people by enabling Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage. Learn more about how to share files here, and more about B2 Cloud Storage here. (Note: Some sync services are catching on and starting to offer Extended Version History for customers on business or professional tiers or as add-ons. But, keep in mind, unless you’re on the highest tiers, chances are your storage is capped and you’re paying for extended versions of only some of your files.)
• Ransomware protection: Another benefit of backup versus sync is protection against cybersecurity threats. In the case of a ransomware attack on your device, you will be able to completely restore your system from a backup that was created before the malware affected your files.
• The ability to access your data from anywhere: While sync services are promoted as a way to access your files away from your computer, backup providers also allow you to download individual files or entire data backups from another device. Not only does this come in handy when transferring your data or restoring your old settings on an entirely new device, but also in the event that you need to access a file not covered by a sync service. Your data backup will have a copy of every single one of your files that you can access from another computer.
• Location services: Additionally, some backup providers (Like us!) offer additional features or functionality—for example, location services like Backblaze’s Locate My Computer tool allow you to find a lost or stolen device. If you’re unable to get the device back, or you just need to access a file or folder when you’re away from your device, you can download or view data from a web browser or from the Backblaze mobile app.

Don’t Sync—Back Up Instead

If you’re going to choose one service over the other, a backup service gives you the best of both worlds—you can make sure all of your data stays safe, you can access it from anywhere, and you can restore previous versions of your data whenever you need it. Backblaze Computer Backup let’s you do all of that, for Macs or PCs—learn more about it and download a free 15-day trial.

Do you have a preference for syncing your data vs. backing it up? We’d love to hear what you think in the comments.

The post The Case for Backup Over Sync appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Apple recently released the newest edition of their iPhone, boasting a new storage capacity option of 1TB. That’s a big upgrade for anyone looking to get the latest version, and all that extra space is sure to be filled up quickly with app data, photos, videos, and more. You wouldn’t want to accidentally lose any of that important data, so it’s important to make sure you treat backups for your phone with as much consideration as you do for your computer. Not only that, but software upgrades can also have the potential to wreak data havoc, so keeping consistent data backups ensures all your iPhone data stays safe and secure in the cloud.

If you’re using iCloud Backup or iTunes to back up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, read this post to understand how those backups work, and learn what else you can do to protect your data.

How to Back Up Your iPhone to iCloud

Apple has tried to make backing up less of a chore with iCloud Backup. This iOS feature lets your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch back up its contents to the cloud. If you’re looking for the most frictionless way to back up your devices, this is it. The nice thing about iCloud Backup is that you set it and forget it.

iCloud Backup happens automatically when your device is charging, locked, and is connected to Wi-Fi. Once you’ve configured your device for iCloud Backup, you should just be able to rely on the backups to happen periodically when you’re charging.

How to Use iCloud Backup on Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap your name at the top, then choose iCloud.
3. Tap iCloud Backup.
4. Tap Back Up Now. Stay connected to Wi-Fi until the process ends.

How to Check Your iCloud Backup

Make sure to stay connected to your Wi-Fi network until the backup is done. Here’s how to check your backup’s progress:

Using iOS 11 or later and iPadOS:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap your name at the top, then choose iCloud.
3. Tap Manage Storage.
4. Tap Backups.

Using iOS 10.3:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Tap your name at the top, then choose iCloud.
3. Tap the graph that shows your iCloud usage, then tap Manage Storage.
4. Select your device. iOS will show you details about when it was last backed up, and the backup file size.

How Does iCloud Backup Work?

iCloud Backup lets you restore your device from almost anywhere. It also makes upgrading a breeze. When you set up a new iOS device, for example, the system will ask you if you want to restore from an iCloud backup.

There is a downside to iCloud Backup that you need to be aware of. It’s very dependent on a specific set of actions to work:

1. Your device needs to be connected to a power supply.
2. Your device needs a Wi-Fi connection (and needs to be connected to the internet).
3. Your device needs to be locked.
4. You need to have enough space in iCloud to store the backup.

This last item is the killer. Apple only gives you 5GB of free space with the basic iCloud account. If you have a lot of stuff on your iOS device or in the cloud, it’s trivially easy to exceed your free 5GB iCloud allowance, which means your backups won’t happen unless you pay Apple for additional iCloud space.

If you have both an iPhone and an iPad? Forget about it. You have to pay Apple or you won’t have enough space to back up both. iCloud storage ranges from 99 cents per month for 50GB to $9.99 a month for 2TB.

There’s another caveat, too. iCloud Backup doesn’t back up everything on your phone. Things that aren’t backed up include:

• Data that’s already in iCloud: Contacts, calendar appointments, notes, and photos, for example.
• Data stored on other cloud services. For example, Gmail, or Microsoft Exchange mail.
• Your Apple Pay info, and your Touch ID info (if your device is so equipped).
• Imported media files, like e-books, music, and videos you’ve acquired from services besides Apple Music, like Amazon or any content downloaded to your phone from your browser or an app.
• Any App Store content (that stuff is still available for re-download, it’s just an inconvenience to reload).

Most of this makes a lot of sense. Since data is already synced in iCloud and other cloud services, there’s no need to duplicate it in the backup. And as a matter of security, Apple Pay and Touch ID info shouldn’t be kept in a backup either—that info remains the sole domain of specialized hardware on compatible iOS devices called Secure Enclave.

As long as you understand the limits of iCloud Backup, it’s an enormously helpful tool that makes backup, recovery, and upgrading a lot easier.

There’s an alternative that doesn’t require you to buy any more space in iCloud and isn’t dependent on a network connection, either: backing up locally. To do that, you can use iTunes or Finder.

How to Back Up Your iPhone to a Computer

In 2019, Apple discontinued iTunes in its products, so it can no longer be used as a way to back up your phone on a Mac unless you’re running macOS Mojave or earlier. However, iTunes is still available for Windows PCs. The good news for Windows PC users is that you don’t need an internet connection, don’t have to pay for iCloud space, or any other shenanigans. All you’ll need is enough hard drive space to accommodate the backup.

To do this, you’ll have to physically connect your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC using its USB sync cable. You can also configure iTunes to allow backups over Wi-Fi.

How to Back Up an iPhone to iTunes

Using a Windows PC:

1. Connect your iOS device to the PC you normally sync with, and connect using a USB or USB-C cable or a Wi-Fi connection. You can learn how to turn on Wi-Fi syncing here.
2. Double-click iTunes.
3. You should see an icon for your device appear in the menu bar on the upper left side of the iTunes window. Click on it.
4. Click Back Up Now to begin backing up your iOS device to your computer. If you want to include account passwords, Health and HomeKit data, you’ll need to make sure the checkbox entitled Encrypt iPhone backup is also checked.
5. To see the backups stored on your computer, choose Edit, then Preferences, then click Devices. You will see encrypted backups shown with a lock icon in the list of backups.

Using MacOS Mojave or earlier:

1. Open iTunes and connect your device to your computer with a USB cable.
2. If you are asked for your device passcode or to Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen steps.
3. Select your device on your computer.
4. Click Back Up Now.
5. When the process ends, you’ll see that the backup finished successfully because you’ll be shown the date and time of your last backup.

As with iCloud backup, there are a few limitations you should be aware of with iTunes backup. Some information isn’t backed up, by design:

• Content from iTunes and App Stores, or PDF files downloaded to iBooks.
• Imported music synced from iTunes on the computer, videos, books, and photos.
• Photos already stored in the cloud via iCloud Photo Library and My Photo Stream.
• Touch ID and Apple Pay settings.
• Activity, Health, and Keychain data (passwords), unless you select “Encrypt iPhone backup.”

Again, most of these limitations make sense—you can re-sync the content you need and some stuff needs to be excluded as a matter of security.

Once you’re done, iTunes maintains a copy of that backup, which you can restore if you ever need to. You can read about how to restore from a backup in the section below.

The added benefit from connecting your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC using iTunes is that when you back up that Mac or PC, you will also back up the contents from your iPhone or iPad.

How to Back Up an iPhone to a Mac

1. Using macOS Catalina or later, open a Finder window and connect your device to your computer with a USB cable.
2. If you’re asked for your device passcode or to Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen steps.
3. Select your device on your computer.
4. If you’d like to back up the Health and Activity data from your device or Apple Watch, you need to encrypt your backup by selecting the “Encrypt local backup” checkbox, which will require you to create a password.
5. Select Back Up Now.
6. When the process ends, you’ll see that the backup finished successfully because you’ll be shown the date and time of your last backup.

How to Back Up iPhone Contacts

To create a backup of your iPhone Contacts, your device needs to be connected to Wi-Fi.

1. First, go to Settings.
2. Tap your name at the top, then tap iCloud.
3. Tap the slider for Contacts to switch it on.
4. If prompted, merge your contacts with iCloud.
5. Tap the iCloud Backup app at the bottom of the list and switch it on.
6. Tap Back Up Now.

What About iOS Backup Apps?

Instead of using iCloud or iTunes, you can use backup apps to back up the data on your iOS device. These types of apps can be helpful, but are usually limited to backing up your photos and your contact list. Other information, such as application data, game data, texts, voicemails, etc., is not typically backed up by these apps. The most comprehensive way to back up and restore the data on your iPhone is to use either iCloud or iTunes, or both.

The 3-2-1 Backup Strategy

Ideally, you should use both iCloud backups and periodic computer backups to make sure you have at least two ways to restore your iPhone or your iPad if you need to. And if you’re a Backblaze Computer Backup user, all the better. Backblaze backs up the contents of the system directory where your backups are kept, so if you’re using iTunes or Finder and Backblaze, you can be sure your iPhone data is safe.

Here’s the bottom line when it comes to your mobile device’s data: You don’t want to take any chances. Make sure to have at least two backups: One local, through iTunes or Finder, and one in the cloud—either with iCloud Backup or using Backblaze.

The combination of iCloud backups, iTunes or Finder backups, and Backblaze provides you with a foolproof way to keep your mobile data safe and sound. For more on how to keep your data safe, read about the 3-2-1 backup strategy, which we think is the best way to make sure your data is safe.

How to Restore Your iPhone From a Backup

In case of data loss, or if you’d like to have the data you backed up from an old iPhone on a new one, you can restore your data backup to your device. Depending on the method you used to back up your device data, there are a few different options for restoring from a PC or Mac running macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier, a backup from a Mac running macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, or an iCloud backup.

How to Restore Data From a PC or Mac With macOS Mojave 10.14 or Earlier

1. Open iTunes and connect your device to your computer with a USB cable.
2. If you’re asked for your device passcode or to Trust This Computer, follow the onscreen steps.
3. You should see an icon for your device appear in the menu bar on the upper left side of the iTunes window. Click on it.
4. Click on Summary, then click on Restore Backup.
5. Look at the date of each backup and pick the one you want to restore from.
6. Select Restore and wait for the restore time to finish. If prompted, enter the password for your encrypted backup.
7. Keep your device connected until after it restarts and syncs with your computer. Once the sync is done, you can disconnect your device.

To restore data from a Mac with macOS Catalina 10.15 or later, follow the same steps above in Finder.

How to Restore Data From an iCloud Backup

To restore from an iCloud backup, you need to erase all of its content if you have already set up the device, or start from a new device before you can use these steps.

1. First, switch on your device.
2. Follow the setup steps until you get to the Apps & Data screen, then choose Restore from iCloud Backup.
3. Sign in to iCloud with your Apple ID.
4. Select a backup. Once you choose a backup, the data transfer starts.
5. Once prompted, sign in with your Apple ID to restore your apps and purchases. You won’t be able to use your apps until you sign in.
6. Keep your device connected to your Wi-Fi network and wait for a progress bar to appear and complete the data transfer. Depending on how much data you have to back up as well as your network speed, it might take a few minutes to an hour to complete. If you disconnect from your Wi-Fi network before it finishes, the data transfer will pause until you reconnect.

Keep Your iPhone Data Safe in the Cloud

Hopefully this has helped demystify what iCloud Backup and iTunes are doing to keep your mobile data safe, and what else you can do to make sure you’re protected. Still confused? Have a question? Or, do you use a different strategy that you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments.

The post A Quick Guide to iCloud and iTunes Backups for Your iPhone and iPad appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

“Storage Full” has to rank up there as one of the least favorite notifications on Apple and Android products, maybe of all products? For photographers, this message can be all the more frustrating, and eventually very expensive if you opt into a higher storage payment plan. That’s why we’re profiling Photos+ today. Photos+ is an application that leverages Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage to offer an easy and reasonable way to manage your data and put “Storage Full” notifications behind you.

Here’s the short story: If you’re storing 200GB or more of photos on iCloud or Google Photos, Photos+ can save you upwards of $100 per year.

With high resolution iPhone cameras, six hours of 4K videos and a few thousand photos is all it takes to exceed 200GB of storage, meaning your photos will no longer be backed up unless you upgrade to the 2TB plan at a cost of $120 per year. This is a steep jump from the 200GB plan at $36 per year. And for Android users, all photos uploaded to Google Photos now count towards the 15GB Google Drive limit, so that for photographers uploading high quality photos, upgrading to the 2TB Google One storage plan will also cost about $120/year. This leads many to ponder what their options are.

Alternatives to Storage Upgrades

Well, for those of you looking, here are your options:

1. 1. 1. Turn off cloud backups and don’t back up your phone? Not best practice—remember your 3-2-1 backup strategy!
      2. Turn off cloud backups but remember to frequently back up your phone to your computer? This often ends in tears.
      3. Transfer photos to your computer when you run out of space? It works, but it’s time intensive and means you lose access to photos on the go.
      4. Use another service, like Dropbox, to offload photos? Unfortunately, they also feature a leap to 2TB of storage, so you might as well stick with upgrading iCloud or your Google One storage plan.

   Or:

   1. Use a service that charges you for exactly the storage you use at $0.005/GB. In this scenario, storing 200GB would cost $1 per month.

   How to Avoid Storage Upgrade Bills

   The Photos+ Cloud Library app is an iOS, Android, and web app that allows you to manage photos from your iPhone, Android device, or browser without incurring the costs typically associated with keeping photos on your phone. You can use Photos+ and pay for only what you store with no minimum fees and no upper limits on storage.

   

   Test It for Free

   The Photos+ Cloud Library app costs $6/year, and offers a free 14-day trial if you’d like to see how it works. Backblaze B2 costs $0.005/GB/month with the first 10GB free. So if you’d like to give this pairing a try, you’ve got some room to play around before you need to commit to the setup.

   Storing 200GB using these two platforms will cost about $18/year instead of $120/year with iCloud or Google Photos.

   To try both these platforms for free, download the Photos+ Cloud Library app for iOS or Android and sign up for the Backblaze B2 service (no credit card required). For detailed instructions on setting this up, we’ve developed one here.

   Once your photos and videos are safely stored in your own Backblaze B2 account (where you can always verify they have been stored and download them directly from Backblaze or the Photos+ app), you can delete some or all of your photos and videos from your iPhone to open up space, and allow iCloud to back up the rest of your items without exceeding your 50GB or 200GB iCloud storage plan.

   Also, Photos+ users can now import their entire Google Photos library directly into their Backblaze B2 account without having to download photos to their phone or computer, and they can just as easily export their photos from Backblaze B2 back to Google Photos (or Google Drive) without incurring any egress bandwidth fees. Sign in using your desktop browser and select the import or export options to get started.

   No More Upgrade Notices

   With the lack of upgrade notifications, you’ll have more time to spend paying attention to “Scam Likely” calls and discerning the meaning of the badge numbers accumulating on apps you haven’t opened in years. We wish we could help you with those annoyances too, but for now, here’s hoping Photos+ can ease your cloud backup bill and give you some peace of mind.

The post New Integrator Photos+ Offers Freedom From iCloud Headaches appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Did you know that computer scientist Lisa Gelobter assisted with the 1995 creation of Shockwave, essential technology that led to the development of web animation used to create GIFs? Many of us here at Backblaze didn’t know this until a few weeks ago, and the information expanded our sense of the pioneers in our field.

Backblaze focuses on cultivating an environment of openness and inclusion for our team, which sometimes means educating ourselves about histories and experiences we may not fully understand. Last month, our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) committee flagged the example above to underline the role that Black women have played in tech for Black History Month. This month, they’ve helped us focus on women’s history.

The committee asked women from the different departments at Backblaze to share their ideas, ranging from events they thought would be interesting to suggestions for educational resources. A sample of the ideas included:

• Create a mentorship program pairing women in the company with women in leadership positions.
• Learn about Ada Lovelace, the first programmer; Margaret Hamilton, the first software engineer; and the “Secret History of Women in Coding.”
• Read about the importance of considering gender differences for technology, like Jane Frankland’s book, “InSecurity: Why a Failure to Attract and Retain Women in Cybersecurity Is Making Us All Less Safe.”
• Host a team building event for the women in the company.

The DEI Committee put these ideas into practice and implemented them into their programming for the month. They hosted a “Women Empowering Women” panel where women throughout the organization could share their experiences. We’re sharing a few of the takeaways from this panel and the women leaders of Backblaze.

Challenges and Barriers for Women in Tech

To begin with, women on the panel shared some of their personal experiences with barriers they’ve faced throughout their careers. We’ve summarized some of their thoughts below.

Pay Inequality

A common issue that women discussed on the panel was unequal pay. Speakers brought up the fact that women in the United States earn 82 cents to every dollar earned by men. Transparency tends to be an issue when it comes to wage equality, with some of the speakers stating that even in other jobs where they had been urged not to accept lower pay than men, no one would share their salary information with them.

At Backblaze, pay analysis is a carefully considered aspect of the performance review process to ensure employees are paid fairly for their effort and level of responsibility. One suggestion that was shared during the panel was to encourage other people to conduct internal pay gap audits at their companies.

Gender Parity

Gender parity is also a broad issue across the tech industry and was a frequent point of discussion on the panel. Natalie, Senior Director of HR, mentioned that one way that Backblaze is committed to bridging the gap is by implementing a more structured internship program that will be open to entry-level candidates, where there is often more interest from women. The internship program has partnered with PowerToFly, a recruiting platform connecting women in tech. (Stay tuned for a future blog post about new initiatives related to Backblaze internship programs!)

She also highlighted the fact that the majority of people who left their jobs during the pandemic were women. She suggested that recruiters should be mindful of the gaps in people’s career experience, and that one way companies can help gender parity is by simply ignoring gaps in applicants’ resumes.

Prioritizing Both Work and Family

Many of the parents at Backblaze noted that taking time off to raise a family is often seen as a blemish on a person’s professional history, and some people in the meeting even pointed out that they were less likely to receive job offers when they were pregnant. At the same time, the mothers on the panel pointed out that making time for family can benefit a person’s career.

Jeannine, Principal Business Intelligence Analyst, shared that when she was raising her kids, she was also working, so she set up a system to divide her attention equally. At the time, she was the VP of engineering and internet operations at another company, and from 6-9 p.m., she did not answer emails unless there was an urgent issue. She trained her staff in being able to decide for themselves whether an issue needed urgent attention or could wait until the next day. That way, she got uninterrupted time with her family while helping her team learn problem-solving and management skills.

Representation Matters

One of the men who joined to hear the speakers at the panel shared that one of his influences for getting into systems administration was his mother, who started her own IT services company. Not only did he learn valuable skills from helping her with the business, but seeing her pursue her goals in tech encouraged him to pursue his own career in the industry.

Speak Up for Change

Tina, VP of Engineering, noticed that some of the women on her team didn’t speak up as often as some of their colleagues who were men. She emphasized that it’s important for leaders to make space for everyone to speak and share their thoughts. She ensures everyone feels comfortable to join discussions. She also noted that while it’s great for women to advocate for themselves, men need to take an equal part in fostering equality. Men can help by questioning their biases and considering their communication style to men versus women.

Create Space for Employees to Share Experiences

Another one of the men who joined the panel mentioned that although more people in the broader tech industry have begun to come forward with their experiences, it hit home differently to hear about these issues from women he knows directly. It shows that hosting an open conversation like this on any team is a valuable way for employees to build their support for one another and get to know each other better.

Celebrate Women’s History and Women in Tech

The discussion at this panel and similar events inspired an important conversation about the changing landscape of tech and a valuable space for employees to share their experiences, ideas, and advice.

Inspired? The Backblaze team brainstormed some other ideas for celebrating the women in your life, here:

• Write a thank you note to a woman colleague.
• Fundraise or donate to a charity supporting women.
• Have kids? Read or listen to “Rebel Girls.”
• Shop at women-owned businesses.
• Watch movies, read books, or listen to music created by women.

One more thing to note: We’re hiring! Take a look at our open roles and apply today.

The post Speaking Up and Taking Space: Celebrating Women’s History Month appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

Every industry uses its own terminology. Originally, most jargon emerges out of the culture the industry was founded in, but then evolves over time as culture and technology change and grow. This is certainly true in the software industry. From its inception, tech has adopted terms—like hash, cloud, bug, ether, etc.—regardless of their original meanings and used them to describe processes, hardware issues, and even relationships between data architectures. Oftentimes, the cultural associations these terms carry with them are quickly forgotten, but sometimes they remain problematically attached.

In the software industry, the terms “master” and “slave” have been commonly used as a pair to identify a primary database (the “master”) where changes are written, and a replica (the “slave”) that serves as a duplicate to which the changes are propagated. The industry also commonly uses other terms, such as “blacklist” and whitelist,” whose definitions reflect or at least suggest identity-based categorizations, like the social concept of race.

Recently, the Backblaze Engineering team discussed some examples of language in the Backblaze code that carried negative cultural biases that the team, and the broader company, definitely didn’t endorse. Their conversation centered around the idea of changing the terms used to describe branches in our repositories, and we thought it would be interesting for the developers in our audience to hear about that discussion, and the work that came out of it.

Getting Started: An Open Conversation About Software Industry Standard Terms

The Backblaze Engineering team strives to cultivate a collaborative environment, an effort which is reflected in the structure of their weekly team meetings. After announcements, any member of the team is welcome to bring up any topics they want to discuss. As a result, these meetings work as a kind of forum where team members encourage each other to share their thoughts, especially about anything they might want to change related to internal processes or more generally about current events that may be affecting their thinking about their work.

Earlier this year, the team discussed the events that lead to protests in many U.S. cities as well as to new prominence for the Black Lives Matter movement. The conversation brought up a topic that had been discussed briefly before these events, but now had renewed relevance: mindfulness around terms used as a software industry standard that could reflect biases against certain people’s identities.

These conversations among the team did not start with the intention to create specific procedures, but focused on emphasizing awareness of words used within the greater software industry and what they might mean to different members of the community. Eventually, however, the team’s thinking progressed to include different words and concepts the Backblaze Engineering team resolved to adopt moving forward.

Why Change the Branch Names?

The words “master” and “slave” have long held harmful connotations, and have been used to distance people from each other and to exclude groups of people from access to different areas of society and community. Their accepted use today as synonyms for database dependencies could be seen as an example of systemic racism: racist concepts, words, or practices embedded as “normal” uses within a society or an organization.

The engineers discussed whether the use of “master” and “slave” terminologies reflected an unconscious practice on the team’s part that could be seen as supporting systemic racism. Although the term, “slave,” hasn’t been used in the repositories, in this case, the use of “master” prompted the question that forced them to acknowledge that their usage of one of the terms could be perceived as an endorsement of the pairing’s historic meanings. Whether intentionally or not, this is something the engineers did not want to do.

The team decided that, beyond being the right thing to do, revising the use of the term, “master,” would allow them to reinforce Backblaze’s reputation as an inclusive place to work. Just as they didn’t want to reiterate any historically harmful ideas, they also didn’t want to keep using terms that someone on the team might feel uncomfortable using, or accidentally make potential new hires feel unwelcome on the team. Everything seemed to point them back to a core part of Backblaze’s values: the idea that we “refuse to take history or habit to mean something is ‘right.’” Oftentimes this means challenging stale approaches to engineering issues, but here it meant accepting terminology that is potentially harmful just because it’s “what everyone does.”

Overall, it was one of those choices that made more sense the longer they looked at it. Not only was the use of “master” problematic, it were also harder and less logical to use. The very effort to replace the word revealed that the dependency it described in the context of data architectures could be more accurately characterized using more neutral terms and shorter terms.

The Engineering team discussed a proposal to update the terms at a team meeting. In unanimous agreement, the term “main” was selected to replace “master” because it is a more descriptive title, it requires fewer keystrokes to type, and since it starts with the same letter as “master,” it would be easier to remember after the change. The terms “whitelist” and “blacklist” are also commonly used terms in tech, but the team decided to opt for “allowlist” and “denylist” because they’re more accurate and don’t associate color with value.

Rolling Out the Changes and Challenges in the Process

The practical procedure of changing the names of branches was fairly straightforward: Engineers wrote scripts that automated the process of replacing the terms. The main challenge that the Engineering team experienced was in coordinating the work alongside team members’ other responsibilities. Short of stopping all other projects to focus on renaming the branches, the engineers had to look for a way to work within the constraints of Gitea, the constraints of the technical process of renaming, and also avoid causing any interruptions or inconveniences for the developers.

First, the engineers prepared each repository for renaming by verifying that each one didn’t contain any files that referenced “master” or by updating files that referenced the “master” branch. For example, one script was going to be used for a repository that would update multiple branches at the same time. These changes were merged to a special branch called “master-to-main” instead of the “master” branch itself. That way, when that repository’s “master” branch was renamed, the “master-to-main” branch was merged into “main” as a final step. Since Backblaze has a lot of repositories, and some take longer than others to complete the change, people divided the jobs to help spread out the work.

While the actual procedure did not come with many challenges, writing the scripts required thoughtfulness about each database. For example, in the process of merging changes to the updated “main” branch in Git, it was important to be sure that any open pull requests, where the engineers review and approve changes to the code, were saved. Otherwise, developers would have to recreate them, and could lose history of their work, changes, and other important comments from projects unrelated to the renaming effort. While writing the script to automate the name change, engineers were careful to preserve any existing or new pull requests that might have been created at the same time.

Once they finished prepping the repositories, the team agreed on a period of downtime—evenings after work—to go through each repository and rename its “master” branch using the script they had previously written. Afterwards, each person had to run another short script to pick up the change and remove dangling references to the “master” branch.

Managers also encouraged members of the Engineering team to set aside some time throughout the week to prep the repositories and finish the naming changes. Team members also divided and shared the work, and helped each other by pointing out any areas of additional consideration.

Moving Forward: Open Communication and Collaboration

In September, the Engineering team completed renaming the source control branch from “master” to “main.” It was truly a team effort that required unanimous support and time outside of regular work responsibilities to complete the change. Members of the Engineering team reflected that the project highlighted the value of having a diverse team where each person brings a different perspective to solving problems and new ideas.

Earlier this year, some of the people on the Engineering team also became members of the employee-led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Along with Engineering, other teams are having open discussions about diversity and how to keep cultivating inclusionary practices throughout the organization. The full team at Backblaze understands that these changes might be small in the grand scheme of things, but we’re hopeful our intentional approach to those issues we can address will encourage other business and individuals to look into what’s possible for them.

The post Code and Culture: What Happens When They Clash appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.

How do you grow your production process without missing a beat as you evolve over 20 years from a single magazine to a multichannel media powerhouse? Since there are some cool learnings for many of you, here’s a summary of our recent case study deep dive into Verizon’s Complex Networks.

Founders Marc Eckō of Eckō Unlimited and Rich Antoniello started Complex in 2002 as a bi-monthly print magazine. Over almost 20 years, they’ve grown to produce nearly 50 episodic series in addition to monetizing more than 100 websites. They have a huge audience reaching 21 billion lifetime views and 52.2 million YouTube subscribers with premium distributors including Netflix, Hulu, Corus, Facebook, Snap, MSG, Fuse, Pluto TV, Roku, and more. Their team of creatives produce new content constantly—covering everything from music to movies, sports to video games, and fashion to food—which means that production workflows are the pulse of what they do.

Looking for Data Storage During Constant Production

In 2016, the Complex production team was expanding rapidly, with recent acquisitions bringing on multiple new groups that all had their own workflows. They used a Terrablock by Facilis and a few “homebrewed solutions,” but there was no unified, central storage location, and they were starting to run out of space. As many organizations with tons of data and no space do, they turned to Amazon Glacier.

There were problems:

• Visibility: They started out with Glacier Vault, but with countless hours of good content, they constantly needed to access their archive—which required accessing the whole thing just to see what was in there.
• Accessibility: An upgrade to S3 Glacier made their assets more visible, but retrieving those assets still involved multiple steps, various tools, and long retrieval times—sometimes ranging to 12 hours.
• Complexity: S3 has multiple storage classes, each with its own associated costs, fees, and wait times.
• Expense: The worst of the issue was that this glacial process didn’t just slow down production, it also incurred huge expenses through egress charges.

The worst thing was, staff would wade through this process only to sometimes realize that the content sent back to them wasn’t what they were looking for. The main issue for the team was that they struggled to see all of their storage systems clearly.

Organizing Storage With Transparent Asset Management

They resolved to fix the problem once and for all by investing in three areas:

• Empower their team to collaborate and share at the speed of their work.
• Identify tools that would scale with their team instantaneously.
• Incorporate off-site storage that mimicked their on-site solutions’ scaling and simplicity.

To remedy their first issue, they set up a centralized SAN—a Quantum StorNext—that allowed the entire team to work on projects simultaneously.

Second, they found iconik, which moved them away from the inflexible on-prem integration philosophies of legacy MAM systems. Even better, they could test-run iconik before committing.

Finally, because iconik is integrated with Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, the team at Complex decided to experiment with a B2 Bucket. Backblaze B2’s pay-as-you-go service with no upload fees, no deletion fees, and no minimum data size requirements fit the philosophy of their approach.

There was one problem: It was easy enough to point new projects toward Backblaze B2, but they still had petabytes of data they’d need to move to fully enable this new workflow.

Setting Up Active Archive Storage

The post and studio operations and media infrastructure and technology teams estimated that they would have to copy at least 550TB of 1.5PB of data from cold storage for future distribution purposes in 2020. Backblaze partners were able to help solve the problem.

Flexify.IO uses cloud internet connections to achieve significantly faster migrations for large data transfers. Pairing Flexify with a bare-metal cloud services platform to set up metadata ingest servers in the cloud, Complex was able to migrate to B2 Cloud Storage directly with their files and file structure intact. This allowed them to avoid the need to pull 550TB of assets into local storage just to ingest assets and make proxy files.

More Creative Possibilities With a Flexible Workflow

Now, Complex Networks is free to focus on creating new content with lightning-fast distribution. Their creative team can quickly access 550TB of archived content via proxies that are organized and scannable in iconik. They can retrieve entire projects and begin fresh production without any delays. “Hot Ones,” “Sneaker Shopping,” and “The Burger Show”—the content their customers like to consume, literally and figuratively, is flowing.

Is your business facing a similar challenge?

• Read the case study to learn more.
• Check out our Cloud to Cloud Migration offer and other transfer partners—we’ll pay for your data transfer if you need to move more than 10TB out of Amazon.

The post Simplifying Complex: A Multi-Cloud Approach to Scaling Production appeared first on Backblaze Blog | Cloud Storage & Cloud Backup.