Back in December, online backup company Backblaze launched a private beta of its service for Mac users. Like its Windows counterpart, the Backblaze subscription service is $5 US a month (or $50 US a year) for unlimited backup space. Today, the company is officially launching its service for Mac users, along with an updated client, better support for external drives and enhanced recovery options.


Configuration and setup

Just like in the beta, Backblaze remains extremely easy to set-up and use. You just install the program (by default it will run in the background, though you can change this), enter in your e-mail address and password, and it will start backing up your files. The default setting has Backblaze running any time it finds an available internet connection. The backup process is constant and Backblaze stores multiple versions of a file for 30 days (so if you are frequently changing a document or spreadsheet, 30 days worth of revisions are saved to Backblaze).

If you want to remove Backblaze, the company has made the uninstall process easier and more intuitive. There is now an uninstaller built into the install DMG image, just double-click on Uninstall (right next to the install option) and you can take Backblaze off your system. If you trash the DMG, just download it again off the Backblaze web site for easy removal.

Backblaze won't backup your Applications (thought it WILL backup stuff in your User/Library folder, so many of your application settings will remain backed up), but it will backup your photos, movies, audio files as well as things like your iPhoto or Aperture database, various documents, and more. By default, .ISO, *.exe and *.DMG files are excluded from the backup file type list, but you can remove most of those extensions (*.ISO cannot be removed) if you want to backup that information.

The maximum single file size is still 4 GB, but keep in mind this doesn't mean your iPhoto or Aperture databases won't be safe. Those databases are actually just folders with lots of smaller individual files, that's fine. If you have individual files over 4 GB in size, those won't be backed up with Backblaze. You'll need to split the files into smaller segments or make alternate arrangements.

TUAW readers know that to keep their data safe, they need to perform regular backups. Since Time Machine hit the scene last year, most Mac users have used the OS X application and an external hard drive to perform automated backups. For some Mac users, the thought of losing both the Mac's hard drive and the external hard drive to a fire or theft is enough to keep them awake at night.

Longtime Mac peripheral maker LaCie has come up with a solution to that nightmare scenario. Beginning in November, 2008, all consumer hard disk drives sold by the company will come with a one-year unlimited online backup account using Carbonite services. Carbonite is currently in the process of beta-testing Mac software for their popular online backup service.

The Carbonite software automatically backs up the LaCie drive, finding new and modified files, encrypting them twice, and then uploading them to a secure data center. The information remains encrypted while at the data center to maintain user privacy. Backups are done only during idle cycles on the Mac, so the process should not affect performance.

How do you keep your backups backed up? DVDs in the safe-deposit box? Leave us a comment below.

[via Macworld UK]

We've mentioned previous efforts to roll your own online iTunes backup using Jungle Disk and Amazon's S3, but frankly that seemed like a little bit of a hack, and potentially opened you up to some surprisingly large fees. Now Xackup is introducing an all-in-one iTunes online backup services called bandwagon, which uses S3 as well, but is mediated by Xackup, so the pricing is fixed at $69 year (introductory price) for unlimited storage. Xackup also includes a client, which sits in your menubar (right) and allows you to control the backup and restore process (e.g. selective backup/restore, search, etc.). Unfortunately, it appears that bandwagon is strictly a backup service and does not offer on-the-go access to your music (though I suppose in principle you could use it with your notebook to download particular tracks or albums you had previously uploaded from your desktop). Unfortunately, I can find no information on the bandwagon site concerning bandwidth limitations, if any.

As I noted before, bandwagon is presently available (until the end of February) for a special price of $69 for one year of unlimited storage, after which the price will jump to $99/year. If you want to try it first and see how well it works, they also have a 30-day demo of the service available for $1.

Thanks to those who sent this in!

[Via MacNN]

[Update: the Xackup people have pulled the service because "the response has been overwhelming... [and they] underestimated the demand." They say their long-term pricing plan is "as yet undetermined."]