Backblaze launches free update, potentially increasing speed of Mac backups more than five-fold
Backblaze is today launching version 4.0 of its Mac backup app, potentially allowing file uploads to happen five times faster. This will primarily be of benefit for the initial backup, which can take several weeks. Faster downloads will also be available when restoring from a backup.
Although you’ve always been able to choose how much of your upload bandwidth the app uses, latency issues meant that the app didn’t always take advantage of higher speeds. You can now assign multiple processes (or threads, in Backblaze’s terminology) to the job. The company says those more than 500 miles from its California data center should see the greatest benefit.
It won’t magically add extra bandwidth out of thin air, and the company suggests limiting usage to two or three threads, but if you’ve told the app to use a decent chunk of your upload capacity and it isn’t doing it, adding an extra thread or two should help. The update is free to all users.
Backblaze costs $5/month for unlimited backup per Mac, including any connected external drives.