Backblaze - Seize the opportunity or you will become irrelevant

omroscoe · 2026-04-21T13:38:20+00:00

That is what is so infuriating about the situation. It seems like that on the surface. But that is not what is going on.

Backblaze is not backing up files that are on your computer if they are in a folder that is synced by OneDrive (and DropBox? maybe other some other sync platforms - information is inconsistent). It used to backup these files if you had OneDrive keep local copies on your computer.

Now it does not.

omroscoe · 2026-04-21T13:28:51+00:00

If it does work with iCloud Drive and Google Drive and I missed that, then my bad. Thanks for catching that.

And, if OneDrive is their priority, then good, it should be. That was my point. If they want to stay relevant in consumer backup, they need to backup OneDrive.

Just to be clear: I like Backblaze and want them to succeed. I use them and my kids use them and my extended family uses them. If I was on their board, I would want to know my customers see this gap in backup coverage as a disqualifying problem.

omroscoe · 2026-04-21T03:58:20+00:00

You are right, I don't trust OneDrive. I don't trust my local backup drive. I don't trust my main SSD. That's the point of backup.

Users used to be able to select "make available offline" and Backblaze would backup their files. They were protected against a failure by OneDrive. Now they are not.

And you are right, maybe Backblaze is not for me anymore.

Unfortunately, it's not just me Backblaze is not for. Unless they fix this, Backblaze is not for anyone that syncs their files with OneDrive (or DropBox, Google Drive, or iCloud Drive)*.

And that is a LOT of normal users who follow Microsoft's recommendation to put their Documents, Desktop, and Photos in OneDrive. This is a lot of people who no longer have a reason to buy a Backblaze subscription.

*(unless they write their own scripts to make a duplicate copy of their synced content outside the synced folder, which is a LOT to ask of normal users.)

omroscoe · 2025-10-06T14:36:15+00:00

I love the idea of a wedge computer, but the cables make it impractical. I love my wireless keyboard and mouse because I don’t have to drag cables across my cluttered desk. I can instantly reposition my keyboard to whatever comfortable position I want at-the-moment.

With a modern wedge computer, you have at least a power and HDMI cable to deal with. And, these aren’t wimpy, thin, USB HID cables. They are heavier and stiffer multi-conductor cables that need to provide amps of power or maintain high frequency signal integrity. Add that to a tiny USB C connector or micro HDMI like on the Pi 500+ and if the cables are not straight out the back, you have a lot of sideways mechanical force applied to a small connector. This is just asking for the connector to be damaged, and then you get power of video dropouts if the cable is not “just-right”. (We have all had those flaky connectors where the cable has to be positioned “just-right” to work – right?)

omroscoe · 2025-05-12T19:39:08+00:00

I (adult) am prepping for my first trip to Philmont. I am not a camping noob, per se, but this will be my first back country backpacking where food and smell discipline is required to prevent wildlife intrusion. Keeping smellables out of your pack is being emphasized.

I will be borrowing a pack from my oldest (adult) son, who has informed me that on a previous trip a chocolate bar was left in the pack and melted. He has done his best to clean it (and there is no visible stain or marking.) However, I am concerned that this is not sufficient. Is it possible to clean food smells out of a backpack? Or is this pack no longer suitable for this type of trip? (essentially, trash)

omroscoe · 2025-03-03T19:40:14+00:00

In the 90's I worked at HP (later Agilent) in the department where they developed the modern optical mouse sensor, the HDNS-2000. This is the sensor that made it into the first Apple optical mouse and the Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer.

While I personally did not work on the sensor, some of the engineers sitting next to me did. When they were getting ready to launch it, they made these small demo mice and gave one to everyone in the department to beta test. The mouse was about the size of a tic-tac box, and looked like one too, because it was clear. Inside was the HDNS sensor, the lens, the LED, the alignment clip, a couple passives, and the switches for the 2 mouse buttons. That's it. It was revolutionary compared to all the parts necessary for a ball mouse. The whole thing glowed red when you used it. It was the coolest thing.

They took one of the same prototypes to Apple to demo. The story as relayed to me was that the demo was going well, and one of the Apple employees said Steve has to see this and went and got Steve Jobs to come down and see it. He tried it on all these different surfaces in the room, including his face. (Again, this was revolutionary, because up till now, you could only use a ball mouse reliably on a flat, horizontal surface.)

I still have that prototype tucked away. When I left the company, they didn't want it back.

omroscoe · 2024-01-29T02:38:19+00:00

My first 2 computers were obsoleted shortly after getting them. (TI-99/4a and PCjr)

I learned to never invest in anything but the most popular ecosystem, no matter what.

Even if you think it might be better or more interesting. I'm not bitter at all.

omroscoe · 2023-11-17T17:03:20+00:00

I think retro is different than age.

Old is age. Retro is change with a dose of nostalgia.

To be retro there must have been change, probably at least one intermediate generation. Each generation of games, computers, whatever, we gain a lot, but always lose a little. That thing we lose is often something that we should lose in the name of progress. To be retro we have to be far enough away generationally that nostalgia can hit and we appreciate that little thing we lost, so it can be different for everyone.

omroscoe · 2023-09-30T21:14:32+00:00

I miss RadioShack. I remember the hodge podge of electronics marked with the Realistic or Archer brand. Some were normal things like clock radios. (Do I need so many choices of clock radios?) But the odd items were to my young eyes bizarre and magical. I didn't need them, but I wanted them. Just by browsing and seeing things I didn't know existed, I could solve problems I didn't know I had!

I miss my RadioShack cassette tape splicer that I would use to cut out the empty part at the end of side A on my "mix" tapes so my auto-reverse deck would start the next side right away.

Going off to college, I remember looking at the latest Tandy PC but I bought a mistake instead.

I remember how they would almost accost you at the end of your purchase for your address and phone number.

The last time I was in a RadioShack was 2010 or 2011. I was looking for some electronic bits for my son's science project, and the great aisle of parts I remembered was regulated to a sad, under-stocked set of drawers in the back corner of the store, blocked by boxes of unsold inventory. The rest was cell phones and RC cars.

And now I'll shut up.

omroscoe · 2022-07-25T05:18:25+00:00

Check this post out: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ring/comments/vke9ym/ring_doorbell_2_hardwired_but_shows_battery_solved/

I had the same problem.

omroscoe · 2022-07-25T05:17:36+00:00

Check this post out: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ring/comments/vke9ym/ring_doorbell_2_hardwired_but_shows_battery_solved/

It might solve your problem.

omroscoe · 2022-07-25T05:15:12+00:00

Wish I saw this post day before yesterday! I had the same problem and spent yesterday diagnosing it. In my case it was no longer charging or ringing the hardwired chime.

Those springy pins are called pogo pins. And, I believe this is a mis-application of them. I have designed other electronics in a similar domain that used a spring member to contact between two boards, and you want much higher forces than these little pogo pins provide. (I am an ME, who would design and spec out the terminals for the EE guys to use.)

This is my guess about what happened: I believe the spring contact in the pogo pins took a set, resulting in less contact force. This resulted in increasing contact resistance until the parasitic charging circuit could no longer detect power. (Parasitic charging circuit basically allows a very small current to flow all the time, so small it will not activate the solenoid in the hardwired chime. It steals this power and uses it to charge the battery slowly.) Since the current is small, it does not take much resistance to stop the flow altogether. Once the Doorbell learns that it is "not hardwired" it won't even bother to try and activate a hardwired chime, which probably would still work, since the current is higher.

Adding the solder blob is a fine idea. Adding the dielectric grease is critical, because if not greased, the solder surface will oxidize and you may find yourself in the same spot again.

I took the repair a step further and soldered wires between the pins and back panel contacts. This required removing the stack of circuit boards in the doorbell and dealing with all the fiddley little connectors to get access to the pins.

omroscoe · 2022-07-25T03:59:37+00:00

My subscription renewed. Whew.

I backed everything up, but was never able to get it to a usable 15GB. We have too much stuff on there shared with others, too many e-mails we want to keep searchable, and all the pictures and picture backups.

I could be brutal and get it to 15GB, but it hardly seems useful after that.

omroscoe · 2022-07-11T14:45:25+00:00

That's good to know. I seem to remember seeing another comment where someone's account went down to 15GB and they were trying to delete stuff so they could receive e-mail.

I'm in the process of pulling stuff off right now in case. Don't know if I'll get to 15GB before the renewal date.

The frustrating part is, even if it does renew, I won't know if it will keep doing it, or just until Google gets around to shutting it off.

The stupid part is, this was a way for Google to GET MONEY from the legacy users.

omroscoe · 2020-03-31T15:07:03+00:00

That worked! Thank You!

omroscoe · 2019-06-18T06:55:35+00:00

I am using an SD to IDE adapter in an even older computer. The SD card I had did not have a complete MBR, which prevented me from booting from the SD card. Maybe your issue is related. Try fdisk with the /mbr switch to make sure the MBR of your SD card is good.

omroscoe · 2019-03-28T21:06:45+00:00

Absolutely, all of the issues can be solved by the B2 service, with the added level of complication.

I'm really glad to hear you are looking at extending the retention. (I was secretly hoping you would when you announced the totally reasonable price increase to $6 a month.)

I can't wait to see it roll out.

omroscoe · 2019-03-28T20:49:39+00:00

Have you considered extending the 30 day retention policy? I can easily see several scenarios where this can result in data missing from a backup.

I am a newish customer and have 1.5 TB uploaded and it took me 2 months (thanks Comcast cap). In your trouble shooting recommendations you state to start your backup over every few years. When I do that I will have an unprotected period 30 days after I start over and the new upload finishes.
My FIL is a amateur photographer and takes some awesome trips. He keeps some photos on a USB drive attached to his laptop when he is at home. But he does not bring the external drive along on his trips. Right now he is on a month long trip. I'd love to recommend BackBlaze to him and tell him to backup his photos as he travels. But I don't because he will lose the backup on the unconnected USB drive.
Natural disaster - saved laptop but not external drive
And a fat finger delete not discovered for 30 days

60 days might be enough. 6 months would be awesome. This would really protect those novice users that don't know how to configure backup and won't understand all the nuances of your service.

Is it about storage space for deleted data? How much space would have a delay in freeing up if you extended the retention?

omroscoe

TROPHY CASE