If you have a computer, you have a ticking time bomb. Some computers last decades before they have a catastrophic failure, some barely make their way out of the box. Whichever is the case, your computer will eventually fail and you will lose all of the data on that device. This outcome is guaranteed no matter who makes the computer, only the timeline is unknown. This means that you must prepare. 

There are different tools you can use to avert this disaster, but there is only one philosophy you need:

Three is two, two is one, and one is none.

Basically, you need two copies of your file to even pretend you have the file at all and having three copies of the one file is the only way to feel safe. 

An extension of this idea is also diversifying the physical location of your files. Having a file on your computer and on an external hard drive on your desk is a great start but if a fire breaks out in your office those files are gone. Using Dropbox for your most important files is a perfect solution. Your files are uploaded to a remote server immediately and constantly kept up to date. Unfortunately, this solution is expensive as a total backup storage solution, especially if you have lots of videos or photos.

Enter Backblaze

Backblaze is similar to Dropbox in a few ways, but they are very different products. BackBlaze installs as native a task bar app just like Dropbox does. This means that it works very reliably with the fewest resources possible so it doesn’t bog your computer down. Also like Dropbox, Backblaze runs seamlessly in the background so you don’t have to think about it at all; it will just run in the background and do its own thing while you do yours. The similarities pretty much end there though.

The biggest difference between Dropbox and Backblaze is scale. Backblaze covers your entire computer and any external hard drive plugged into it as well for $5 a month. There is no limit at all. Compare that to Dropbox, which will give you 1 terabyte for $8.25 a month (if you pay annually). This difference is because Backblaze is mainly a one-way tool. You are putting data into Backblaze and (hopefully) never pulling it out. Use the free version of Dropbox but pay for Backblaze, they are not competitors but complementary.

Backing up your computer is a vital part of a healthy digital life. You need to be backing up your computer regularly and I have not found a better option than Backblaze.