
Ask HN: What cloud backup solution do you use to backup your machines? - rochak
Hi HN! I am on the lookout for a cloud backup solution to make timely and automated backups of my machines. They all run either MacOS, Windows or Linux. I am not good enough to set up my own servers to backup them and thus wanted to know about your experience with a service that integrates well with all&#x2F;some of these and is also not very costly.
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stephenr
I use Backblaze for company/personal (which is kind of blurred when you work
from home and own the company) Macs, along with local TM backups.

For servers, just something rsyncable - rsync.net lately.

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demygale
I used Backblaze for a few years. Not a bad service, but the dark patterns
around cancelling were really sketchy. Turned me off to the company.

Avoid them if you can. Anyone willing to use UI tricks to keep you as as
customer can’t be trusted and what’s the point of a backup if you can’t trust
it.

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stephenr
.... Care to elaborate a little?

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demygale
Sure. So I go to cancel my account. Not unhappy with the service, just trying
to save some money. Recurring subscriptions start to add up.

No cancel button. Read the online documentation. To cancel you have to delete
all your computers from your profile which deletes the underlying backups.

The yearly charge will be authorized in the days before your subscription
expires “so there’s no interruption in service.” But you can’t tell them you
want to cancel without deleting all your backups and you don’t know when the
charge is going to renew.

So in order to use you’re full subscription you’ll need to set an alarm to
cancel on that day, and then go ask for a refund because they’ve already
charged you for the next year.

It’s an intentional dark pattern to make cancelling difficult.

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stephenr
Ok I was expecting some kind of LinkedIn/Facebook style "this delete my
account button doesn't actually delete my account" bullshittery.

Your explanation sounds like their process is slightly less intuitive than it
could be.

I'm not overly impressed that they auto-increase business licenses if a "new"
computer is detected, but their response to fix the issue was prompt, so I'm
generally willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

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bobbydreamer
I use Google cloud storage, rsync option in it too synchronize my desktop
(windows) with GCS every week and doing it for last 1 year. So far no issues.

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rochak
How do you restore from it if you want to?

