One Key area in which Crashplan is at a key advantage is how they treat external hard drives. Crashplan did have an app for recovering files but this was discontinued along with the removal of the “Home” account a couple of years ago. This service requires a small deposit be paid which will be refunded upon timely return of the drive.īackblaze also have the benefit of offering their users mobile apps for iOS and Android which allow for recovering and accessing of any backed up files whilst on the go.

Having said about Backblaze and the web console one feature which really makes them stand out over Crashplan is that they will ship large amounts of recovered data on an external drive should you need to do a large restore quickly. One area with does differentiate the two slightly is when it comes to recovering data, both allow for web based data recovery to take place and Crashplan will even go a step further allowing recovery of files from within the app itself (something Backblaze strangely does not allow, you must use the web console). I don’t think either of these approaches is inherently “better” than the other, but because of its simplicity Backblaze might be a slightly better option for those unfamiliar with how backup works on a technical level.Īs can be seen in the table above both tools basically have the same set of key usability features and there is little to separate them on here. Whilst still very easy to use Crashplan take the opposite approach whereby during setup you check which of the important areas of your PC should be included in the backup. Again, I feel Backblaze have gone sightly further in this regard with their download been pre-configured with the users account details beforehand, this means once the software is installed it be logged in automatically and begin backing up all important files straight away.įollowing on from the above statement it also needs to be pointed out that Backblaze backs up all important files automatically (you need to specify if something doesn’t need backing up). Usability is key when it comes to a backup application, not only must a good service be easy to configure but also easy for users to understand what is happening and feel comfortable that their data is been secured in the correct way.īoth Backblaze and Crashplan have a simple and straightforward sign-up process allowing users to create an account, download the software and have it installed within minutes.

Crashplan vs backblaze vs carbonite