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Main Area and Open Discussion / General Software Discussion / My (not so good) experience with backblaze !
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on: April 29, 2013, 05:56:19 AM
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Dear all, An online backup company is supposed to back my data. I am customer since April 2011. I have recommended their service on this website (see : http://www.donationcoder....29964.msg283957#msg283957 ). Here is my (not so good) experience :1) March 2012 : Too bad ! I've chosen the wrong option and I just lost my uploaded data (500 Go).I did not make this error the first time I have used it. -------- Here is why I think the backblaze guidelines misleaded me : for computer‑hp[3] , I was in a hurry and read fast : see the following part at the bottom of this link : https://secure.backblaze.com/user_overview.htm "COMMON QUESTIONS : • My computer died and I have a new one, what should I do?"
I have thought : does my computer has failed ? Yes. So I have followed the text : this was my error (I didn't use "Transfer Backup State") !
IMHO you should make your explanations more clear i.e. : like this :
If your computer has crashed : you have 2 options : #1 : you don't want to keep your previous uploaded data and install blackblaze software on another (new) computer, follow these guidelines : "My computer died and I have a new one, what should I do?"
OR
#2 : You want to keep your previous uploaded data as one of your hard dives has failed or you are adding a new hard drive to your computer ? Follow the guidelines under "How do I transfer a license to a different computer?"
-------- I asked them to correct this and add a simple delay if one customer makes an error. But they didn't change their process or their guidelines ! (even if they now add the current date to the name of the computer when you add a new one - that was another of my suggestion...). I even wrote to their CEO and received... no answer ! 2) April 2013 : Sorry there is a bug in our software : you are forced to delete your uploaded data ! What ? I have just lost (1,100 Go) ! Too bad for me : just start over from zero ! I have spent more than one year to upload my data (DSL line) ! ;( ---- bzfileids.dat too large ? :
Greetings,
Thanks for contacting us. I think I know what is going on, but you'll have to help fill in some details. Something has gone slightly haywire on your system that we are seeing in very few customers backups related to the bzfileids.dat file.
There is a very specific file on your disk that is part of Backblaze which has bloated up to be too large. It is called "bzfileids.dat" and is found here:
Mac: /Library/Backblaze/bzdata/bzbackup/bzfileids.dat Windows Vista/7: C:\ProgramData\Backblaze\bzdata\bzbackup\bzfileids.dat Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\All users.windows\Application data\backblazebzdata\bzbackup\bzfileids.dat
This is a very simple file, it is a mapping from your filenames to a totally unique integer ID that is anonymous that we use to identify your files in the Backblaze datacenter. This means we never know any of your file names, or file contents.
For some reason, your computer wants to backup a few million files and your bzfileids has grown very large (yours is over 1 GB). When bztransmit (the process that runs once per hour) starts up, it reads this bzfileids.dat file into RAM. On a normal machine, this is about 20 MB, but on your machine something has gone haywire and bzfileids has grown far too large.
Now, there are several things that contribute to this file being large, so you can think about how this happened and let us know. We're trying to understand this situation better:
A) If you have ever renamed a Time Machine folder at the top of your hard drive, Backblaze will bloat up trying to back it up. It is absolutely not supported to "back up a back up" and Backblaze can only function properly backing up the originals.
B) Lots of files. If you knew of a folder with hundreds of thousands of small files that didn't change much you could back them up differently or exclude them from Backblaze backups.
C) Renaming top level folders with a lot of files. For example, if your top level folder name is "/my_music" and it contains 100,000 file names in it, then when you rename it "/my_great_music" Backblaze needs to add all of those filenames to that bzfileids.dat file which bloats it up. So the best thing you can do is keep your enormous folders the same over a long period.
D) Shorter Path Names. It would be best if your hundreds of thousands of files are on a disk called "d" instead of "disk_that_contains_files" and the top level folder is called "f" instead of "folder_for_lots_of_files". Etc. The shorter the paths, the smaller the bzfileids.dat file is.
It's possible to shrink the bzfileids.dat in case they've been temporarily bloated by one of the above situations, however it requires reuploading all data to the Backblaze servers. You can follow these steps to do that: 1. Visit https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm and sign in to your Backblaze account with your email address and password. 2. Click on the "Account" link in the upper left hand corner 3. Select your "old" computer from the list of computers. 4. Click the "Delete Computer" link next to it. This will delete the backed up data, the bloated bzfileids.dat and free up the paid license. 5. Click on "Overview" 6. Click the download link for your operating system in the bottom right corner. 7. Install Backblaze.
Here's the problem. If you cannot reduce the number of files or path names significantly, then you absolutely are going to encounter this issue again. We are working on a fix for it, but it is proving to be very difficult and currently our engineering team has no ETA on a fix. If you uninstall and reinstall without changing anything, then your backup might start working again, but you will reencounter this problem a little ways down the road.
---- Here is why I think I had this problem : yesterday I have added a new drive F:\ to be backup. Alas it has removed all the folders I have added previously in the the exclusion tab (I was aware of this bad backblaze client behaviour, but I did not remember it!) . Futhermore I think clicked on ok too fast and forgot to exclude some folders on the new drive that contains millions of files. Then just after I have tried to exclude them as I was hearing my drive (E:\ and F\ are on the same physical drive) running like crazy during a lot of minutes. This was too late to be stopped ! Then I rebooted my computer and got the backblaze's error message.
Usually I just mainly upload zip files of my 10+ years archives (big zipped files containing many htm and their related files : gif etc...) and keep an unzipped folder on my pc (on F:\) just to make keywords searches on it. I just keep the current month unzipped in backblaze and a few big video files. Like that I have about 500,000 files to upload (about 1To size). This can be managed by backblaze fine. 
But now I am blocked : I can't change the amount of files the Backblaze client has counted ! Even if I am sure (with the same folders excluded) I have 'only' 500,000 files to upload in total (1.1 To), it keeps saying : Selected : 3.2 Millions files (2 To) Remaining : 2.7 Millions files (0.9 To) Please see screenshots.
- If I remove the F:\ drive, it changes nothing. (*)
- If I had some folders in E:\ in the exclusion tab, it changes nothing. (I cant' remove C:\ !) (*)
- And this is the same thing if I remove fully the E:\ drive ! (*)
(*) Even if I hit ALT+restore [here the strange thing is that I am not hearing my E drive running (I am sure of this as my C:\ drive is a ssd)] or if I choose "only when I click backup" and it hit backup. Or if I let it on continuously !
I have tried to download a new backblaze client and install it. Alas I have the same problem ! ----
Here is what I finally did [EDIT: In the end this did not help me but I had no other option!] : I made a copy of bzfileids.dat. I deleted the original one. Then hit ALT+restore. This seemed to do something but it didn't work. Then I installed backblaze client again. And it created a new bzfileids.dat ! Now I just have to wait x days and all my data will be again online (like if I had a new hard drive). In 1 day it has found 400Go out of 1100Go. And 582,000 files out of 588,000. (see screenshots). And the bzfileids.data is only 60MB (not 1 Go anymore)
---- Greetings,
Unfortunately, manually editing the bzfileids.dat file is not a viable option to resolve the bzfileids issue. Manually editing this file will likely cause issues with your backup, possibly resulting in lost or corrupted backup data. While it will appear to work, all the pointers for the existing files in your backup to the corresponding file on your system have been severed, as well as any versioning history. The only current solution we have to the issue is the upload of a fresh backup. We are working on a software update to resolve this specific issue, but until that update is complete, this is the only means of ensuring a reliable, secure backup.
Because the bzfileids file has already been manually edited and attempted to synchronize with the Backblaze backup, I would be extremely suspect of the viability of the existing backup.
To uninstall and reinstall the Backblaze application and start a fresh backup, please follow these steps:
1. Reboot your computer to make sure all Backblaze files are unlocked. 2. Uninstall Backblaze. • Mac -- Hold down option and click on the Backblaze menu bar icon and choose Uninstall. • Windows -- use the Add/Remove Programs utility to remove Backblaze. The uninstaller will warn you that your backed up data will be deleted, but you can disregard this warning. The deletion does not occur immediately, so as long as you reinstall Backblaze within a week, you can continue with this process.
3. Visit https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm and sign in to your Backblaze account with your email address and password. 4. Click the "Home" link at the top left hand corner of the browser. 5. Click the orange "Download Again" link center screen 6. Run the installer you downloaded.
The new installation will register as a 15 day trial under your new account. You can let the trial run it's course to allow the client to upload as much data as possible before removing the old backup and transferring the paid license. Once you are ready to remove the old backup and transfer the license to the new backup, you can do so by following these steps: 1. Visit https://secure.backblaze.com/user_signin.htm and sign in to your Backblaze account with your email address and password. 2. Click on the "Account" link in the upper left hand corner 3. Select your "old" computer from the list of computers. 4. Click the "Delete Computer" link next to it. This will delete the backed up data, and free up the paid license. 5. On the Overview page click the "Use License" button next to your new computer.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
---- So I had no other option than to start over from zero !  Any way to speed my new backup ? No !  Even as it is backblaze's fault they should provide a solution like for instance : I send them a crypted hard drive (they give me a special software for that). They add it to their datacenter and they send me back my hard drive.I must add that their support answered me within one day most of the time (* see next message). Would I recommend backblaze ? Hard question ! I am still a customer (only one computer now. I had two before) as I have paid one year in advance. I don't know what I would do next. I hope this helps (backblaze included) ! 
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DonationCoder.com Software / N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: NANY 2013 Release Find Long Names
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on: January 13, 2013, 09:05:56 AM
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Hello, I tried out Path Scanner, but it merely crashed.
http://www.parhelia-tools...pathscanner/Download.aspxIt works for me (version 1.1.0.20) with win7 64bits and WinXP. I checked and it counts the total path (spaces included). Example: this is counted as 189 caracters (It is correct when I use the tools/statistics in word). C:\Users\Ex2\Documonts\NEWS125\5 uo\06\tableau-tests-tcs-de-sic3a8ges-ppqurs-2004-2012.pdf (application_pdf Object)_201301e6_202509_files\tableau-tests-tcs-de-sic3a8ges-ppqurs-2004-2012.pdf Maybe once installed try to change the property settings ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Path Scanner\pathscan.exe ) to "Run as Administrator" ?
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Main Area and Open Discussion / General Software Discussion / Re: Batch convert folders from .htm to .pdf ?
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on: December 06, 2012, 12:09:30 AM
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(...) Am I right in thinking you want to convert the HTMs into PDFs because you want to put them into a Google cloud service, which indexes and OCRs PDFs? But only shows HTMs as raw code? Yes !  This doesn't directly answer your query, but I'm wondering; have you ever considered using a Web clipper, of which there are many? See, e.g., the DC thread web clipping. If you really need your data in the cloud, you might have to go to EverNote, or RightNote. Thanks. I am aware of those products. I have started saving webpages (and their related images + audio + video..) about 13 years ago (I use Copernic Desktop pro for indexing my content right now). Those products did even exist at that time. But I prefer to be independent of them. Who knows if they still exist in the next x years ? If they go bankrupt I lose everything. ;( Thanks anyway for the ideas.  See ya  Thanks also to "Curt" for his help. 
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Main Area and Open Discussion / General Software Discussion / Re: Help me choose an online backup service
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on: April 03, 2012, 12:25:17 AM
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Hello, Here is my 4 years experience with online backup (if you can afford it I recommend also to have a raid mirroring in your computer and dvd manually saved elsewhere than inside your home the time that all your data are uploaded online). I recommend backblaze because :- it is a profitable company (fees: aprox 50$ /year for unlimited data) : from mid 2008 to the beginnings of 2011 I was a customer of elephantdrive: 50$ /year per computer and saved more than 1000 Go. It took me one full year aprox to upload my data (dsl line in europe). Alas I realized too late that the cost for them to save my data online was aprox 1000$ / year (amazon s3 based) ! Once they run out of money the company increased their fees a lot. Then last year I turned to backblaze firstly because they are a profitable company (see their old blog posts examples : see last image http://blog.backblaze.com...-0revealing-more-secrets/ and http://blog.backblaze.com.../goodbye-2009-hello-2010/ or http://blog.backblaze.com...uild-cheap-cloud-storage/). BTW they are owned by their employees )! - low usage software: Then they tried to remove unnecessary things when coding their software (low cpu and low ram usages: see last url of this message for coding details). - no hassle : The only thing that annoyed me at first is that you cannot choose directly what to upload first ! But it is still possible to exclude the not desired folders. In fact I have to admit that in reality this is a great thing : yes it uploads a few unwanted files but if it is 5% or less of what you exactly needs who cares ? You can choose the type of files exe... that you want uploaded. -what happen in reality when one of your drives fails : The other thing is : I realized it better a few weeks ago: I had an OCZ ssd (note: I don't recommend this brand !) in C:\ then 4 months later it failed. ;( Out of 120 Go I had only 40Go that were personal data important for me, the rest being normal software data I didn't care. The great thing that I was able to download exactly what I needed (even some small settings files I thought that I would never use : for sure if I had to choose such folders myself I wouldn't have done it! So I would have lost some time fine tunning such settings...) as a zip file : 40go took me about 2 days with my dsl line (they have a great little software that allow resume downloading for your specific zip files). But I realized that if I needed 1000go of my data I could either download them for free (that would took me ages!) or simply buy from them a hard drive with those 1000 Go for aprox 180 $. The only caveat is that : you should be cautious when you add a new drive on your computer (they allow you to transfer your old backup state to your new computer (you keep your data) or start over from 0. From my experience it is better to ask them before what to do in your particular case than doing so yourself as I did and I was wrong (their explanations are a little bit tricky when you are in a hurry) ! Their support always answered me within 24 hours). - nice feature if your computer is stolen :Furthermore, if you computer is stolen you may be able to locate it thanks to their "locate my computer" : it gives you the last ip address used with backblaze software inside your computer. So the police should be able to locate the thiefs with luck.  ( http://blog.backblaze.com...egory/locate-my-computer/) - data location building etc... : Final notes: Their servers are located around San Franscisco area ("datacenter is located in Oakland, California, United States" in the same building that where cnet data are stored ! from memory please check their blog). They use "MB basis 1000" for computing file and folder sizes. Here is a great technical link abut their systems: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/rhrt4/we_are_the_team_that_runs_online_backup_service/Encryption of data is possible (you choose your own password). Files transfer is encrypted. You can make searches inside your backup data for filenames in a few seconds.  They doesn't reduce uploading speed!  I hope this helps 
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Main Area and Open Discussion / General Software Discussion / Tip: Fast saving of html pages in Firefox by renaming them with a short name
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on: August 20, 2010, 03:13:22 AM
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Hello, Here is a tip that I use daily and which saves me a lot of time and troubles. The idea : I read many articles online and I have the habit to save them (I used "CTRL+S"+"Enter" before). I need to do it fast (only one mouse gesture and a click). And when I do my backup archives once a month (zip files saved on dvds and hard drives), I need to avoid errors later (usually during unzipping when I have some small files with path longer than the 260 characters limit on Windows Xp see here). Here is the setting part (this is a little long but it saves so much time later ) :You need : - Firefox - and these two Firefox addons : Imacros http://www.iopus.com/imacros/firefox/?ref=fxmozFireGestures http://www.xuldev.org/firegestures/1) create 2 new imacros files (adapt the path "C:\.." to your own saving folder path) : 01autosaveclose.iim VERSION BUILD=6240709 RECORDER=FX TAB T=1 SAVEAS TYPE=CPL FOLDER=C:\Users\David\Desktop\savingfolder\OT FILE={{!NOW:yyyymmdd_hhnnss}} TAB CLOSE
02autosave.iim VERSION BUILD=6240709 RECORDER=FX TAB T=1 SAVEAS TYPE=CPL FOLDER=C:\Users\David\Desktop\savingfolder\OT FILE={{!NOW:yyyymmdd_hhnnss}} 2) (once imacro module openned) right click on 01autosaveclose.iim (same for 02autosave.iim) and "add to bookmark" 3) right click on your new firefox bookmarks (see "bookmarks" menu at the top of firefox) and add a shortcut (right click on the bookmark + left click on "property") For first bookmark, I advise the keyword : 01autosaveclose For second bookmark , I advise the keyword : 02autosave 4) open Firegestures options, go into the second tab called "Mapping" [note: before you may have to remove gestures "D" (= "down") and "L" (= "left") if they are already used]. Then choose, "add a script". name : 01autosaveclose script : loadURI(getShortcutOrURI('01autosaveclose',{})); gesture : D Do the same for another script : name : 02autosaveclose script : loadURI(getShortcutOrURI('02autosave',{})); gesture : L Results :Right click on your mouse + down mouse gesture = autosave current htm(l) page + close it Example : file saved : "20100820_095428.htm" (date and time) + corresponding folder name including images,etc... or Right click on your mouse + left mouse gesture = autosave current htm(l) page (without closing it) Hope this helps 
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DonationCoder.com Software / Finished Programs / Re: Req: (Autohotkey script ): auto unzip zip files in a folder recursively ?
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on: January 22, 2010, 12:03:09 PM
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Hello skwire, So, jity2, can we call this Coding Snack completed? Short answer: yes !  Long answer (in case it may help other persons) : With "path scanner" I use the 273 limit (= 278 - (260-255)) as vista limit is 260 and xp limit is 255 ! * Unziplify found a new kind of bug ("the file seems to be corrupt") as there was 4 htm files with this size: .htm 1ko related folder 1Mo When I checked the .htm in firefox, not everything has been saved properly (firefox loaded the missing info from the internet). note: all the 4 htm files (and related folders) had names starting with "www." ! May be a bug in Firefox ? I try to repeat this firefox but this time everything was saved properly!  * Another error found ("the file seems to be corrupt") by unziplify : Inside the related folder on one html file, there was a tiny file that vista could not have access to. Solution: save the text and deleted .htm and related folder. * I have use the freeware "CSDiff 5" ( http://download.cnet.com/...3000-2248_4-10009023.html) so I could find the what was the missing file in the case just above. To my surprise, I have found a real (small) bug in unziplify : If there is " ' " or " << " or " " " (spaces not included) in the [.htm + related folder] name unziplify transform into strange characters. note: the folder size in octet and file number is exactly the same !  Hopefully I can still load the html file in firefox and read the text correctly. The only problem being that images contained inside the related folder are not loaded in firefox but can be openned manually in the explorer.  Many thanks again for your help 
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