Hi there -
[edited slightly}
Ah, I hadn't really let it set in that you said you were using BackBlaze strictly as as a backup service.... in my head, I made a mental translation that the 19TB you had "backed up" were essentially like making safety copies, which now that I think about it, wouldn't be needed with dedicated storage, because they would certainly have an array in place making their own redundant backups, etc.... [/end of edited segment]
I reached out to them about offline data storage, and after a couple of conversations, the rep I spoke with pointed me to a page from their blog:
https://help.backblaze.com/hc/en-us/articles/218483787-What-s-the-difference-between-B2-vs-Backblaze-Online-Backupwhere I found this, in bold text:
Backblaze Online Backup is not designed to be used as offsite data archival or offsite storage for data that will not be retained on the licensed computer.Which seems to be a closed door for my storage needs. Over the years I've amassed a collection of external drives, which probably add up to about 10TB or so, conservatively.
Additionally, about 2000 or so 4.7GB data discs with flac filesets, so between 9-10 TB.
Plus, about 800 or so DVD-R discs with ROIO video files, so around 4TB.
And I haven't really rounded up all the cassettes that I've been diligently digitizing this year, since we're all home a lot more than ever before, but safely around 5000+ tapes, maybe more... while I haven't done the math on that yet, it's safe to say that overall, I could stand around 30TB of offline, or offsite, digital storage.
While that might *sound* like a large number, I doubt it. I'm in my 60s now, been taping bands since the late 70s/early 80s, occasionally delving into video as well as audio, for most of the early years relying on fairly low-end gear and media. I'm pretty sure a lot of you folks have been doing it just as long, and with better high-end gear for a lot longer. especially those of you who get into high-end video captures.
Most of the places I've been reading about seem to focus on *much* smaller numbers - anywhere from 4GB to 5TB, and half of those I've looked into focus mainly on backups, rather than dedicated data storage. So I'm still scratching my head as to how I can consolidate all of this physical media into ones and zeros that live in a remote storage facility, and that could be relatively affordable as well.
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I have 19TBs backed up with BackBlaze. It seems to be good for backups and storage, but not for sharing. But my main goal was simply to have unlimited backups for a reasonable price (I'm paying $60/yr).