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"We all know how important it is to backup our computers, but studies consistently show that most computer users \u2014 even those that know better \u2014 don't. \nAs Internet connections get faster and storage becomes less expensive, online backup services like Backblaze, Mozy and Carbonite have stepped-in to help consumers back up their data. \nNot only are these services useful, they are also very inexpensive. Most of the services offer unlimited (truly) storage for your online backups for around $5 a month. Now, granted, storage prices are constantly decreasing, but how can companies make those sorts of claims?Online backup service Backblaze has decided to shed some light on how it manages to offer unlimited backup storage to its customers, while also easily expanding its own cloud-based storage platform. Today, Backblaze posted an entry in its company blog that explains what tools and hardware it uses to maintain cheap, efficient storage for its customers. Backblaze hopes that other businesses who are looking at building cloud-based storage solutions can use this information as inspiration or as a blueprint for themselves.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nBackblaze has posted its special formula for how its pods work. Commodity hard drives and free software are the secret sauce that keeps prices low. I talked to Gleb Budman, Backblaze's co-founder and CEO, and he told me that Backblaze currently has about a petabyte of storage (that's 1000 terabytes or one million gigabytes). To put that in perspective, Facebook's entire library of photographs is about 1.5 petabytes in size. Gleb looked at using a company like Amazon or EMC, but for that kind of storage, Backblaze would have had to pay over $2 million. By building their own storage pods, Backblaze's costs are under $120,000.\nAs more and more businesses look to using the cloud for storage, cost-effective mass storage is going to become increasingly important. I think it's great that companies like Backblaze are offering some insight into how their systems work. As consumers, it's also nice to see how online storage systems work, and put the low-cost into perspective.\nDo you back-up your computer? What methods or services do you use?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2009/09/01/backblaze-online-backu/>