Backblaze iPhone app gives access to online backups
The online backup startup will release an app in coming weeks to let iOS users see and share files, including versions up to 30 days old.
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Backblaze, an online backup start-up, announced plans to release an iPhone app in coming weeks to let customers tap into their files.
"Having restored 2.5 billion files for our customers, we found that 22 percent of recoveries contained a single file and realized customers were using Backblaze to access their files remotely," said Chief Executive Gleb Budman in a statement. Backblaze's Web interface already lets people retrieve files, but the iOS app will extend the ability to mobile devices.
Backblaze still is chiefly about backup rather than synchronizing files across multiple devices. For example, it keeps copies of files for 30 days, letting you step back to older versions or recover deleted ones. But the iPhone app does nudge BackBlaze a step closer to the world of DropBox, Google Drive, SkyDrive, and other services people use to remotely access files.
According to Backblaze, the app lets people do the following:
- See all PC and Mac computers they currently back up.
- Select files from these computers and their external hard drives.
- View and download these photos, songs, movies, and other documents.
- Access previous versions of these files.
- Print, text, e-mail, post to Facebook and Twitter, or save files to the camera roll.
The app is scheduled for release within several weeks, the company said.
Backblaze currently has backed up 45,000,000GB of data, more conveniently expressed as 45 petabytes.
Corrected at 11:26 a.m. PT: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the proper expression of 45 million gigabytes, which is 45 petabytes.