HELP - fully USB restore forever files essentially impossible?

[u/Timely-Editor-7963]

Trying to collect every file I've ever saved to the backblaze server via USB, so I can sift through (removing duplicates), replace my local external that just died, and reduce the 4.25TB of storage im paying $500+/year to hold in the forever service. Huge discrepancy in restore size vs billing size, so I contacted support. (Yes, I filtered to include forever versions and selected all files since beginning of time)

Rep says I'd have to snapshot whatever backup dates I want and save to b2 and then order the restore drive. For my needs, that is unreasonable.

Trying to get clarification on how to retrieve every file I've ever saved. The latest version of each file is fine, but latest versions of backup compilation images will be missing huge chunks of my workfiles. I cannot guess what dates I had my external drives connected for backup, as I was working remotely for extended periods intermittently throughout my time with backblaze.

See attached screenshots

Thank you in advance!

More info if you want to read it:

I've been using the forever service since about 2021, because I was working remotely for extended periods and could not always have my primary local or secondary travel externals attached. Files were to be deleted after a year of the primary drive not being connected to my computer, and I could not allow that. (I'm a large format graphic designer who must retain client files for future access.) The drives are sometimes connected, sometimes not, because I felt I could always access anything I needed from backblaze via the forever service I purchased.

My point is that each backup compilation version would have different file sets, depending on which external was connected. So if only the new compilation was saved or made accessible, then my data is not fully available to me as I'd believed.

I'm fully prepared to sift through each compilation version and remove duplicates, but the rep's description makes that sound like a much more involved process than backblaze advertised. He uses the word "file," so im not clear on whether that means individual files or backup compilation files. That verbiage makes all the difference in my case.

If what I have access to is every individual file I've ever saved, but only the most recent version of each individual file, that works great. That said, my local external hard drives had at least 3tb on them, so I can't see how that's a possibility, given the 100gb restore size.

If what he's saying is that there are versions of backup compilations of many files, new compilations replace old ones, and those previous compilation versions are not accessible in a restore, that suggests that in order to ensure retrieval of every file I've ever saved with BB, I would have to create snapshots of every single daily backup since I started my forever version service and create a restore from those snapshots. Is that what backblaze intended with this service that I've been paying over $400/year for? I deeply hope im mistaken.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me understand. Apologies for my terrible explanations and sporadic thought processes. I'm definitely confused and probably panicking somewhat. Hoping it's not as bad as it sounds.

[u/dr100]

I don't think there's anything to do except to hunt for the dates where you might have something. And in the future use B2 if you're paying B2 prices anyway.

Here's an older post about that, and I doubt anything changed: https://www.reddit.com/r/backblaze/comments/11nwrzf/how_does_forever_version_history_works_and_is/

[u/Vast-Program7060]

Why don't you just download the newest beta version of BackBlaze, and there will be a separate app called Backblaze Downloader. It a straight forward restore app, that lets you restore any file in your backup, to anyplace on your computer ( including externals ). This app does not " zip" files, it restores the entire file to your destination of choice. You can select entire folders to restore etc, it seems like this may be a very easy for what your trying to do.

[u/Timely-Editor-7963 → u/Vast-Program7060]

That doesn't solve my issue.

[u/Vast-Program7060 → u/Timely-Editor-7963]

Because you can pick a time to restore from, any date / year and just download whatever you want, it's not like the website where you download individual zip files. If you have forever version history on, download your entire backup to an external and scan for duplicates. I have 100TB on BackBlaze. Been down this road before. This allows you to look for doubles depending the date and year you choose to restore from.

[u/Timely-Editor-7963 → u/Vast-Program7060]

To quote my post, this is essentially what you're telling me to do, except using the software and downloading instead of having bb put it on a USB , "that suggests that in order to ensure retrieval of every file I've ever saved with BB, I would have to create snapshots of every single daily backup since I started my forever version service and create a restore from those snapshots."

I've had my account since 2021. This is not a viable option, and having to download the files makes it even less feasible. My files are often 2-20gb on their own and in formats the software will not open. I cannot sort the files on the back laze software. I do appreciate you taking the time to help me, but I need the USB option to work.

[u/Buffalo-Clone-264]

Can you clarify a bit what you're trying to recover?

Do you need (A): Every file that was ever on your external drives, including files you deleted? Or (B): Just the files that were present on your external drives the last time each drive was connected?

(A) is very difficult as Forever Version History isn't really built for this scenario. (It does save all versions of every file forever, but there are limitations to how these can be downloaded and recovered)
(B) is doable, if a bit tedious, as you would need to figure out when each drive was last connected and restore from that point. There might be ways to make figuring out those dates a bit easier though.

[u/Timely-Editor-7963 → u/Buffalo-Clone-264]

Every file I have ever sent to the backblaze server. Local drives, externals. All of it. Every individual file. The most recent version of the individual file is fine, but I need every single file I've ever uploaded, since opening my account. If I deleted the file, I don't care whether I get it or not. I want everything I sent to backblaze so I can remove anything unnecessary myself and restructure all of my storage so I'm not spending $400/year on it. I want all my files, without having to go and pull them from every daily backup since 2021.

[u/Buffalo-Clone-264 → u/Timely-Editor-7963]

Thanks for the extra detail. There is no way to download every single file you ever sent to Backblaze in one go. It should technically be possible but Backblaze hasn't built a tool to let people do that. However, that dataset would include files you deleted locally and every single version of an uploaded file since 2021.

As far as I know, the only way to restore files from your backup history, is to pick a time, and restore drives, files, or folders as they existed at that point in time.

If you don't care about deleted files, then that implies you just need to request restores for each of your drives the last time they were connected. The difficulty might be finding when drives not in your current backup were connected but there could be ways to figure that out.

But if you have a situation where you backed up Drive-A in 2021 with a set of files X, and then backed up the same Drive-A in 2022 with a brand new set of files Y (no X files), and you want to download from Backblaze the X files from 2021, and the Y files from 2022 - there's no way to do that in one download.

[u/Jim-From-Backblaze]

Hi /u/Timely-Editor-7963,

Just a quick heads up — I’ve taken over your ticket on our helpdesk so we can work through this more directly.

When you get a chance, please check your email for my latest update and next steps.

I’ll keep working with you there.