Backblaze Update Shrinks Bloated Logs

Article Comments
21

Arq response:

Do you have thousands or millions of backup records?

You could delete some old backup records and then tell Arq 
to remove the unreferenced data; that would delete the 
corresponding cache data as well.
1. Click on your backup plan on the left; click “View Latest 
   Backup Record” on the right.
2. Select an older backup record from the list of dates/times 
   on the left; click “Delete” on the right; choose to delete all 
   older backup records when prompted (this is permanently 
   deleting data).
3. Click on your backup plan; pick “Remove Unreferenced 
   Data…” from the Backup Plan menu.

… seems to me that deleting backups is defeating their purpose! Apologies for diverting a little of this conversation to Arq; I’m a Backblaze user too.

22

I think this is aligned with the spirit of the thread (bloated backup logs). Your comment certainly made me take a look at my Arq logs, and holy cow! Over 1.5GB in the three years I’ve been using it. So I deleted everything before June 1, and reclaimed most of that space.

Your interaction with Arq support seems to have been targeted specifically at the cached backup records. I also started a conversation with Arq about whether they have a feature (like apparently Backblaze has recently implemented) to limit retention of log files. I expect the answer will be “no,” but I’ll report back if they have anything helpful to add.

23

I’m grateful you did. I wasn’t familiar with Arq.

I’ve had a look at what they offer and it seems perfect for my needs. There were no issues installing the app, unlike upgrading Backblaze.

I particularly like the option with Arq to backup to a variety of providers. The backup format is proprietary but well-documented.

My first backup using Arq is underway.

Thanks again for mentioning it.

24

I’ve briefly looked at Arq in the past but so far am sticking with BackBlaze because with 7TB backed up there (I’m a wildlife photographer) and a 1TB per month bandwidth limit unless I upgraded my Xfinity plan…switching would be hard and even with a bandwidth upgrade it would be a long process. If BB goes away then yeah, I would switch though.