Products · Product
Backblaze
Raised as a usability problem by 79 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2010–2026), in 52 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
Every issue, all time, most people first
Web restore allows only about 25GB at a time, slowlyUnreviewed
20102026- Restore interface is poor and slow to use2025-02-04
- Restoring files via web UI allowed only about 25GB at a time and was slow2021-10-05
- Slow restore site and no way to check what was already restored2017-10-06
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Dropbox silently stopped being backed up with no visible notice or warning2026-04-16
- Restore app crashes repeatedly and gets stuck in unrecoverable state with many files2026-04-15
- Silently skips .git directories during backup with no visible notice or setting2026-04-15
- Hidden .git directories not shown by default in web UI, hard to find2026-04-14
- Silently ignores .git folders not listed in exclusions, so data goes unbacked up2026-04-14
- Hidden files like .git folders are not shown until a settings option is toggled2026-04-14
- Backup client mangles non-ASCII filenames into garbled text, which can't be reliably restored2026-04-14
- Hard to figure out and change which files get backed up2026-04-14
- Hidden files are not listed or indicated, so users can't tell they're excluded from backup2026-04-14
- Git folders hidden in restore view unless hidden files are enabled2026-04-14
- Exclusions silently applied in the UI, so users wrongly assume they're normal excludes they set themselves2026-04-14
- Desktop client freezes at last few percent during restores, forcing manual chunked downloads2026-04-14
- Constantly throws low disk warnings and opens a webpage when clicked; password change dialog broken2026-04-14
- Restore silently skips failed downloads and mangles non-ASCII filenames into garbled text2026-04-14
- Cannot reassign licenses to group members without deleting, refunding, or sharing admin credentials2025-03-04
- Upload fails only after minutes of work instead of warning the user upfront about the size limit2025-02-04
- Restore interface is poor and slow to use2025-02-04
- Exclusion rules file format is nonsensical and undocumented, so the user gave up editing it2025-02-04
- Client bogs down the CPU and slows the computer whenever it runs2024-03-19
- Pushing large amounts of data is slow with latency and bandwidth problems2024-01-03
- Hard to exclude directories; it keeps backing up folders the user excluded2023-11-14
- Hard to tell whether new files are fully backed up2023-08-25
- Generating presigned URLs is slow, producing a poor user experience in the app2022-01-15
- Interacting with the client or website is frustrating and hard, with little improvement over time2021-12-12
- Documentation line is too simple, leaving restore steps unclear for users2021-12-12
- Unclear what to do after the safety freeze locks backups2021-12-12
- Client is slow, buggy, resource hungry, and has a terrible UI2021-12-12
- Documented migration steps silently created an empty unpaid backup, causing data deletion warnings2021-11-04
- Settings freeze without status while scanning, and excluding files re-blocks preferences and rescans slowly2021-11-02
- End date for backup won't save; it refreshes and resets2021-10-19
- Restoring files via web UI allowed only about 25GB at a time and was slow2021-10-05
- Admin UI lacks proper invoices and 2FA options2021-09-28
- Backup process pegs disk at 100%, forcing user to kill it for other tasks2021-08-03
- Updates require manual zip download and reinstall; restore experience is minimal and clunky2021-07-13
- Backups get deleted when drives stay disconnected, which the user finds confusing2021-07-13
- Web file explorer window is cramped, making restores harder to navigate2021-06-25
- Opting out is hidden as faint 'manage cookies' text while 'allow all' is the prominent button2021-03-23
- Consent request uses dark patterns that push users toward allowing tracking2021-03-23
- Cannot set file name, size limit or expiry on pre-signed upload URLs2021-03-22
- Drive model names are images, so text can't be selected and searched directly2021-01-26
- Cancelling the subscription involves dark patterns that make it hard to leave2020-04-13
- API error messages contained raw Java exceptions, making them hard to understand2020-02-11
- Uses a Windows dialog box that the commenter finds very hard to work with2019-10-09
- Excluding folders requires clicking through every directory level in the browse dialog2019-10-09
- Restoring 1TB through the app is very slow and archives often corrupt2019-10-08
- Restore by shipped drive took days, with staging interrupted and restarted2019-10-08
- Repeated update pop-ups with no explanation, and installer fails with only a generic error2019-10-08
- Subscribing from the app doesn't auto-configure backup, requiring a separate install step2019-09-18
- No delete button; must delete every item via API before removing a bucket2019-08-06
- Deleting a bucket requires making a huge number of individual requests2019-08-06