BACKBLAZE FOR MAC NOT BACKING UP UPDATE

In the end, I figured it out by digging around my Library folders. I started googling for instructions for this allegedly easy modification and was surprised to find absolutely nothing on the internet about it. That got me excited, because as an avid user of homebrew, I’ve always wanted to back up my /usr/local folder to Backblaze, but had resigned myself to the reality that such a thing was just not possible.

clicking them brings up a dialog saying “Backblaze does not allow backing up the folder”). On a recent episode of the Accidental Tech Podcast, John Siracusa mentioned at the end of an ad spot for Backblaze that it is easy (on a Mac) to modify Backblaze’s exclusions XML file to get it to back up even directories that are listed in the Backblaze exclusions preferences pane and are not editable (i.e. That said, it’s useful, so for those confident in their system of multiple redundant backups and comfortable editing XML, I’ve posted these instructions: Do not proceed if you are unwilling to accept that risk. Please note: this functionality is entirely undocumented and unsupported, and as such, it could destroy your Backblaze backups (see blazing car as cautionary metaphor). I will leave the original post here for the record, but the technique is now useless.

Even if you edit the bzinfo.xml file and explicitly Lock it from the Finder’s Get Info pane, Backblaze will not accept the changes into its own config.

BACKBLAZE FOR MAC NOT BACKING UP UPDATE

A recent Backblaze update has added strict validation controls that prevents their forbidden directories from being enabled. Update May 4, 2015: This technique no longer works.

Backblaze for mac not backing up