Cloud backups

I am no longer backing up my drives using a cloud backup service. Namely, Arq to Backblaze B2.

This seems like a terrible idea, and perhaps it is, but a few things happened recently that have caused me to throw up my hands and quit.

First, I’ve locked myself out of my Backblaze B2 account. This is because I stupidly wiped my iPhone before reconfiguring my two-factor auth entries in Google Authenticator. Doing that without making copies of the 2FA backup codes was unwise. A few emails with support haven’t gotten me very far and I’m tired of trying.

Second, Arq isn’t working properly. Suddenly it claims that I don’t have anything configured to back up. Pretty sure I do. This could be due to running High Sierra but I can’t tell. I also can’t tell what Arq is actually doing. I’ve always just let Arq do its thing but now that I’ve dug in I’m finding it difficult to determine what has been backed up, what hasn’t, and how much time/bandwidth I’m going to need.

Third, and speaking of bandwidth, I’ve exceeded my Xfinity quota for the second month in a row, meaning they’ll start charging me for overages. This is a first and no doubt all of these new backups are contributing.

Frankly, I’m tired of thinking about it. The smart thing to do would be to just install and use Backblaze’s automated backups but for now I’m not sure I need it.

• All of my working files are in either Dropbox or iCloud
• Photos are in iCloud and Google Photos
• Older files are mostly in DEVONthink, which is synced and in Dropbox

There’s really not much at risk these days. I’ve only removed one step from my backup strategy, and it’s one I think I can do without.