What Backblaze does genuinely well
I use and recommend off-site cloud backup, so let me give Backblaze its due:
Truly unlimited storage. Back up two terabytes or twenty — it's one flat price, no storage math, ever. VaultGuard Backup is limited to whatever your own cloud account holds.
It's effortless and continuous. Install it, and it quietly mirrors your files off-site forever. Nothing to schedule, nothing to think about.
It's genuinely off-site by default. Your data physically leaves the building, so fire, theft, and flood can't take it — automatically.
It's cheaper than VaultGuard Backup, and it covers Macs too.
The mail-a-drive restore is great for recovering huge amounts of data without waiting on your internet connection.
If your goal is simply "all my files, safe in the cloud, no effort," Backblaze is a fine answer and I'll say so.
Where VaultGuard Backup is different
I didn't build VaultGuard Backup to be a cheaper Backblaze. I built it to do a different job:
It restores your whole machine, not just your files. This is the big one. After a dead drive, Backblaze hands your files back but leaves you to rebuild the computer from scratch first. VaultGuard Backup brings the entire machine back — operating system, programs, settings, and files — as a single image. Hours of downtime instead of a weekend of rebuilding.
It restores fast, from a drive in your hand. Backblaze restores by downloading everything over your internet, which for a full machine can take days (that's why they'll mail you a drive). VaultGuard Backup restores from the external drive on your desk, at drive speed.
Your backups stay in the cloud you already own. Backblaze keeps everything in Backblaze's cloud — stop paying and it's gone. VaultGuard Backup syncs to the Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox you already have, so your backups live in an account you control.
There's a real person behind it — me, in Hardin County, Kentucky — not a support queue.
One thing worth knowing about how long Backblaze keeps things
Backblaze's standard plan keeps deleted and changed files for 30 days. For a lot of people that's fine — but it catches some off guard, and it's worth understanding before you rely on it. If you delete a file and don't notice for a couple of months, it's gone. And here's the one that surprises people most: if you unplug an external drive and leave it disconnected for 30 days, Backblaze treats those files as deleted and removes them from your backup. A recurring theme in Backblaze's own customer reviews is someone discovering, too late, that the thing they went looking for had already aged out.
You can extend the history by paying more, and that's a fair option. But it's the kind of fine print I'd rather just tell you about up front. VaultGuard Backup keeps multiple restorable versions on a drive you control, and nothing gets swept away on a timer you forgot about.
Honestly? They're not really enemies
Here's the thing a salesman wouldn't tell you: a lot of careful people run both. Backblaze gives you unlimited, continuous, off-site file history with zero effort. A local image tool like VaultGuard Backup gives you a fast, whole-machine recovery. That's exactly the layered "don't keep all your eggs in one basket" approach the pros recommend. If you've got the budget, they complement each other rather than compete.
So which one is right for you?
You want all your files safe off-site, unlimited, with zero thought → Backblaze is a great pick.
You want your whole Windows machine recoverable fast, kept in your own cloud, with a human to call → that's what I built VaultGuard Backup for.
Try it free — no credit card, no catch
Take VaultGuard Backup for a 14-day free trial. No credit card required. Point it at the cloud you already use, let it image your machine, and see how it feels to know you could be back up and running in hours, not days.
And if you'd rather I just set it up for you, reach out — that's what I'm here for.
David Martin
Information Security Kentucky LLC
Protect. Prevent. Prepare.
Hardin County, Kentucky
VaultGuard Backup vs Backblaze: an honest comparison
Backblaze is one of the best-liked backup services out there, and for good reason: one flat price, truly unlimited cloud storage, and it just runs in the background and protects your files. If that's what you want, I'll tell you straight — Backblaze is excellent at it.
But here's the difference that matters, and most people don't realize it until the worst possible day: Backblaze backs up your files. VaultGuard Backup backs up your whole machine. That sounds like a small distinction. It isn't.
If your hard drive dies, Backblaze will get your documents and photos back — but you'll first have to reinstall Windows, then reinstall every program, reconfigure everything, and then pull your files back down from the cloud. VaultGuard Backup restores the entire machine — Windows, your programs, your settings, and your files — as one image, from a drive sitting on your desk.
The short version
Choose Backblaze if you want unlimited, effortless, off-site backup of all your files for one low price, you're on Mac or Windows, and "my files are safe in the cloud" is the goal.
Choose VaultGuard Backup if you're on Windows and you want a full image of your whole machine you can restore fast from a local drive — kept in the cloud you already own, with a real person behind it.
Side by side
| Backblaze | VaultGuard Backup | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ~$99/yr per computer, unlimited storage (check current pricing) | $14.99/mo or $149/yr (one PC) |
| What it backs up | Your files — a continuous copy of your data | Your whole machine — Windows, programs, settings, and files |
| Restores the whole machine | No — restore files, then rebuild Windows and apps yourself | Yes — the entire machine, in one step |
| How long deleted files are kept | 30 days on the standard plan — deleted or changed files, and anything on a disconnected drive, are erased after that | Multiple restorable versions kept on your own drive — nothing expires on a timer |
| Where your backups live | Backblaze’s cloud | A local drive plus the cloud you already own |
| Restore speed for a full drive | Download over the internet (can take days), or pay to have a drive mailed | Fast — straight from your local drive |
| Tells you the backup is actually recoverable | No | Yes — verifies every backup automatically, and warns you if anything changed |
| Cloud storage | Truly unlimited | Whatever your own cloud plan holds |
| Scans for ransomware before backing up | No — you roll back to older versions after the fact | Yes — Microsoft Defender scan before every backup |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac | Windows only |
| Help when something goes wrong | Email / ticket | A real, local person — me |