Backblaze

One job, done exceptionally well: automatically backing up your entire computer — every document, photo and file, with no storage cap — for one flat yearly price. It isn't a sync-and-share service, and it isn't somewhere you browse files like a drive; it's insurance against a dead laptop, ransomware or theft, running quietly in the background. If disaster strikes, you restore everything by download or by having Backblaze ship you a drive. (The company also runs B2 object storage, but that's a separate product aimed at businesses.)

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It's deliberately narrow. Backblaze is backup-only — no file sync, no sharing links, no folder you mount like a disk. One licence covers exactly one computer, so a household of machines means a licence each. Deleted-file version history is limited unless you pay for extended retention. And data sits in US or EU regions, with no UK data centre. None of that is a flaw so much as the point: as pure whole-computer backup, nothing here is simpler or cheaper for very large amounts of data. If you need sync or sharing, look at pCloud or Sync.com instead.

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Yes, fully. You install the client, it backs up over the internet automatically, and you can choose the EU region if you'd prefer storage closer to home than the US. Restores arrive either as a download or as a physical drive shipped to you. There's no UK-specific data centre, but for whole-computer backup that rarely matters — the service works exactly the same wherever you are.

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Yes — it's one of the more transparent companies in storage. Backblaze is a Nasdaq-listed US firm founded in 2007, famous for openly publishing its hard-drive failure statistics and even its storage-pod hardware designs. Backups are AES-encrypted, and you can set an optional private key so that only you can unlock them. The main trust caveat is US jurisdiction (Five Eyes); if that concerns you, add the private key or choose a Swiss provider like Proton Drive for zero-knowledge storage.

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It comes to a flat US$99/yr for unlimited backup of a single computer — and that's the appeal: your bill doesn't grow as your data does. Whether you're backing up 200 GB or 5 TB of photos and video, the price is identical, so per gigabyte it's unbeatable for large libraries. Each additional computer needs its own licence. The headline rate is the yearly plan, so watch the annual renewal, and paying by the year works out cheaper than shorter billing terms.

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