Backblaze customers are finding that folders synced by Dropbox, OneDrive and iCloud Drive may no longer be included in their computer backups, and several say they learned only after checking restore sets. That is a bad place to discover a backup policy change: after trusting the backup.
Rob Halliday wrote on TidBITS Talk that Backblaze support told him the company’s Mac Backup software had recently changed and “basically” no longer backs up Dropbox. Halliday said existing Dropbox folder backups appeared to be removed without a direct warning. He traced the change to Backblaze Mac client version 9.2.2.878, though he noted that Backblaze’s release notes do not show dates for each version.
Michael Tsai, who collected the reports, said the exclusion appears broader than Dropbox. He pointed to reports involving iCloud Drive and OneDrive, while also noting that Dropbox synced through Maestral was still being backed up for at least one user. Tsai wrote that the behavior did not appear to be explained only by Dropbox’s use of Apple’s File Provider Extension framework, and said the exclusion was not something users could override in Backblaze’s settings.
Backblaze’s own explanations have shifted across support replies, documentation and Reddit comments. In April, a Backblaze support statement posted to Mac Power Users said recent macOS and iCloud changes prevent Backblaze from backing up iCloud-managed files, even when Finder shows them as downloaded. Backblaze’s documentation later said “iCloud’s most recent update” prevents Backblaze from backing up files synced by iCloud, advising users to copy them to another local location.
That Apple-centric explanation does not cover all the reported behavior. Robert Reese, a Windows user, wrote that his OneDrive folder was missing from Backblaze. He cited Backblaze’s Windows release notes for version 9.2.2.877, which say cloud files are excluded to avoid “performance issues” and “excessive data usage.”
Backblaze representatives later gave a more general technical rationale on Reddit. A user posting as natasha_backblaze said cloud storage providers rely on operating-system sync frameworks, including Windows reparse points through the Cloud Files API. Those entries can look local while still being system-managed placeholders. She said Backblaze built its product not to back up reparse points in order to keep the client light and preserve the economics of unlimited backup. She also said Backblaze had added support for iCloud Drive and Google Drive, while Dropbox and OneDrive support remained more complex and was not included in the current version.
Another Backblaze representative, Jim-From-Backblaze, said Backblaze Computer Backup still covers unlimited data on a computer and directly attached internal and external drives. He said what changed is how tools such as OneDrive and Dropbox store files, with many entries in Finder or Explorer acting as pointers to cloud data rather than full local files.
Users are disputing the neatness of that answer. Tsai and commenters said Backblaze appears to exclude some cloud-folder files even when they are locally present. David Carlton said Backblaze support told him the company intentionally does not back up files inside directories under com~apple~CloudDocs, where standalone iCloud Drive directories live. Another user, posting as mikebhm, said Backblaze support gave a clear answer that Backblaze does not back up iCloud Drive even when full-size local copies are present.
The practical result is messy. Documents and Desktop synced through iCloud may be treated differently from other iCloud Drive folders, according to user reports. Dropbox through Maestral may still work. CrashPlan was also reported as no longer backing up Dropbox, while Tsai said Arq can still back up the cloud-synced material he discussed.
The least defensible part is disclosure. A release note is not a useful warning if users only read it after a restore fails. Backups are trust machinery. Silent exclusions turn them into vibes with a progress bar.
This story draws on original reporting from Daring Fireball.
