I always felt BackBlaze was involved with the slowdown but hey, offsite backups are worth a speed penalty right? But it never really made sense. Even with online backups complete, things were still slow as BackBlaze sat idle. Looking at the activity monitor, all the RAM was consumed and sometimes, the bztransmit process would utilize 100% of the CPU.

Finally, a Google search lead me to the answer. BackBlaze and Mac OS X’s Spotlight were essentially nagging each other to no end, making my Mac Mini crawl along. As backups occurred, BackBlaze would log the changes, and that would then trigger a resource-intensive Spotlight index process. As more files were backed up (and logged), the Spotlight index would launch again and again and again, overwhelming the Mini’s resources.

So the answer (that wasn’t already configured in my BackBlaze setup)? Exclude BackBlaze from Spotlight. That’s it. Immediately after making the Spotlight exclusion, my Mini came to life, much faster than ever before. What a loser! I should have researched this previously instead of waiting all this time.

Here’s a few more Spotlight exclusions that may help out even more.

Why oh why, Western Digital???

(And win a new iPad!). First off, this Saturday, March 31, is designated as World Backup Day 2012. This is the first I’ve ever heard of this “event” but in this day and age of Internet memes and causes, I’m not surprised.

So on World Backup Day, please remember to save all your precious files. You never know when your hard drive will stop cooperating. To encourage backing up your files, many participating commercial vendors are offering up deals and prizes. My favorite online backup company, Backblaze, is offering up the chance to win a new iPad by trying out their service. Read the official rules here.

Try out the Backblaze trial and if you like the reassurance that your files are protected off-site by Backblaze, sign up for an account.

I’ve been using BackBlaze, and it’s been going well so far. It literally took months for the initial online backup to complete, but I kinda expected as much moving over 260-GB worth of data. After the initial backup, new files and updates are continuously backed up in no time.

Cost is very reasonable at $95 for a two year plan so that’s like $50 a year for peace of mind that your data is safely stored in times of emergencies.

Give a gift to yourself and sign up for BackBlaze.

Here’s what my backup plan currently includes (of course, things change).

Mac OS X Time Machine. This built-in Mac OS feature has saved my bacon on occasion and even though my current Time Machine drive lost its mind temporarily, it’s rebuilding and backing up gigs of stuff.

Backblaze. Speaking of gigs of stuff, how long does it take to back up gigs of stuff online? I’m not sure, but I still got Backblaze blazing away. There’s about 200 gigs to go…  Have you signed up?

VaultPress. This is my most recent addition to my backup plan. How do you keep your words (and everything else) on WordPress safe and protected? You store them in a vault, a VaultPress. Since I got a Golden Ticket, I figured I’d try this service in its startup stages.

So if Big Boi asks, my backup plan is Time Machine, Backblaze, and VaultPress!

Don’t worry, Backblaze is there for you. Install the software, and you’re off! Backblaze automatically backs up your data in the background. But the best proof is to try it yourself.

During June aka Backup Awareness Month, you can test drive Backblaze and be eligible to win an iPad! Actually you and me could win iPads so you gotta Backblaze now.

Start backing up here.