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The DVD is dead.
USB flash drive restores are here.

Gleb Budman January 25, 2012


DVDs were a fantastic storage medium, able to store an astounding 4.7 GB of data for a few dollars. That was 1995. Yahoo was the hottest company on the Web. Google, Facebook, and Twitter weren’t even a concept yet. DVDs had a good run.

It’s time to call them dead.

  • Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon streaming removed our need for DVD videos.
  • Blockbuster stores are “moving“…online.
  • Applications have been downloaded over the net for years.
  • Even with the OS, the latest version from Apple was only available via download.
  • The first MacBook Air announced Jan ’08 without even the option of a DVD player.
  • CES declared this the “Year of the Ultrabook“; none of those PCs offer a DVD player.

    • When we launched Backblaze online backup in mid-2008, we offered unlimited free restores, FedEx DVD restores for $99, and FedEx USB hard drive restores for $189. We didn’t know how many people would choose the DVD restore option, but we figured people understood the concept of getting files sent to them on DVDs and they may feel more comfortable this way.

    Well with 600,000,000 files restored in 2011, Backblaze customers restored:

  • 8,000 times more often by downloading.
  • 50 times more often via USB hard drives than DVDs.

    • Today we are killing off DVD restores and replacing them with USB flash drives.


    For the same $99 price, you can now:

  • Restore 28 GB of data (7 DVDs worth) on a USB flash drive FedEx’ed to you.
  • Reuse the flash drive when you’re done with your restore.
  • Get your data on your MacBook, ultra book, or any other USB-enabled computer.

    • It was a good run DVD, but it’s time to move on.

    Tags: Release

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