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Add to SafariWhen comparing Backblaze vs Parallels Desktop, the Slant community recommends Backblaze for most people. In the question“What are the best power user tools for macOS?” Backblaze is ranked 10th while Parallels Desktop is ranked 59th. The most important reason people chose Backblaze is:
The default configuration includes everything except for system files to be backed up. That also includes external USB drives. This will work for most people. It can, of course, be customized to each person's liking.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Beginner-friendly defaults
The default configuration includes everything except for system files to be backed up. That also includes external USB drives. This will work for most people. It can, of course, be customized to each person's liking.
Pro No file size or traffic restrictions
There are no limitations of file size or amount of data you can upload. The $5/mo plan gets you unlimited cloud storage.
Pro Excellent restoration performance
Backblaze creates a zip file of all your files for you to download, thus decreasing the amount of data you need to download and increasing the speed of the download since it's one connection instead of multiple that need to be opened and closed for a list of files.
Pro Secure
AES encrypted files are transferred over a secure SSL connection.
Pro Download any backed-up files from any web browser
Some backup services like Carbonite require a client to be installed to restore files. Backblaze allows you to login and download any or all files from a web browser, meaning it also serves as an ad-hoc cloud storage platform.
Pro Users can order a physical copy of their data
You can have a flash drive or an external hard drive delivered to you. They cost $99 and $189 respectively.
Pro Best-in-class gaming performance
Compared to other VMs, Parallels has the best gaming performance. Still, a good framerate can only be achieved with games that have very low resource requirements. A much better option for resource intensive games is dual booting Windows (via Boot Camp).
Pro Easy to use
Parallels has an easy to learn and use UI. All important features are wizard based. It requires only a few clicks for the wizard to download and set up the latest Chrome OS, Windows or Linux build.
Pro Can run Windows apps as native OS X apps
Parallels has a "Coherence View" mode that allows running Windows applications as if they were native OS X apps. In this mode Windows is virtualized in background and Windows features like Jump Lists, Taskbar, Start Menu, etc can be embedded directly within OS X.
Pro Best integration ever
Cons
Con No Linux support
There's no Linux client for Backblaze.
Con Pay extra to keep deleted files permanently
Additional $2/Month plus $0.005/GB/Month for files updated, changed, or deleted more than one year ago.
Con Backblaze does not support network (NAS) drives
If you use a thing like Drobo, Backblaze will not back it up.
Con Buggy
Con Very expensive
Parallels upgrades are very expensive. Even if I bough several versions of Parallels I will switch back to free VirtualBox as they even "invented" the Pro version - mainly doubled the price you have to pay each year to have the software updated.
Con Can't import OVA files
OVA files are useful because they include all of its supporting files. Unfortunately, Parallels doesn't support these useful files.
Con Requires buying a new version of the software with each new OS X release
Chances are that the same version of Parallels won't work with different OS X releases, requiring a separate purchase of Parallels for each OS X version.
Con Home edition doesn't work with Vagrant or Docker Machine
Make sure you purchase the Pro edition (the subscription) if you need command-line access to the hypervisor.
Con Can't export OVA files
One you use parallel you get trapped into a proprietary format.
Can't share disk blocks on two unrelated virtual machines (KSM for disk) too.
