What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
Backblaze’s Q4 2025 network report shows a sharp rise in traffic it classified as neocloud activity, peaking in October, alongside a rise in migration traffic from August through October. Backblaze interprets the pattern as large datasets moving in concentrated, sustained flows between storage and AI compute. It is an early snapshot of one provider’s network—not evidence that AI traffic dominates the cloud or the internet.
What Backblaze measured—and when
Backblaze published its second quarterly Network Stats report on January 29, 2026, covering traffic during Q4 2025. The company says it began tracking the series in August 2025, so Q4 was its first full quarter of observations. The report examines where traffic entered and left Backblaze’s network, traffic grouped by network type, traffic magnitude relative to unique IP addresses, and counts of distinct IP addresses. Backblaze’s report describes its own telemetry and customer mix.
Backblaze frames its storage as serving several points in an AI workflow: initial dataset ingestion, transfers to compute providers for processing and model work, and storage of models or data for serving and later updates. It describes B2 Overdrive as a high-performance path between its storage and neocloud compute. These are the company’s descriptions of its role and product, not independent performance tests or customer-use findings.
Which traffic patterns stood out
Neocloud traffic rose and peaked in October
Backblaze reports that traffic to neocloud networks—AI-focused compute networks in the report’s classification—rose sharply from July through November 2025 and peaked in October. That is a trend in the company’s observed traffic categories, not a measurement of AI traffic across all providers.
#1 Best Overall
- Easy-to-use desktop hard drive—simply plug in the power adapter and USB cable
- Fast file transfers with USB 3.3
- Drag-and-drop file saving right out of the box
- Automatic recognition of Windows and Mac computers for simple setup (Reformatting required for use with Time Machine)
- Enjoy peace of mind with the included limited warranty and Rescue Data Recovery Services
Migration traffic also increased
The report identifies a notable increase in migration traffic from August through October. Backblaze uses “migration” for large-scale data onboarding over private links at data centers, including private-fiber links; it is not simply a count of transfers over the public internet. Read alongside the neocloud increase, this suggests a possible connection between bringing data into an environment and moving it toward compute, but the report does not establish that every migration flow was AI-related.
Other categories were closer to their historical norms
Backblaze says CDN, hosting, and ISP traffic stayed largely within historical norms, while neocloud and migration traffic stood out. In total volume, traffic from US-West to regional ISPs led. That broad, consumer-facing flow is distinct from the report’s neocloud pattern of fewer, more persistent endpoints.
Rank #2
- Easy-to-use desktop hard drive — simply plug in the power adapter and USB cable.Specific uses: Business, personal
- Fast file transfers with USB 3.0
- Drag-and-drop file saving right out of the box
- Automatic recognition of Windows and Mac computers for simple setup (reformatting required for use with Time Machine)
- Enjoy peace of mind with the included limited warranty and Rescue Data Recovery Services
How to read the report’s different metrics
The report uses multiple lenses that answer different questions; they should not be treated as interchangeable rankings.
- Total transferred volume shows how much data moved. By this measure, US-West to regional ISP traffic led.
- Magnitude relates transferred traffic to the number of actors or unique IP addresses involved. A category with fewer participants can have a larger amount of traffic per participant without leading in total volume.
- Distinct-IP counts, or uniqueness show how many different IP addresses communicated with Backblaze. The report uses this to contrast broad ISP activity with fewer, persistent neocloud endpoints.
Region labels such as US-West, US-East, and CA-East identify Backblaze regions. The report’s emphasis on US-West leading total traffic to regional ISPs and the accompanying press release’s emphasis on activity clustering near neocloud compute hubs in US-East refer to different traffic views, not conflicting claims.
Quick wins for a faster PC:
Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Rank #3
- HIGH-SPEED USB 3.0 PERFORMANCE: Quickly transfer photos, videos, music, and documents with reliable performance. Backward compatible with USB 2.0 for wider device support
- ULTRA-SLIM 2.5-INCH DESIGN: Compact and lightweight external hard drive that easily fits in your pocket or bag for travel, work, school, and everyday use
- EASY TO USE: No software or external power required. Simply plug in the drive and start using it instantly for storage expansion or backups
- CHOOSE THE CAPACITY YOU NEED: Available in 160GB, 320GB, 500GB, and 1TB, making it easy to store documents, photos, videos, games, and backups based on your needs
- BROAD DEVICE COMPATIBILITY: Works with Windows PCs, laptops, desktops, and gaming consoles. Designed for dependable daily storage, backups, and file organization
What changed in the cloud-destination shares
In its comparison with the preceding report, Backblaze says the share of traffic going to other clouds increased from 36.2% to 49.6%; the share going to hyperscalers rose from 3.5% to 18%; and the share going to neocloud destinations declined from 19.8% to 18.4%. These are Backblaze’s reported comparison figures, not market-wide shares. The company cautions that it is too early to call quarter-over-quarter figures statistically significant trends or patterns affecting the broader cloud-storage industry: the observations cover a limited period and reflect Backblaze’s customer mix.
What Backblaze thinks the pattern means
Backblaze interprets the combination of rising neocloud and migration traffic, along with endpoint patterns, as evidence of AI workflows moving large datasets in concentrated, sustained flows between a smaller number of storage and compute endpoints. Technical Lead Network Engineer Brent Nowak described AI as a force reshaping network behavior, saying, “Few forces are reshaping network behavior faster than AI.” The company’s January 29, 2026 release attributes that statement to Nowak.
Rank #4
- Shock, drops up to 4 feet, dust and water resistant for all-terrain use
- For Mac compatibility this Hard Drive requires reformatting. Refer to Application Guide for more details
- Password protection built in
- Uses USB 3.0 which is up to 4 times faster than USB 2.0 (USB 2.0 compatible)
- Includes 1-month complimentary membership to Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps Plan. Must redeem by January 31, 2020
That interpretation is useful as a description of what Backblaze sees on its network, but it should not be generalized into a claim that AI now dominates data movement everywhere. One provider’s early telemetry cannot establish the proportions or direction of traffic across the cloud-storage and AI-infrastructure markets.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the figures do—and do not—establish
- They establish: Backblaze observed neocloud traffic rising through July–November 2025, with an October peak, and migration traffic increasing from August through October.
- They suggest, in Backblaze’s interpretation: some AI-related workflows involve substantial transfers between storage and compute, often involving fewer, persistent endpoints.
- They do not establish: that AI traffic dominates all networks, that the destination-share changes are statistically significant market trends, or that the same traffic mix applies to other storage providers.
For readers evaluating network claims, the key distinction is whether a figure describes total volume, traffic per participant, distinct endpoints, region, or traffic type. Backblaze’s report uses all of these views, and a result in one should not be substituted for another.
Best Value
- NEARLY 2X FASTER THAN OUR PREVIOUS GENERATION(8) – move 1,000 high-res photos in under 60 seconds(6) with up to 2000MB/s transfer speeds(2).
- IP65 RATING AND UP TO 3M DROP PROTECTION(3) – protects against spills and drops.
- POCKET-SIZED – fits easily in pockets and small bags.
- SPACE TO OWN YOUR AI CONTENT – speed and capacity to download your high-res clips and photo edits.
- 256-BIT AES ENCRYPTION(4) – helps keep private files secure with password protection.
Backblaze’s stated B2 Overdrive capability
Backblaze says B2 Overdrive transfers start at 100 Gbps and can reach 1 Tbps. That is a company-stated capability, not an independently verified throughput result in the Q4 network report. It provides product context for Backblaze’s storage-to-compute positioning, but it does not by itself show how much traffic used the service or what performance a particular customer would receive.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
