Bitcasa is not free. The beta would be free. They would have a free version with limited storage. They plan to charge 10 USD per month for unlimited storage.
The concept is pretty similar to
Dropbox. But since very few people have access to their platform, I am not sure how it works.
The idea is that most people have a lot of similar data. Movies,
music, system files, program files... etc etc.
A very small percentage of your computer's hard drive is going to have unique data (personal photos, videos, documents). Think of it. How much data on your computer is data that would be unique to you? I am probably an exception because I have around 40GBs of personal photos and around 150GBs of raw video from my camcorder.
So, basically, for majority of people, the data exclusive to individuals would be very limited (10/20GBs?). I bet that most people do not have unique data that would be more than a GB or two.
With de-duplication in full action, they can afford to give unlimited storage for USD 10. Maybe 100GBs for free? Remains to be seen.
The most important question being asked to them about their platform is how they would deliver data security to their users (privacy) when they are offering full encryption while maintaining de-duplication. Something on that line.
----
if you have used DropBox you would have noticed that your files are uploaded instantly to their servers if they are a common file (installer for a popular app? ubuntu ISO?).
this is because they check the file hash with their entire file database and just adds the file from their existing servers to your account. no uploading required.
This was pretty awesome the first time I noticed it.
looks like i'm also one of the exceptions (around 1TB of unique data
)
once i get the Hayai Speed, i'll start sleeping on time(currently i get double speed at night), might go into cloud storage, download a lot in the first month, will be able to get more productive, etc!!!
