This is for extra security, but it also means that you'd really better not forget your password.
Unlike most online-storage services, Wuala offers no password reminder. Your password serves as the encryption key for your private files, which you alone can retrieve-even Caleido employees can't. It does require somewhat more RAM than the purely browser-based SkyDrive, though navigation is quicker than with the Microsoft service, since you don't have to wait for page loads.Īnyone can see Wuala's publicly shared World folder without creating an account, but to take advantage of the service's benefits, you need to sign up. Wuala does not, however, run within your browser-it's a separate Java application. Assuming you've got that, you just click on the Start button on the wua.la home page to launch the Java app. Wuala requires no download, but you'll need to have Sun's Java runtime installed. AOL's ill-fated Xdrive, with its Adobe AIR desktop client, resembles Wuala even more, but that service is being discontinued. But SkyDrive gives you 5GB of free storage, compared with the mere 1GB Wuala offers gratis. The new service, whose Web site is located at wua.la, competes directly with Freedrive and Microsoft's Windows Live SkyDrive, which also have public, shared, and private online folders.
Though this means that your files may be stored on strangers' PCs, the files are encrypted and sliced up so that a whole file won't be on any single user's system. This beta service's publicly shared media folders resemble what you'd find in a peer-to-peer file-sharing service, as does the option to add more storage to your account by volunteering part of your hard drive to the service's storage grid, thereby saving the company bandwidth costs. Wuala gives online storage a new spin with peer-to-peer storage-grid technology and a Java-based Web application with community features.
Once complete, you’re shown a preview which you can then share with others, or opt to save it permanently to your Android device for future viewing when offline. Browse it as you would any other folder tree, then select a file for viewing, at which point it’ll be downloaded. Wuala’s Android app does much as you’d expect it to: basically gives you access to all of your backed up files on Wuala.
Wuala offers a cheap 10GB option – perfect for those looking for a sync tool with a decent wodge of cloud storage, but you can get by without spending a penny: if your computer is connected via a broadband connection and online for most of the day, and you’re willing to give up storage space on your computer to Wuala, it’ll allocate the equivalent storage space online for you to use for free – and upgrade you to the Pro version to boot. The service comes in free and pro versions: the free version offers 1GB of storage space for backup purposes you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro version for synchronising and file versioning features, but the good news is that this doesn’t have to cost you anything.
But features are just important too: do you want a simple backup and restore service, or would you like to be able to use your cloud-based storage to help keep folders on multiple computers synchronised? Are you happy for the online backup tool to be tied to a single PC, or would you like your backup space to be available to all of the computers in your household? How about file versioning – whereby multiple versions of files are backed up? Wuala, from hard-drive manufacturer Lacie, does all of this and more. When you’re looking for an online backup service, price is obviously a key factor.