Wuala–Basic Overview

A few years ago, I learned a hard lesson about computer backups.  I created a server from spare parts and loaded it with Ubuntu.  The main point of the server was to function as a file server.  I had a Terabyte drive filled with music, pictures, videos, and documents.  This included all of my stuff, as well as all of my wife’s stuff.
So one day I decided to clean things up on the file server.  I started deleting files and folders, renaming things, moving things around, etc.  Of course, the problem happened when I was within my wife’s folder.  I accidently deleted an entire folder filled with documents from my wife’s files.  The lesson I learned is that the default setup for a file server (Samba) does not have a recycle bin.  The files were gone.  I panicked.  I eventually was able to restore the most critical files, but some were completely lost.  I then learned a lot more about Samba and how to make a pseudo-recycle bin (another post).  I also started my never-ending search for backup software.
Eventually, I stumbled on Wuala.  Wuala is an application that you install on your computer and runs in the background.  Once you create an account, you can add files to your Wuala account and they are backed up to Wuala’s cloud storage (I am drastically oversimplifying the features because I want to get to how I use Wuala).
For free, Wuala gives you 2GB of online storage.  This is great, but it is also pretty standard when you look at other online storage solutions.  Wuala also recently added the ability to sync files on multiple computers.  This is also great, but is similar to other products like Dropbox and Microsoft’s Live Mesh (both are great services).  What makes Wuala unique is that it has a peer-to-peer feature that you can trade storage on your own computer for storage in the cloud.
So let me explain how this works for me.  On my Ubuntu server that is running all the time, I have designated that Wuala can have up to 100GB of storage.  Since I allocated this storage on my computer, it means that I can store 100GB of my own data into Wuala’s cloud storage.  Of course, the data is encrypted; I can’t access someone else’s data on my computer, and they can’t access my information.  The Wuala website indicates that this type of storage means faster upload and download time, and built-in redundancy.  They also indicate that there are numerous copies of the data, so you don’t have to worry if someone in Japan has their computer turned on in order to access/restore your data.
Since I trade storage, I have an online backup service for the low low cost of FREE.  I am cheap, this is a huge selling point.  I can access the data from any web browser, which is also a nice added feature.
Wuala’s sync feature is also something that I heavily utilize.  I have my school files synced across all of my computers, so I never have to search for the latest version of something I am working on.  I also have some personal files that are synced on some computers, but not the others.  This makes it very flexible for me since I want my school files everywhere, but I only want my personal documents on a few computers. 
This is an extremely brief overview of Wuala’s features, but it is really a great service.  There are additional features like file versioning and sharing.  If you have any computer that is on all the time (or even for a large chunk of the day), you should think about it.  You can also purchase storage if you are not comfortable with sharing your harddrive.  Regardless of the option, everyone should have some sort of offsite backup solution.