HomeServerShow Forums

1. 

   Homeserver
   

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   Key Master
   Posted 2 months ago #
   

   I put this post up today on the blog.

   In episode 72 of the Home Server Show we talked with Mike Mihalik of LaCie about their new Windows Home Server and a file storage service called wuala. Mike gave us a great description of the service so you should go and listen to that podcast but here is a little bit about wuala.

   Harnessing idle resources
   Wuala users can choose to contribute idle resources to Wuala. In addition to servers, Wuala can harness these resources. The data is first encrypted and then split into fragments which are redundantly stored on our servers and in the grid network. When you access a file, Wuala simultaneously downloads as many of these fragments as it can from the grid storage and optionally takes the remaining ones from our servers. This allows us to save costs for downloads (bandwidth, electrical power) and to provide a better service for free including many advantages for our users (unlimited traffic, no file size limits, fast downloads, etc.). Our redundant and robust server infrastructure guarantees that your files are always available.

   Once you are up and running you can invite friends to sign up and it will increase your storage limits. Wuala also sells additional storage if you should need it.

   John, Jim, Chris, and Dave have recently started using the service and would like to invite you to try it out as well. I would like to see the Home Server Show community test this out and hit the forums.

   Jim’s referral - http://www.wuala.com/referral/336K63B4FAAAMHMFP7FB

   Dave’s referral - http://www.wuala.com/referral/FGF544P3BK67C66AANGH

   Chris’s referral - http://www.wuala.com/referral/KKPJBBAGG5CKA3MK43GF

   John’s referral - http://www.wuala.com/referral/BNJ3G3MAFFK6KH7FG45M

   Let's test this thing out and discuss in this thread.

2. 

   jcollison
   

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   Member
   Posted 2 months ago #
   

   Dave - I just noticed that the storage credit that you get for referring friends (I think they limit that to 5 GB total) is tracked in the purchased storage section and expires after one year. Not a major concern, but something for everyone to be aware of as they try it.

   I also suspect that some part or all of the file is stored locally in the cache for some length of time and that it will look there first when a file request is made. This may give the impression of super fast download speeds when it's really still local. We will want to look at that as well.

   WHS Frankenbuild / Dell Dimension 2400 / Celeron 2.20GHz / 1.25GB RAM
   1TB Data / 1TB ioSafe Solo Backup
   
3. 

   IndyLux
   

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   Moderator
   Posted 1 month ago #
   

   Mine is still going strong. I'm up to 36.29% Online Time and 8.3 Gigs of storage. It's slow and steady, but my storage pool seems to be growing nicely. You guys see any new numbers today?

4. 

   Homeserver
   

   offline
   Key Master
   Posted 1 month ago #
   

   I'm at 6.8GB this morning. My Trade Storage keeps unchecking itself when I click it. Wonder if that is due to not having UPNP running on my router. I hard mapped the ports to my WHS and turned it off a while back. I kept getting annoying messages that Remote was not working when everything was fine. I may turn it back on and see if it helps.

5. 

   Homeserver
   

   offline
   Key Master
   Posted 1 month ago #
   

   I enabled UPNP again and that fixed the wuala Trade Storage issue. I'm up to 7.3Gb and still uploading my bits to....somewhere!

6. 

   CookiePuss
   

   offline
   Member
   Posted 1 month ago #
   

   I wrote a giant post about Wuala a while ago over in the Offsite Online Backups? thread. Have been using it since then and absolutely love it. I currently have 133GB earned and all for free.

   Now with Fios giving users 25/25 connections, Wuala is absolutely the fastest way to backup your data offsite for people with good upload speeds.

   One thing to watch out for. Make sure you put the cache files on the right drive on the server. Originally I was using a small low power drive for my system drive, and with Wuala using 100gb's worth, filled up the drive.

   I havent heard the podcast yet, but perhaps you guys can start a homeservershow group! Thats one part of the feature I have not tried at all and would love to see how it works.

   WHS: Sempron 140 (Unlocked 2nd Core) @ 3.75GHZ Default Cooler + Voltage! | 6 1.5TB Samsung F2EG Low Power Drives | 2GB DDR2 Crucial Ram
7. 

   usacomp2k3
   

   offline
   Moderator
   Posted 1 month ago #
   

   Blast, you have to install Java. I have intentionally not installed Java on my HWS because I strongly dislike Java and feel it is really bloated. I guess I'll have to mull over whether my dislike for Java supercedes my desire to play with this and use it to backup my files.

   EX470 / 2GB Ram / 500gb + 250gb + 1.5TB
8. 

   diehard
   

   offline
   Moderator
   Posted 1 month ago #
   

   Ok CookiePuss,

   I created a group http://www.wuala.com/Home%20Server%20Show%20Podcast

   John (homeservershow).

   John (homeservershow).
   EX470/MediaCenter2005/BE-2300CPU/1TB system drive.
   EX490/MCE2005 looking to change CPU/ 1TB system drive/4TB total.
9. 

   Homeserver
   

   offline
   Key Master
   Posted 1 month ago #
   

   Holy Smokes CookiePuss. We all owe you an apology. We pretty much posted right after your wuala post and never tried it out.

10. 

    Homeserver
    

    offline
    Key Master
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    Ok, referring to my earlier posts about the Trade Storage tab. It wasn't the UPNP at all. When I'm working on my PC, uploading youtubes, posts, etc., I was pausing download and upload. That caused the tick mark to disappear from the Trade Storage tab.

    I'm up to 7.7Gb tonight though.

11. 

    usacomp2k3
    

    offline
    Moderator
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    For some reason, it's not showing the window in Mesh. Anyone else having that trouble. I use Mesh 100% of the time since i have the Zune software installed, but it seems like I have to use Remote Desktop to manage Wuala. Interesting.

12. 

    Homeserver
    

    offline
    Key Master
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    @jcollison, can you verify this?

    Is it due to the Java?

13. 

    usacomp2k3
    

    offline
    Moderator
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    Well it seems to load fine now. I don't know if I just didn't give it enough time, or it had to be run for the first time in RDP. Very curious. While in Mesh, it acted like it was working, the program showed up in the task bar and I could maximize and restore and all that fun stuff, but there was nothing on the screen. I don't know if it was a java problem. Like I said, I've never had Java on there before.

14. 

    jcollison
    

    offline
    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    AJ - I had trouble with it thru Mesh as well. RDP works much better in my testing. So the problem I am seeing is that I click on the short cut and nothing shows up, for a long time. Funny thing is then I go back to the RDP session, the Wuala windows are open there. Mesh also seems very slow now after using RDP. It did eventually open the window in mesh. Very curious results.

    Oh, and 7.7 GB of storage and growing.

15. 

    jcollison
    

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    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    26.63% with 7.8. Growing nicely

16. 

    IndyLux
    

    offline
    Moderator
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    10.3 This afternoon. Anyone installed "Dokan" or have any idea what it is and why we would want it?

17. 

    jcollison
    

    offline
    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    It creates what looks like a mapped network drive(defaults to the W: drive). Handy if you want to use file explorer to interact with your cloud storage instead of the the java app.

18. 

    usacomp2k3
    

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    Moderator
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    24% here with 7GB.

19. 

    jcollison
    

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    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    35% 9.6GB

20. 

    usacomp2k3
    

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    Moderator
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    punk :P. I wonder if it's possible to reach 100%. I also wonder how it calculates. My computer has been on 24/7 since it was installed. You'd think it would start at 100% and decrease whenever the computer wasn't on, instead of working its way up.
    /me goes to do more research.

    UPDATE:
    "When you start, your average uptime is estimated to be 10% and then adjusted daily. When permanently online, you should see a daily increase of about 3%. However, as your uptime climbs up, it gets harder to further increase it. Please note that uptime online counts if your internet connection allows for trading storage." per http://www.wuala.com/en/support/faq/c/19#id001902

21. 

    CookiePuss
    

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    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    I had my server on 100% for 30 days , and it went up to 91-92 percent.

22. 

    usacomp2k3
    

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    Moderator
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    Well I did some math (myself, not using Wolfram). Assuming the number they give of 3%/day is exact, if we extrapolate that you go from 10% to 13% in the first 24 hours of solid uptime, then it is as if you start with your history showing 2.9 days of uptime in 29 total days. So thus you will always have a 26.1 hours of non-uptime in your history. Again, with more extrapolation, here is the percentages (Y) that you should see after X number of days Y=(2.9+X)/(29+X):
    0=10.0% 1=13.0% 2=15.8% 7=27.5% 30=55.8% 60=70.7% 90=78.1% 180=87.5% 365=93.4% 730=96.6% 1095=97.7% 1825=98.6%

    If anyone's interested, that is. Again, large assumptions on the actual number.

23. 

    jmaster
    

    offline
    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    Well, I just installed. Looking forward to discovering how quick I can store my 20GB of Pictures :)

24. 

    jcollison
    

    offline
    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    jmaster - Just installed it on the 17th and I already have 26GB. So give it a week or so!

25. 

    Mike@LaCie
    

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    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    Hello!

    Mike from LaCie here.

    Thanks for your interest in Wuala.

26. 

    usacomp2k3
    

    offline
    Moderator
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    Hey Mike! Welcome. First off, I've always pronounced it like Lay-see. Oops.
    Secondly, would you care to share the formula that is used to determine the uptime? I'm curious to see how it works.
    Thanks!

    EDIT: my reading comprehension sucks

27. 

    jcollison
    

    offline
    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    Hey Mike - Welcome as well and thanks for joining us. Thanks again for the interview at CES. I think the listeners really enjoyed it.

    BTW...62.39% with 28 GB total. @ 30 GB I can back up all my music. Hosting 4.2 GB of data.

28. 

    jwolfera
    

    offline
    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    ok i have installed it on my server. the only question i have, is does it run as a serve or do i have to set it up that way?

29. 

    usacomp2k3
    

    offline
    Moderator
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    That's a good question. On my WHS, it shows up in the Startup folder, and it is not listed in the services.msc
    I have my server set to autologin for Zune to work properly, so it always runs.

    That's a really great question!

30. 

    jwolfera
    

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    Member
    Posted 1 month ago #
    

    ok, another question. is there a difference in power usage with having a user logged in verses not being logged in.

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