HSLD

Here's a novel idea that I found on Kickstarter that aims to change cloud storage to a peer-to-peer model and eliminate the need for expensive centralized data centers. I'm paying more than $1 per GB with Dropbox, and this service will bring that cost to about $.01 per GB.

I thought it was worth funding for $119 which gets you a year of service and the device. Check it out:

Space Monkey: Taking the cloud out of the datacenter by Space Monkey | Kickstarter

Cubdriver

A good one to look for in public trading, shortly.

HSLD

One potential pitfall is the bandwidth capping that some ISPs currently impose. ISP data limits could impact this device's true potential, although it's not a limitation of the device itself. I bought one and will wait to see what Comcast does once I upload 1TB to the cloud and then store other users files on the remaining connected space!

FlyJSH

For us backward type o' hayseeds, why not just buy a 1TB external hard drive for $80? Same storage, one time fee (well, one fee until you realize you need a Bazillabyte of space), and no dependence on a third party (or worry about their security).

Cubdriver

Cloud computing is all about internet connectivity, a hard drive at home isn't much good out there in in Timbuktoo, although I am an eager user of large flash drives for the same reason. I love the idea of a flash drive with mega GBs of room you can just pop into anything and boot up your portable OS and hard drive data, a la the old U3 Launchpad Sandisk dropped a couple of years ago. Those were so cool, hard to know why they dropped it, I think there was an issue with making enough money to justify the production costs. It was such a smart idea.

One problem I see with Space Monkey is needing stationary desktops for hosts, they may gradually go away in years to come as people get more into portable computing with laptops, wifi, tablets, mini-tablets, and smart phones. If they want it to grow I think they will need to make it work over all those- your new IPad tablet is Space Monkey-compliant, for example.

HSLD

It may be a problem long term, but I think in the next 24 months the device will definitely be well placed for many users. Most consumers will continue to have Broadband ISP accounts and the Space Monkey will attach to the network like a NAS but will offer the benefit of being cloud connected. With the existing SM web interface, it seems like an easy transition to a tablet OS version.

HSLD

What you suggest is a perfect solution if web connectivity and backup of the data isn't needed.

A huge benefit of the Space Monkey device is automatic backup and security of your data. Your files won't be completely stored on peer machines, instead the files are broken up before being transmitted to the rest of the network. Each peer machine only has an encrypted portion of the original file, so rebuilding your files is impossible without the encryption key (which you keep private). In the event of a crashed, stolen, damaged SM hard drive, you just get another device, enter your encryption key, and the network rebuilds the drive with all of your data on the new device.

Cubdriver

Survivability does seem to be its best feature- all of your hypothetical servers in Death Valley could go up in smoke, but your data is almost untouched using this system. Not being an encryption expert it's hard to say if it is any more or less secure from a hacking standpoint. The main advantage will probably be utilizing energies that are already paid for in terms of costs large server farms accrue in order to operate, such costs may be shifted en masse to the common household, where they are hardly felt. It could be a more efficient way to do things.

rickair7777

A lot of the server farm cost just goes away...this model is so distributed that cheap home-use hard drives can replace expensive industrial RAID arrays, which have to be physically housed, cooled, secured, etc.

Cubdriver

The larger subject is grid computing, which has been around for a while but has never fully utilized except by Google and other data miners and a few malware propagators over the Net. I first encountered it with the SETI at home sky survey project a while ago, which uses idle PCs to do scientific work. I always thought that was a clever if fairly useless way to occupy home computers. This would be much better.