Bitcoin Forum

    http://www.datashell.co.uk/index_files/image002.png

DataShell Backup (http://datashell.co.uk) is our new unlimited backup and storage service that can only be purchased with bitcoin. It runs on Windows, MacOS, Android, iPhone & iPad.

We currently offer two versions of DataShell Backup: DataShell SOHO (Small Office Home Office) which retails at 0.1BTC and DataShell Enterprise retailing at 0.28BTC. Please email info@datashell.co.uk to place an order.

And yes: it really is unlimited – you can store as much data as you want.

About Us.

Whilst developing our backup and storage service over the last year we have been watching the Dropbox voting threads with interest. And being active members of the Bitcoin community we feel that Dropbox has ignored an excellent opportunity. So we want to prove that a business can survive offering quality products and services just for bitcoin. It's a daring experiment but one we hope you'll help us prove it right.

The DataShell backup and storage system is fully tested and working; having been deployed to fifty trialists earlier this year. This next stage is to test our business plan with this exclusive Bitcoin launch. More services are in development now so if things go well expect more services from us exclusively for Bitcoin.

We know what Bitcoin is capable of and are hoping to eventually automate payment with a shopping cart that processes transactions directly off the blockchain. At this stage we are taking all orders by email, so if you want to place an order please email us at info@datashell.co.uk with your preferred username.

See our website (http://www.datashell.co.uk/) for the latest news and announcements.

About the service.

DataShell Backup SOHO provides:

    • Versions for Windows, Mac OS, Android, iPad & iPhone
    • Unlimited backup and storage space.
    • Automatic background backups on Widows and Mac.
    • Thirty revision histories.
    • Backup your files from up to 5 computers.
    • Access, edit and share your files from anywhere with your own personal web portal.
    • DataShell's iPhone, iPad and Android software lets you view your backups where ever you are and save files from your device too.
    • We backup your backups for you: your data is stored in multiple data centres.
    • All our office and data centres are based in the UK.
    • Your data can be optionally encrypted.

DataShell Backup Enterprise is the same as our SOHO product but has no limit on the number of computers that can be backed up.

This DataShell thread is being run concurrently on forum posts on Bitcointalk.org and Reddit (http://redd.it/1pgl0a).

For more information and our Terms and Privacy Policy please see our website (http://www.datashell.co.uk/).

I would like to request a trial copy. This seems very interesting.

DiamondCardz, I've noted your name and passed it to the support team. Please email them: info@datashell.co.uk and the'll set you up a free trial account.

I'd like a trial account also please.

Please email through and confirm your bitcointalk username and the team will set one up. Thanks.

Interesting.  Hope I'm in the first five.

Also I'm OS X and 32 bit, but have other (really low end) computers.

It works fine on MacOS X. Please email though and confirm your username and the team will set you up.

The software is working and it seems to be in the process of backing up my files. Doesn't seem to contain any viruses, either.

The software looks quite neat. Seems pretty legitimate.

After choosing what directories to backup:

http://gyazo.com/d4518efe548e753c6b641c0de22a959d.png

How does the (optional) encryption work? Do I have to supply my own key/password? I.e. can you decrypt the data if forced to?

Also some terms and conditions plus a privacy policy would be nice

Hi there, more information on encryption and our terms are on our website - www.datashell.co.uk

Thanks.

It seems to automatically encrypt it by default.

I've backed up 2.46 GB of files successfully so far. Seems good.

DiamondCardz; thanks for this feedback we're pleased to see how well you're getting on and thanks for posting the screen shots.

Two free trials left!

All keys are held by DataShell - you can however use a third party encryption tool to encrypt the files before uploading them/backing them up.

However if you do use a third party encryption tool, please note that you will be limited to functionality in the web portal such as having to download the file, decrypt before the file can be viewed.

Hope that answers your question.

It does, thanks!

it is an interesting offer

I would most definitely be interested in a trial, if it weren't for this. Sorry, but a novice data storage / backup service should most definitely include client side encryption.

Related to this, a technical question: for large binary files, do you sync the complete file, or is there some smart partial differencing system (e.g. using hashes of 1MB blocks or whatever) to only upload the changed parts of a file?

Because I'd feel the urge to put a TrueCrypt container inside the DataShell folder, and backup that (to make sure I have the data security of client side encryption). But if I make a few small changes within a TrueCrypt volume of 1 GB, will it upload the entire volume, or just the changed parts?

If you still have a free trial space I would love to be included.

I'm a long term Dropbox user and Just Cloud user, so I may be hard to please.

Good luck with your venture.

I need such a service now in fact! Count me in for the trial of avail.
Goss@btcedproject.org

Hi Rluner, we are limiting the five one month trials to Full Members or higher only. However you are welcome to post to our thread on Reddit.com (http://redd.it/1pgl0a) if you have more than 100 link kama as we have four free trials left there. Or you can take advantage of our introductory offer price of 0.3BTC for the limited time that it lasts.

The services has been trialled with around fifty customers in the south of England who are all very happy with the service. You can also see posts from DiamondCardz who I believe is the first forum member to start using the service.

I've forwarded your details to our technical support team who should email you your trial details shortly.

So if you used a TrueCrypt volume it would upload the entire volume each time you made a change and our system keeps a log of up to 30 changes so you could then download which ever version of the TrueCrypt volume you wanted. Perfectly legitimate use of our service so far as we are concerned.

Hope that answers your question.

Ill give it a try...

Done; please email your request including your username to: info@datashell.co.uk (http://info@datashell.co.uk) and our technical team will set you up an account.

Please can you post back a short review here so other members can get a feel for the service.

Is it possible to do the backup without using your app ? Even if it is using some barely tested API or something equivalent. I would like to test this system, but mostly only if I don't need to rely on your app for it.

Can you tell what kind of storage you have right now ? These unlimited plans generally are not unlimited in practice, can you handle thousands of users submitting TBs of data every day (do you even have the bandwidth to support that?) ?

You have to use our software; yes. This is to prevent people taking advantage of the way the storage works: the app will back up what you have in storage so if you have 10TB of HDD on one machine it will back that up, plus 30 lots of diffs. Changes can also be made offline then synchronised later.

We can handle very large data throughput no problem. We have some very reliable infrastructure behind the system: feel free to quiz the other trialist on the kinds of bandwidth they are getting.

so it is possible to get trial?

What if I don't want to backup the entire disk ? Your answer gave me the impression that the app backup it entirely always. I also didn't understand what kind of advantage people could get by not using your app. It seems you are blindly trusting the client app, and that is clearly wrong.

Maybe you should include in your comparison table whether the service requires a closed source app to use it or not. Dropbox for instance has https://www.dropbox.com/developers/core and https://www.dropbox.com/developers/datastore. Why can't you provide such functionality ?

All the free trials in this thread have now gone.

You can still take advantage of the introductory low price of 0.3BTC for the limited time that it lasts.

Or you are welcome to post to our thread on Reddit.com (http://redd.it/1pgl0a) if you have more than 100 link kama as we have four free trials left there...

Yes I did notice your requirements tbh but I thought I`d ask in any case.

Wow…Upload speeds are crazy fast (~2.8 MB/sec…likely limited on my end; see below). Program runs flawlessly in the background; no problems closing the laptop lid or rebooting.  It gracefully resumes where it got cut off. Functions similarly to Dropbox and allows the upload and download bandwidth to be limited independently.  So far very impressed.

http://www.uofr.net/~bcg/ds.png

We now have a shiny new website - DataShell.co.uk (http://www.datashell.co.uk/)!

Have you re-considered the API yet ? Or at least open source the client app. This is not only better for me and others interested in knowing what your program is doing in our computers, it is better for you too. You are not improving your security or your service by hiding what the client does, and others might be interested in providing bug fixes for you.

I've looked into your new site and the pricing there doesn't specify the bill cycle. It says 0.3 and 0.8, but it doesn't mention whether it is one time payment, yearly, monthly, etc. You should update that and mention that it's a yearly payment. The pricing is still very good when compared to competitors, but not being able to have full control over the backups is a no go to me.

Thanks for these comments; I have passed them back up to the design team as per your last post.

They are reviewing them and they will hopefully get considered for future releases, but I/they can't make any promises at this stage.

Thanks also for the comments about pricing cycle; I've passed your comments to our web dev, who will clarify it on the site.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. We have now compiled these into our FAQ (http://www.datashell.co.uk/faqs/).

Coindesk have just done this article about us (http://www.coindesk.com/votebox-dropbox-datashell-storage/).

I would love to try this out, though for this to be of great use to me I would need a linux client. (preferably cli only)

Is there any kind of alpha linux client in the making?

In a post-Snowden world that's just irresponsible. You have other competitors in Europe who do full client-side encryption which is the only form of encryption that satisfies the common sense of privacy.

Press released from our site:

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new service: DataShell Backup.

http://www.datashell.co.uk/products/ (http://www.datashell.co.uk/products/)

As promised, DataShell have been busy working on a number of new backup and storage solutions for our customers. Today we are proud to announce the launch of our new product DataShell Drive.

DataShell Drive is an extension to DataShell Backup; in addition to backing up all of the files on your computers DataShell Drive allows you to create a hard disk drive image that can be replicated across an unlimited number of computers.

The files are kept locally so access times are as fast as working normally on your computer. However, should you save a file onto your computer’s DataShell Drive it is immediately transferred to all other copies of your DataShell Drive on all other computers; meaning you’ll have identical copies of all your files at work, home, on your tablet etc.

There is no limit to how many DataShell Drives you can install – you are only limited by the number of computers and devices you have.

DataShell Drive also allows you to work on files whilst you are off-line and synchronise when you’re next online.

You can share anything stored on your DataShell Drive with other people. To share publically you can give anyone a URL to allow unlimited downfalls of file you want to share. To share privately you can create a private URL with a username and password.

The standard DataShell Drive comes with 500GB storage per year and can be upgraded with additional segments of 500GB up to 2TB in total.