Wuala (pronounced as Voilà) is a cloud storage service which is slightly different from other cloud storage solutions. It offers secure storage – which means that all of your files get encrypted and are stored redundantly – no one unauthorized can access your files. Wuala offers 5 GB free storage for starters. To get even more space, you can invite someone you know to use Wuala or you can buy the space.
Wuala secure cloud storage offers the following features :
- Universal Access – Access your files from anywhere in the world.
- Privacy – Instant encryption of all the files – no authorized access.
- OS Integration – Integrates seamlessly in your operating system for easy access.
- Sharing – Allows sharing of files with family, friends and co-workers.
- Streaming – Allows you to stream multimedia files that you uploaded.
- Many other features available in paid packages like backup, time travel and file versioning.
You can visit Wuala website to download the Wuala client software. The download is available for Windows, Linux, Mac and mobile platforms (Android, iPhone and iPad). When you visit their website, it automatically detects your operating system and shows you the relevant download link. Just click on the orange Download Wuala button to start downloading the software.
This software is designed using the Oracle Java technology. So you need to install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) before you can install it. The Wuala software can automatically download and install Java JRE for you. But if you want, you can visit http://www.oracle.com/../downloads/index.html to download the Oracle Java JRE yourself.
During the setup, the Wuala software can create a separate network drive in your computer (default is W:) – called Wuala Disk Drive. This makes it easy for you to access any files over the Wuala cloud storage. Just open this drive and copy, paste, delete etc., and it would upload, download, update files over the Wuala cloud storage. It is recommended that you create this Wuala Disk Drive.
The Wuala software setup needs you to reboot your computer at least once so that you can start using it. After you start your computer, you would find an extra drive labeled Wuala in your computer. The capacity of this drive is 5 GB and it is FAT32 formatted. This has many subfolders, for example, Devices, Photos, Documents, Music, Videos etc. You can use it as any other drive on your system for copying, storing or accessing any type of files. Wuala imposes a file size limit of 40 GB (which you do not have to worry about if you are using the free account).
Before you can use the Wuala cloud storage service, you need to create a new user account. Double-click on the Wuala icon on your desktop, or run Wuala from the Start Menu shortcut and it will prompt you to either create free account or log in using your existing Wuala account. Click on the Create Free Account button to create a free account.
After you have finished up creating a free account, you can access your account using the Wuala client software. Uploading a file or folder is just a matter of copy pasting. Just right-click in the Wuala client and paste the folder. You can also manage the sharing of files with friends and groups using this Wuala client among many other things.
The Wuala Disk Drive makes is very easy to share and sync files. Suppose you finished a report at your office, just save it to the Wuala Disk drive installed in your office computer. Then when you come back to your home, you can open it from the Wuala Disk drive installed in your home computer. This also makes the real time sharing of pictures and videos with family and friends faster and easier – especially if you are using a mobile device.
In the Preferences window of the Wuala client software, you can choose to auto-start Wuala client at Windows logon, choose a different drive letter for Wuala Disk Drive (which is W: be default), select the data transfer rate for upload and download, change your password and buy more storage if needed – among many other settings. You can also increase the local cache size which consists of all the frequently or recently used files that you have stored on the Wuala Disk Drive.
Unlike other cloud services, Wuala does not support accessing of your cloud storage files through a web app interface from your web browser, because of security related issues. But it does allow you to access your files through the web browser using a Java applet which is not much different from installing the Wuala Desktop client itself.
Wuala is a secure cloud storage service with 5 GB free storage space for starters. You can use it on your desktop or laptop computers running Windows, Mac or Linux. You can also use it on mobile devices like iPhone or Android based phones or tablets. This is a perfect solution to access your files from anywhere in the world – be it home, office, school or a friends place. This is also an ideal way to share your files with your friends and family members.
You can download Wuala desktop clients or mobile apps from http://www.wuala.com/.