Is Bitcasa a Dropbox without the folder in the local machine ?

Bitcasa is a new startup that positions itself as an ‘Infinite Storage on Your Desktop’. I saw their demo, and backstage interview with Jason Kincaid at this weeks TC Disrupt conference. Most of the judges seem to compare them with Dropbox. However, the founder/CEO Tony Gauda say’s they are not like Dropbox but instead a user’s hardrive in the cloud.

I am yet to try their product, but based on the backstage interview it seems to me that Bitcasa is an extension of Dropbox without the contents of the data in your local machine(s) Dropbox Folder.

Dropbox Model
———————-  

-  The actual file is stored in the local machine and an exact copy in the Cloud.
-  You always request a file from the local computer(s) (unless you use the Web Client).
-  All changes you make are in the local copy of the file. These changes are ‘synced’ to the copy
   in the cloud. 

 

Bitcasa Model
———————

 - The actual file is NOT stored in the local machine. The reference to a file is stored in
 the local machine. [A 'hash' as Tony metions]
 - When you request a file from the local machine, Bitcasa is actually making a request to it’s  Cloud(BitCasa) and gets the file back that matches the hash. [If not already present  in the local cache based on past user behavior]
- All changes you make are stored in the cloud. There is no local copy except for cached data
to stream data faster to your computer(s).

The problems I see with the Bitcasa model are the latency issues of getting the data to my local machine. It might work perfect for me living in Silicon Valley with a decent high speed internet connection. However, if I am in some remote town with a dialup or slow internet connection, I will most likely have issues trying to access my own data. In the Dropbox model, I at least have access to the latest data before I venture into a no-internet zone.

 

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