FAQ

1. I received the email authorizing me to participate, but when I try to sign up, it says "User creation not allowed". What gives?

   Please ensure you are registering with the same mail address to which we sent the invitation.

2. How do I reset my password?

   Click the Forgot your password? link on the Bitcasa Sign-in screen. Enter your email address in the Request Account Recovery screen and press the Request button. An email will be sent to your account with the steps to reset your password.

3. What does Cloudify do?

   When a folder is Cloudified, a corresponding virtual folder is created on the Bitcasa server and the contents of your local folder are copied up to the server. When Connected to the Bitcasa server, any changes or additions to the folder will live on the server. When not Connected to the Bitcasa server, any changes or addition to the folder will live locally.

4. How much data can I Cloudify?

   You can Cloudify as much data as you want. Bitcasa offers infinite storage!

5. Is my Cloudified data secure?

   Yes, only you have access to your data. Bitcasa encrypts and decrypts your data on your computer before uploading to the Bitcasa system. Nobody at Bitcasa can see your data. We can't even see the filenames. All we see are blobs of encrypted data. We don't even know who owns them.

6. Can I Cloudify individual files?

   Currently Bitcasa mounts Cloudified versions of folders over local folders, so there is no provision for Cloudifying individual files.

7. Why doesn't my local disk usage reduce once I've Cloudified by folders?

   Your local disk usage does not reduce because, in the beta release, Bitcasa does not delete the local folder after Cloudification. The local version of the folder is still on the local disk, underneath the server version.

8. How long does Cloudify take?

   Cloudification speed is dependent on several factors including the size of the folder, speed of the computer, the speed of the network connection, and whether the files have ever been Cloudified before.

9. I had to stop my folder Cloudification. How do I restart it?

   Simply select the same folder and then drag and drop it into the Bitcasa Folder view to restart the Cloudification. It will look like it is starting over, but after encryption, it will find the files that were previously cloudified and not have to upload them again.

10. What does Disconnect do?

    When a cloudified folder is selected in the Bitcasa Folder view, clicking the Disconnect button, unmounts the folder from the server. This allows you to access the local version of the folder normally hidden beneath the server version. It appears to return the folder to the same state as it was in prior to being Cloudified.

11. What does Connect do?

    When a Disconnected folder is selected in the Bitcasa Folder view, clicking the Connect button, causes the server version of the folder to be mounted over the local version. The contents of the local folder will appear to be replaced by the contents of the folder on the server.

12. What does Remove do?

    When a Disconnected folder is selected in the Bitcasa Folder view, clicking the Remove button will remove all access to the folder from the Bitcasa server. Any files or modifications that were only on the server will no longer be available.

13. Can I tell Bitcasa how much cache to use on my local system?

    Bitcasa Menu | Preferences | Cache can be used to set the amount of disk space that Bitcasa can have the operating system allocate for its cache. Certain Bitcasa operations will make the cache temporarily larger then the Cache Size setting. Later when the operation is completed, the cache will be reduced back to the reserved size.

    Note: Reducing the cache to a very small size, such as 1 GB will adversely affect performance because Bitcasa will need to access the server more often.

14. Can I delete my local copy of my files once I've Cloudified them?

    Because Bitcasa is in beta, we don't recommend deleting the local copy of your files. However, it is possible to delete them by following the steps below:

    1. Disconnect the folder
    2. Delete the files
    3. Reconnect the folder again to see the cloudified version
15. What operating systems are supported today?

    Currently the Bitcasa beta is available on Macs with 64-bit Intel processors running MacOS 10.6.3 or newer and Windows PCs running XP SP3, Vista and 7 in both 32 and 64 bit flavors. Bitcasa beta for Linux is in our plans.

16. Can I access my data from a web browser?

    We have a web portal that provides you with secure access to your files over SSL. The web portal requires a browser that supports HTML5 to function well. We recommend the latest stable release of Chrome although Ineternet Explorer 9+, Safari 5.1.2+ and Firefox 9+ should all work well.

17. I Cloudified a bunch of folders, but now they clutter up my desktop, how do I remove them?

    When you Cloudify a folder, finder recognizes it as a "connected server". This allows you to control the visibility of Cloudified folders on the desktop. Check the "Show these items on the desktop: connected servers" in the general tab of finder preferences to show Cloudified folders on the desktop. Uncheck it to have Cloudified folder not show up on the desktop.

18. How do I return the finder sidebar to its default state?

    It turns out that sometimes the Finder sidebar has issues with network folders. You can reset finder back to its default setting by pasting the following line into a terminal window and then pressing the return key.

    $> rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sidebarlists.plist* && killall Finder
19. I can access my Bitcasa folders at home, but not at work. What is wrong?

    Currently Bitcasa uses tcp/443 to connect to the Internet. However, some corporate firewalls may still be able to block us.

20. Where do I get the most recent version of Bitcasa?

    The most recent version of Bitcasa is always available at http://www.bitcasa.com/downloads/

21. How do I move the Bitcasa cache to a different drive that has more space?

    You can create a symlink that will move the Bitcasa cache by activating a terminal view and entering something similar to:

    $> rm ~/Library/Caches/com.bitcasa.Bitcasa
$> ln -s /path/to/desired/folder ~/Library/Caches/com.bitcasa.Bitcasa

    where you substitute /path/to/desired/folder with the new location where you want the cache to live. This will relocate both your incoming cache and where Bitcasa does the temporary copy when it is Cloudifying files via a copy.

22. How do I use Bitcasa to move files from one computer to another?

    In the current implementation, the best way to transfer files is in a sequential fashion where you only connect one computer to the Bitcasa service at a time. You Cloudify a new folder and then exit prior to activating Bitcasa on the second computer. The current release does not notify the other computer when changes are made. Synchronization between multiple computers is coming in a future release.