Many people are using services such as Dropbox and Google Cloud to share and protect important files. A new service has hit the Kickstarter website and the aim is to offer cloud based storage, but back in the home of the user.

Solutions such as Dropbox put the actual data into a data center in a remote location. Space Monkey is unlike other cloud services because they ship you a piece of hardware to place in your home. The hardware is offered at $10 a month, which compares well against Dropbox for instance, which is $9.99 a month for 100gb.

When the data is uploaded through Space Monkey, it is encrypted and then spread out to different drives on the network. This is to protect the data in event of failures. It also creates redundant copies which helps to make sure no files are lost. All of the files are also available on the internet thanks to the software.

A folder is added to the user desktop and anything added here will be uploaded to the service for access anywhere. The company also want to release an iOS and Android program to support mobile devices.

Obviously this ‘cloud' system is much faster than traditional systems as it is based around a local network. If you are outside the range of the local network, then the company say the speeds are similar to traditional cloud storage services.

Space Monkey is seeking funding for the new storage system via Kickstarter. The Kickstarter campaign is due to end later today and it has already met $328,359 of its $100,000 initial goal. If you pledge $119 then you get the Space Monkey device itself and one year of access.

Kitguru says: An unusual idea, but based on the Kickstarter funding amount of over $300,000, a lot of people want it.

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