Sharing Storage

With Relica, you can offer your own storage space on your computer for others to back up to. This enables people—friends, family, whomever you want—to have offsite backups without extra costs: it is included in their Relica membership!

You can share storage with anyone – they do not need to have a Relica account. If they do not have an account already, they will be invited, and you will both get a referral bonus when they become a customer!

Requirements

This part gets a little technical, but we'll do our best to make it understandable. (If in doubt, just try it!) Basically, this feature should work for most Relica members. You might not be able to share your computer's storage if you live in an apartment complex, because of how they usually configure their networks. However, the reverse (backing up to others' computers) should work for nearly everyone in most places.

Here is a more detailed list of the requirements to share storage space:

• An active Relica membership. You'll need to be a Relica member with an active membership subscription (i.e. not overdue or cancelled).
• A computer that is on (and online) most of the time. We recommend a desktop computer or a file server that is always on and connected to the Internet. Laptops can be used, too, but they tend to be less available because they move. :)
• Some extra hard drive space. We recommend a large internal hard drive, or an external hard drive that is always plugged in. It should have plenty of space available! How much space depends on your friends' needs, but we recommend at least 1 TB drives. For advanced users, it could also be a NAS or file server with an array of drives.
• A public IP address. This basically means your home Internet needs to be set up directly with your ISP. A home router is perfectly fine. However, if your computer is in a location where you plug into a wall jack or connect to some sort of corporate WiFi, for example, this feature might not work. Technically speaking, you need to be on a LAN with a router that has UPnP enabled and a public IP address from your ISP. If you don't know what that means, it's OK: ask someone who manages your Internet and show them this web page. :)

To clarify: a static IP address is NOT required. What you need is a public IP address. Relica can usually adapt to changes in a public IP address in less than an hour.

Instructions

1. Open Relica. Click "Share Storage" on the left.
2. Choose a name for this storage space: something that you and others will be able to recognize, like "Mary's Hard Drive" or "Sam's Space".
3. Click the next field, and select a folder into which others' backups will be stored. Once you choose a folder, it should not be moved.
4. In the next field, type the email address of someone to invite. They don't have to be a Relica member: if they aren't, they'll be invited and you'll both gain referral bonuses (a discount on your subscription)! They'll be sent an email, and your computer will appear as a destination for them to back up to.
5. Choose a limit on how much space they can take up on your computer.
6. If desired, invite more people to back up to you by adding their email addresses and selecting a space limit.
7. Submit the form, and you're done!

You just created what is called a "peer", or a place where other Relica members can back up to. Only those you invite can back up to your peer.

Things to know

There is no need to create a new peer for every person you invite. Relica automatically organizes each account's backups into their own subfolders and repositories. Of course, their data is encrypted so only they can read it -- you cannot.

Invited members won't be able to back up to your computer if it is offline (for example, laptop lid closed and computer asleep) or if your network has configuration problems. Most standard home routers should "just work", though, so any time your computer is on and connected, people you invite should be able to successfully back up to your computer, even after you close the Relica tab in your browser.

Be aware of any extra costs you might incur for hosting people's backups. Some ISPs charge extra if you have lots of incoming data transfer ("download" - caused by backups, for example), or outgoing data transfer ("upload" - caused by restores). If you aren't sure, ask your ISP.