Frequently Asked Questions

There will probably be a free version of datagnan, yet with a limited set of features. To enjoy all features of datagnan, a subscription of datagnan Premium is required. The monthly fee for datagnan Premium will be less than 5 EUR per month, and will be used to continue development (e.g. new features) and maintenance (e.g. adding support for other platforms and fixing bugs) of datagnan.

While network-attached-storage (NAS) systems ensure that your data is only stored on your devices, as datagnan does, they are conceptually different: they are centralized and have to be configured by you. You need to create user accounts, you need to define which user is allowed to access which subfolders, etc. Essentially, you need an administrator who takes care of the NAS system and manages it. And if the NAS system is damaged, you need to go through the same configuration process again.

Datagnan is different: there is no central unit that needs to be configured. You don't need to setup user accounts, and you don't need to define which user is allowed to access which files and folders. Hence, you don't need to re-configure anything if one of your devices fails.

Compared to Dropbox, iCloud, and other cloud storage solutions, datagnan is based on a fundamentally different approach: your data never leaves your devices. Since you are in full control of your devices, only you have access to your data. If you like, you can even run a datagnan home cloud while being disconnect from your Internet service provider.

To ensure that no-one in your WLAN network can eavesdrop, all communication between your devices is encrypted using state of the art cryptography (as of 2015, AES with a key length of 256-bit). To further ensure that only your own devices can communicate with each other, each device authenticates itself using a X.509 certificate and a 2048-bit RSA public key.

On desktop systems (Windows, Mac, Linux), you can access your files and folders as before and with every application that can access the local filesystem. The datagnan application is only used to define your requirements and to manage the devices that are part of your network. With the datagnan application, you can tell the system which files and folders are needed on which devices, or which files and folders should be stored multiple times in your datagnan network.

On mobile platforms (iOS and Android), you can access your files and folders through the datagnan mobile application - in the same way you access files stored in your Dropbox.

Yes and no. The core of datagnan is definitely the software and its algorithms. In the beginning, we will also offer the datagnan software only. The software enables you to connect your devices, let them synchronize your files securely, and essentially lets you run your own personal home cloud. You can also install datagnan on an embedded Linux platform (such as as Raspberry Pi) if you like and setup your own network-connected hard drive that supports your datagnan network.

Once all targeted operating systems and mobile platforms are fully supported, we plan to release a network-connected hard drive that is easy to install, integrate and use - also by non-experts.

Datagnan will support all major desktop systems (Windows, Mac, and Linux), as well as the two primary mobile platforms Android and iOS.