Frequently Asked Questions

  1. First of all, how hard is it to learn how to use My little Big Data?
    It is very easy to learn how to use it; there are no complicated operations or training involved. Most people pick it up in minutes.
  2. Do individuals and small businesses really have a "real" Big Data problem?
    Yes, they do by all means. Big Data is more than 80% unstructured content which are our PDF files, pictures, word files, spreadsheets, photographs, videos, digital books, music files, songs, I mean; you name it. Our smartphones and tablets are full of it. Companies also have their fair share which are web logs, blogs, digital file creations of all sorts, web contents etc. So, Big Data is not really business data that pertains to big corporations. All of us as individuals are adding to it with our digital cameras, email attachments etc. and it is becoming an ocean of data that is hard to search and find without a proper, easy and economical solution. True business data which is structured is now less than 20%.
  3. So, I already have a 1 TB drive in my PC; can I still take advantage of My little Big Data System?
    Yes. Your 1 TB drive is dedicated to your PC and even if your PC is still on your network, other network users cannot use it. My little Big Data is available to anyone already in your network and any of these devices including your PC can drag and drop files/contents into My little Big Data as a central repository.
  4. What is the difference between the 1 TB on my PC vs. the 1 TB on the My little Big Data system?
    The main difference is no folder management coupled with the search engine assistance. You can drag-n-drop any type of content into My little Big Data. It will manage it and create search based on your meta-data as well as data within any textual documents. Then, you will be able to search them with fuzzy key words and find them instantly.
  5. Can My little Big Data accept any type of document or content?
    Yes. My little Big Data already recognizes the most commonly utilized file types called mimes. So when you drag-n-drop them into the drop zone, it will file it away and recognize it by its type. So when you retrieve it back, My little Big Data can display or play the file depending on its (mime) file type.
  6. What happens to files and contents like zip files that are not standard playable files?
    This is where My little Big Data functions as a repository. My little Big Data will recognize these contents as custom file types and still archive it for you. If you enter good meta-data for it, you can keep it there and still find it and download it back when you need it. My little Big Data will not accept folders.
  7. What is meta-data?
    Meta-data refers to the description and information such as creator, author etc. of a file which does not contain that within the textual part of the file. In other words, a song file is all songs and no text is entered inside it. But its meta-data contains information such as author etc.
  8. Can I manage additional meta-data for my files.
    Yes, you can do that. My little Big Data provides additional area for your definition of file descriptions as well as detailed meta-data entry.
  9. What type of items are searchable by My little Big Data.
    My little Big Data can search by part or full file name, its description, its meta-data and any text that is contained within textual documents. Textual documents are files that we enter text into which becomes data.
  10. What are examples of textual documents?
    Your PDF files, word files, excel files, text files, html files etc. has text in it. My little Big Data will extract this and provide a search based on these texts. But a video or a music file does not have text other than its default meta-data.
  11. What if I have cloud or NAS storage; do I still need My little Big Data?
    Most free Cloud storages are limited to a certain size limitation. So this could be a problem. Larger cloud storages can be costly and thus defeats the purpose in some ways. When you add up all the cost for their equipment plus storage rental charges, we have found some cloud storages that are costlier than My little Big Data especially when it gets to reasonable size storage. Many people utilize cloud as extra storage and/or backup. My little Big Data does all of that. As data is increasing, storage requirements are increasing; as a result, few cloud systems are capping the allotments. As with NAS, it is only folder based storage like a PC with no search engine.
  12. What about security? I have been concerned about cloud security.
    My little Big Data is highly secure already. Many people are concerned about the security in the cloud due to the breaches etc. This is a problem that continues because hackers are constantly targeting large cloud storage systems to get to the confidential data that is stored there. My little Big Data is not on the internet and so such security concerns are not there. In addition, if the cloud server is taken away for investigation, your data also goes with it. With My little Big Data, your data stays with you.
  13. How does cloud storage differ from My little Big Data?
    My little Big Data is lot more than storage. It is a smart search engine that can do intelligent search within your data that operates on a server; and the server provides many different functions.
  14. How can I use My little Big Data as a PC?
    While functioning as a server and search engine, My little Big Data is also an Ubuntu Linux PC. As the Ubuntu platform is open source, it already has open source browser, office suite and other software systems pre-loaded. Simply move your keyboard, monitor and mouse to it and you have a fully functioning powerful PC. As a server, a keyboard, mouse and monitor are not necessary.
  15. What is meant by the smart phone is becoming a PC?
    We travel around with our smart phones and many of the new smart phones have a 64-bit quad core processor in them. This processor has much the same processing power and memory as many PC’s. With the right fairly inexpensive hookups, you can do many of the functions on the smartphone as we do on the PC. There is a trend to utilize the smartphone at home as a full-fledged PC with docking stations. What is missing is your storage like the PC. My little Big Data can be utilized as your missing storage system.
  16. You mentioned music player, video player etc. — how does that work?
    We hardly have stereos anymore and our PCs have been a music player and a CD player. Much of these functions have been moved into the browser and these functions are getting richer by the day due to world-wide standards and adoption. No other system is getting such wide attention and research as our browser because of this importance. The video players and music players are operational from My little Big Data via proper configuration through the browser. With My little Big Data, each user could listen to his/her own music and videos on their own network devices such as phone, tablets etc.
  17. Also an entertainment center was mentioned - how does that work?
    During the time when the PC was popular, media centers were set up on PC’s. Now that the role of the PC is diminishing, we can utilize open source media systems that are available under the Linux platform. Such systems are already preloaded into the My little Big Data server. With wireless Bluetooth capabilities, mini keyboards such as the one that we are offering are configured to act as portable media center controllers. Now you have a well-rounded multipurpose device at your disposal.
  18. What exactly is the new form factor that is mentioned here?
    As discussed here, computing power has shrunk to such mini units; the brand new series of hardware components such as the ones utilized inside My little Big Data do not take up much room. This trend is evolving and slowly catching up. The Intel NUC based units that we offer are so incredibly small and are blazing fast when utilized with SSD (solid state drive) units.
  19. Information is the new currency; how so?
    Just as much as education pays for itself, having knowledge at our fingertips is invaluable. For peace of mind, we always think of redundancy, and we carry backups. In that line of thinking, stuff that we have and is at our finger tips assures more peace of mind than information that could be sitting somewhere else. Sometimes a public search may not render the results that we are looking for. But information in My little Big Data can be searched and tabulated for important statistics any time. Collective information from all our devices and sources organized and tabulated within My little Big Data renders key ‘insights’ that are not possible otherwise. This means ‘incredible’ value to us; right here; right now.
  20. So, how can one justify the price of My little Big Data System?
    If you look at it, it is already a PC and right there is a good part of the justification. Then it is a state-of-the-art server and it is a heavy duty search engine. When you add the other features, we truly believe that the My little Big Data system is a great asset for us as well as a great value for the money invested. We don’t think you will find all these valuable features packed into such a tiny small package. And what you could find elsewhere could end up costing a lot more for those individual components in bits and pieces. It truly is an asset and a bargain; one that can make you more productive.

For more information, contact us today!