Decentralized Storage

What Is Decentralized Storage

Decentralized storage was introduced in 2013-15 by InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) projects, Storj, and Siacoin. The central concept is to use the advantages of decentralized networks to improve privacy, security, censorship resistance, expenses, and availability of file storage systems. Bear in mind that the concept of decentralized storage is different from cloud storage, which stores files remotely on servers run by a service provider like Google Drive or Amazon Drive. 

A cloud storage provider’s data is stored in a central server, which means that they are a single point of failure. As a result, these providers can experience downtime or attacks from hackers, which leads to lower availability and, in severe cases, loss of stored data. These servers are also managed by a private entity, which gives it unlimited rights to restrict access to some customers and control data.

Decentralized storage systems break up user files into different encrypted pieces and distribute their storage to other participants of a network. These networks are distributed across geographic areas and organizations. This distribution leads to a number of advantages like:‍

• The distribution of many surplus copies of file fragments results in increased security and privacy. If some nodes on the network are attacked or down, files can be recovered intact from the nodes still operational. 

• The decentralized system is censorship resistant as no single entity, server, or administrator is in charge of the network.

• Decentralized storage systems offer better processing or usage time as they offer data downloads from multiple network nodes, the majority of which are online at any time.