Free Encrypted Decentralized Cloud Storage: XOR Drive
Rolande Nater
Instead of having all the data stored in data centers, it gets broken down into micro-pieces (sharding), encrypted, and spread on the spare memory of multiple computers running software (nodes) and connected to a peer-to-peer network of other nodes running a copy of the same software.
There are two big groups of decentralized storage platforms:
Decentralized storage applications store data on a distributed p2p network run by computers located across multiple locations. Nodes are responsible for storing and securing data and maintaining the p2p network alive, communicating and sharing information with other nodes.
On one hand, we have users and developers paying significantly less to store their data in an encrypted and decentralized fashion. On the other hand, we have one or more computers, running the same piece of software, and storing parts or copies of the same data.
For their efforts, node providers offering their spare storage are usually rewarded by receiving incentives in form of tokens paid by users to store their data. Rewards are not high as blockchain developers salaries but offer a good opportunity to produce extra income out of unused storage space.
To make the data reliably available, while ensuring privacy and security, decentralized storage networks shard and encrypt the data stored.
That said, perhaps the biggest concern with centralized data storage models is that end users are required to trust the central authority of the provider to keep their data available, and secured, and to not tamper with or censor the content that the centralized cloud data providers host.
In contrast to permissioned cloud providers, decentralized cloud storage services leverage technologies spanning from distributed networks, sharding algorithms, cryptography, and occasionally, consensus mechanisms like Proof of Storage, to mitigate undue control or influence. All of this, while maintaining the data readily available, secured, and drastically cheaper to store.
This overall new data storage architecture helps make these systems more resistant to censorship, hacks, data losses, prohibitive pricing, and outages that have historically hit large centralized data centers.
Filebase is the first S3-compatible decentralized object storage and geo-redundant IPFS pinning service that allows users to store data across multiple decentralized storage networks and pin data to IPFS in seconds.
Built on top of decentralized storage protocols like IPFS and Sia, Filebase is a layer-2 solution that provides an easy on-ramp for users and enterprises alike to store their data in a manner where they benefit from secure, performant, and geo-redundant object storage.
Data stored in a bucket on the decentralized network Sia is stored and sharded through erasure coding, providing secure, geo-redundant storage. When nodes on the network go offline, missing shards are automatically repaired and uploaded to new nodes, without any interruption to you.
Arweave is a decentralized cloud storage network that connects those with spare disk space to those who need permanent data storage. It offers amazing levels of data replication and security, as well as financial incentives for those storing data.
The Arweave network is fully decentralized, meaning that anyone can store data in it or offer storage space connecting their free space. It can also be used to store all kinds of information like wikis, to PDFs, to videos, and web applications.
On top of the Arweave data storage layer, sits the permaweb a collection of interlinked documents and applications that are entirely permanent (they will stay there for an undefined amount of time). Because the Arweave network itself is built on top of HTTP, browsers have access to all of the data stored in the network.
Compared to other decentralized cloud storage services like Filebase and Arweave, Sia comes with a higher barrier to entry as a user. To set up a storage node on Sia, operators must generally download a copy of the entire Sia blockchain, transact using their native token, and have a fair amount of technical knowledge to get up and running.
Storj is built on top of a global network of independent nodes, peer-to-peer communications protocols, and satellites that allows the nodes to communicate. Even if early versions of the Storj protocol were blockchain-based, the current iteration of Storj does not utilize blockchain architecture, while maintaining decentralization characteristics.
Due to the complexities related to owning and launching a satellite, the Storj network This means that, although the Storj network prioritizes decentralization and is somewhat similar to blockchain infrastructure, it is not beholden to the transactional limitations of blockchain consensus mechanisms like Proof of Storage.
With millions of node operators hosting your data, the amount of available storage is massively higher. This, in turn, leads to substantially lower costs compared to existing centralized cloud storage platforms.
By employing P2P technologies and eliminating the need for a central server, multiple copies are stored on different nodes scattered across multiple locations through sharding, therefore allowing copies of data to be closer to the users, which leads to faster download speeds and fewer disasters-caused data losses.
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I'm not gonna lie, I depend on Google Drive. I use it every day and have done so for a long time. At the same time, I'm always on the lookout for other services to either take the place of Drive or be used for those instances where I don't necessarily trust my data to Google. If that sounds like you, I have a service you might want to try out.
The said service is Internxt, which is a zero-knowledge, encrypted, and decentralized platform that also happens to be open source. In fact, you can view and check out the source for not just the desktop and mobile clients, but the service itself. All of that code is hosted on the Internxt GitHub repository. Internxt has desktop clients for Linux, macOS, and Windows, as well as mobile clients for Android and iOS.
I've found Internxt to be an exciting entry to the cloud storage game, primarily because of its decentralized nature. What does that mean? Simply put, a decentralized platform allocates resources (hardware and software) to multiple locations, so not one server or data center is relied upon. What this does is not only share the workload but also offer a better security model and better reliability for a service. Should one system go down, there are still plenty of others running to pick up the slack.
So, Internxt is a decentralized cloud storage service, which means your files are fragmented and encrypted before they leave your device. Because of this, a third party will struggle to steal your data. If that sounds like a must-have feature for your cloud storage needs, read on.
Currently, Internxt has two different products. The first is called Drive and is used for files. The second product is called Photos and is used for, you guessed it, photos. They're working on a third product, called Send, which will allow you to send files from your account.
The biggest question I always ask of cloud storage solutions off the bat is do you have a desktop client? If the answer is "yes," I'll give them a chance. If not, I'll generally move on to the next option. Internxt does have a desktop client, although it's fairly bare-bones. In fact, the Internxt desktop client is really just a way to add a local directory to your account to keep in sync. The one caveat to Internxt is there is no file manager integration. You can connect your account to the desktop, specify the folder to be associated with the account, and even back up other folders from your local drive. But if you're looking for a file manager context menu (such as when you right-click a folder you can easily add that folder to your Internxt cloud storage), you're out of luck. If you want to sync a folder to your account, it'll need to be configured in the desktop app preferences and anything you add into that folder will sync to your decentralized Internxt account.
That's not necessarily a deal-breaker for most users because you can simply work from within that synced folder and you're good to go. For power users, it would be nice if Internxt would add file manager integration. Maybe, with a bit of prodding, they'll make that happen.
Once you've installed the Internxt desktop client (which is downloaded from within your cloud account - Figure 1), you can then open the app and change the location of your synced folder.
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