[ANN] Storj - Decentralized Storage

[RGBKey]

So, when can I start selling my terabytes of space? I'm about to go and buy 49 hard drives which will connect to my 49 port USB hub.

Do I get paid in bitcoin? Can I be anonymous?

I'm sure you know what you're doing, but make sure that your hub can power all your drives. I have a hub that my drive doesn't work on.

[Dabs]

Of course the hub can power the drives. They were designed to power 49 hex-chip miners all at once. Like 1 amp at 5 volts per port.

If I use a fat desktop hard drive though, those are externally powered. There are even fireproof/waterproof hard drives.

[super3]

So, when can I start selling my terabytes of space? I'm about to go and buy 49 hard drives which will connect to my 49 port USB hub.

Do I get paid in bitcoin? Can I be anonymous?

We are building out the front end app first, and we are almost ready to release it. You can have all the space you want, but if no one is buying it you won't earn a penny.
If you run a full web node yes you can get paid in Bitcoin, and be somewhat anonymous. Don't want to give a specific date for the selling portion. We don't make two week(tm) promises.

Get some good data on my proof of storage algorithm this month. After that we will doing limited testing with early supporters till we get it right.

[Atroxes]

So, when can I start selling my terabytes of space? I'm about to go and buy 49 hard drives which will connect to my 49 port USB hub.

Do I get paid in bitcoin? Can I be anonymous?

We are building out the front end app first, and we are almost ready to release it. You can have all the space you want, but if no one is buying it you won't earn a penny.
If you run a full web node yes you can get paid in Bitcoin, and be somewhat anonymous. Don't want to give a specific date for the selling portion. We don't make two week(tm) promises.

Get some good data on my proof of storage algorithm this month. After that we will doing limited testing with early supporters till we get it right.

Getting it right is key to get the starter momentum and a project like this will only flourish with A LOT of attention at the very start, so the first-time experience for buyers and sellers is vital to Storj's success. Great to hear you're putting some effort into making sure things are running smoothly instead of just throwing proof-of-concept alpha software out there.

[anixosees]

So will you be able to share files with other people?
If so, would it be like Mega, where I can upload my files, then generate a link anyone can use to access them...
or will the person receiving the share also have to be Storj users?

[super3]

So, when can I start selling my terabytes of space? I'm about to go and buy 49 hard drives which will connect to my 49 port USB hub.

Do I get paid in bitcoin? Can I be anonymous?

We are building out the front end app first, and we are almost ready to release it. You can have all the space you want, but if no one is buying it you won't earn a penny.
If you run a full web node yes you can get paid in Bitcoin, and be somewhat anonymous. Don't want to give a specific date for the selling portion. We don't make two week(tm) promises.

Get some good data on my proof of storage algorithm this month. After that we will doing limited testing with early supporters till we get it right.

Getting it right is key to get the starter momentum and a project like this will only flourish with A LOT of attention at the very start, so the first-time experience for buyers and sellers is vital to Storj's success. Great to hear you're putting some effort into making sure things are running smoothly instead of just throwing proof-of-concept alpha software out there.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'd like to think that I've been in this space long enough that I can learn from other's mistakes, and get Storj right the first time.

So will you be able to share files with other people?
If so, would it be like Mega, where I can upload my files, then generate a link anyone can use to access them...
or will the person receiving the share also have to be Storj users?

So yes, the web software will function like that. Drag-drop-done. No need to install special software, or have your friend download Storj. We make it simple to use from Day 1, and then build features and clients from there.

[anixosees]

Cool, thanks.
I noticed the long thread of comparison to MaidSafe and I had another question along those lines. MaidSafe talks about distributing fragments of files throughout the network to prevent comprise of files that might occur if a single node held them. Does Storage implement technology like that or when I pay for storage/bandwidth, do I buy from a single person and my data is stored exclusively with them?

[super3]

We are taking the same model. Distributed fragments on multiple machines. We also will be using MaidSafe directly, so you will get that same method through their system.

[js1985]

Last time I ran the numbers it was around $8k per 1Gbit at market prices. Dropbox charges $1 per GB per year, so you can do the math on that one.

Maybe 10 years ago prices under 1$ per mbit are common now on large commits, as for dropbox its easy to undercut them, some of us already do. Tho' they have a good brand and millions of venture money hence they can afford to waste money on amazon s3, alot of silicon valley companies never make a cent, its all a promise of.

Anyways whole thing smells fishy and still no reply to my question.

[devthedev]

I can't wait for this!!

[super3]

Last time I ran the numbers it was around $8k per 1Gbit at market prices. Dropbox charges $1 per GB per year, so you can do the math on that one.

Maybe 10 years ago prices under 1$ per mbit are common now on large commits, as for dropbox its easy to undercut them, some of us already do. Tho' they have a good brand and millions of venture money hence they can afford to waste money on amazon s3, alot of silicon valley companies never make a cent, its all a promise of.

Anyways whole thing smells fishy and still no reply to my question.

Oh I missed your second question. Basically the node is paid in intervals(which the application get to decide). So if the node accepts payment for the first hour, and then deletes the file they won't get paid anymore because they can't pass the hash verification test anymore. These should be really small amounts, so fraud should be fairly low. If someone really tries hard to exploit the system we can add in blockchain based escrow as well.

Eh, prices are just an easy selling point. Privacy, decentralization, open source, and security are things that Dropbox cannot offer. Would you backup your unencrypted Bitcoin wallet on Dropbox?

[Dabs]

So, either I make a lot of money with my hard drives, or I can buy really cheap space for my lifetime of photos and videos. Cool either way, although I'd prefer to make money.

[super3]

So, either I make a lot of money with my hard drives, or I can buy really cheap space for my lifetime of photos and videos. Cool either way, although I'd prefer to make money.

[KyrosKrane]

Let's say I dedicate a 4TB hard drive to the service, and then I upload 4TB of data. Is the intent that my income from sharing my drive equal my cost for storing the data? In other words, would it net out to zero?

[super3]

Let's say I dedicate a 4TB hard drive to the service, and then I upload 4TB of data. Is the intent that my income from sharing my drive equal my cost for storing the data? In other words, would it net out to zero?

If you had a replication factor of 1 then yes it would net to zero. But unfortunately data failures will happen. Hard drives will crash, people will turn their computers off. I recommend a replication factor of 3, which should give the network enough time to "heal" your replication if a node or two disconnects. So if we go with that then if you provide 4TB of physical space to the network, you get 1.33TB of file space back.

The I think the important distinction is that if you provide 4TB of physical drive space, you get 4TB of physical drive space back. When we add redundancy you are providing 1.33TB of file storage space to the network, and getting 1.33TB of file storage back.

[Dabs]

You can't really have both. If the space is cheap, you might as well buy from the cloud. If you can make a lot of money, sell to it.

If you net out to zero, why bother? If you need the backup for peace of mind, then you'll have to pay for it.

[JazzCouncil]

This. This is the kind of stuff I've been waiting to see. This is what makes programmable money (Bitcoin) so damn powerful.

[bitstock]

I saw the future.

[KyrosKrane]

You can't really have both. If the space is cheap, you might as well buy from the cloud. If you can make a lot of money, sell to it.

If you net out to zero, why bother? If you need the backup for peace of mind, then you'll have to pay for it.

Because then it becomes free to play with a new technology.

Besides, my 4TB drive is unused anyway right now...

[anixosees]

You can't really have both. If the space is cheap, you might as well buy from the cloud. If you can make a lot of money, sell to it.

If you net out to zero, why bother? If you need the backup for peace of mind, then you'll have to pay for it.

And as stated before you get privacy, decentralization, open source, and security. If you're just trying to make money, then that is another thing.