Decentralized File Storage (Interplanetary File System) using Blockchain

Cloud storage is one of the leading options to store massive data, however, the centralized storage approach of cloud computing is not secure. On the other hand, Blockchain is a decentralized cloud storage system that ensures data security. Any computing node connected to the internet can join and form peers network thereby maximizing resource utilization. Blockchain is a distributed peer-to-peer system where each node in the network stores a copy of the blockchain thus making it immutable. This paper focuses on decentralized secure data storage, high availability of data, and efficient utilization of storage resources. When you add a file to IPFS, your file is split into smaller chunks, cryptographically hashed, and given a unique fingerprint called a content identifier (CID). This CID acts as a permanent record of your file as it exists at that point in time. When other nodes look up your file, they ask their peer nodes who are storing the content referenced by the file's CID. When they view or download your file, they cache a copy and become another provider of your content until their cache is cleared. IPFS uses content addressing to identify content by what's in it rather than by where it's located. Looking for an item by content is something you already do all the time. IPFS and many other distributed systems take advantage of a data structure called directed acyclic graphs.