P2P File System

Imagine a file system with seemingly limitless space, that can be accessed from anywhere securely. Imagine a network not about file sharing, but instead resource sharing. Imagine a P2P Secure Distributed file system, like SETI@HOME in the business of storing your files instead of searching for ET.

The system would involve a small app that runs on your desktop and accepts a certain amount of data that others have added to the network. From that app you could also post data to the network. For example if you were to upload a 60 MB video file from your digital camera, it would be split up into 60 pieces to be stored on around 600 different computers (10 available copies of each piece). Each would be encrypted with your password and would be tagged with your user name so that no one else could access them.

But what about storage limits? Well users would gain points for the amount they allow to be stored, the amount of uptime they provide, and the amount of bandwidth they allow to be transferred. The more they give to the network, the more they'll get out of it.

There would have to be a central authority in charge of handling the base metadata, and perhaps providing a cluster of P2PFS servers for added redundancy and guaranteed network uptime. But beyond that it would all depend on the users of the network. Like SETI@HOME, the machines would dedicate more resources when idle.

Linux versions could be made to boot off live CDs, and run off RAM for computers that desire to be dedicated to the task without wasting ANY HD space for overhead.

See link for more technical details and a description of my inspiration.