[Ethereum] How long do the files stay on IPFS when I upload it

ipfsstorageswarm

I'm trying to grasp the concept of how IPFS works. Say if I upload 1GB of data to IPFS. How long does it stay there? Or do I have to leave my computer on at all times for the file to be live on the IPFS system? If thats the case, why don't I just host it myself. What about SWARM? I'm trying to find a decentralized file storage system where I can upload once and it stays there forever.

Best Answer

IPFS doesn't solve the persistence problem for you, the only way currently to ensure that your files will exist is to pin them on an IPFS node, which means you need pin rights on that node. Run your own node, there are a few services out there that you can pay to pin content, find a node that will volunteer to pin your content, or wait for Filecoin which solves the problem by allowing you to pay Filecoin for persistence.

Related Solutions

IPFS – How to Keep IPFS Files Alive Online Forever

Once a piece of content is pinned, it is stored forever on your node until you explicitly unpin it. There is no need to pin a file more than once. If you pin a file, it never gets garbage collected like the files that are not pinned do.

From the IPFS Pinning Example:

A pinned object cannot be garbage collected, if you dont believe me try this:
ipfs add foo
ipfs repo gc
ipfs cat <foo hash>

[Ethereum] Is it possible to upload a file to IPFS using HTML’s tag

There is a full example at https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs-api/tree/master/examples/upload-file-via-browser using the latest js-ipfs-api. The ipfs-js module you referenced seems that is not maintained for over year now.

See the form tag here: https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs-api/blob/master/examples/upload-file-via-browser/src/App.js#L54-L56

See how to then add the file here: https://github.com/ipfs/js-ipfs-api/blob/master/examples/upload-file-via-browser/src/App.js#L20-L41

Best Answer

Related Solutions

IPFS – How to Keep IPFS Files Alive Online Forever

[Ethereum] Is it possible to upload a file to IPFS using HTML’s tag

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