A new service offer users the possibility earn money by renting out their free hard disk drive (HDD) space to others. The developers of the service, which is called Storj, aim to build a cloud storage service that can't be censored and monitored and which never is down. During a crowdfunding campaign last year the service raised 910 Bitcoins which is currently worth about $215,000. The service is currently in development and in its beta stage.
Storj users form a peer to peer network together and make their free hard disk space available to other users. Files are encrypted on the user's computer before they are transferred to the network and stored on rented hard disk space. Users that offer free HDD space to the network can earn Storjcoin X,(SJCX) a digital valuta which can be exchanged for real money.
To store data on Storj, users first have to install the software MetaDisk which splits files that should be uploaded in blocks of 8MB or 32MB. After splitting, each block is encrypted, then distributed through the network and then stored on DriveShares which is free space on HDDs offered by other Storj users. The service regularly checks the integrity and availability of the uploaded files.
Because each block has an unique hash, it should also be possible to add illegal content to a so called 'grey list'. Users that provide HDD space can opt whether they want to store greylisted files or not. Storj is currently in beta and it's not known when the service becomes available for the general public.
