Is IPFS unlimited free storage to store?

A few months ago I didn’t know about IPFS and had to delete a huge chunk of video files and then Hard Drive got filled again shortly after so I decided to buy new a Hard Drive, I was wondering if IPFS desktop app offer unlimited free storage because I tried to upload quit a lot (but not as much as before) since I deleted a lot of mp4 and it still doesn’t tell me anything about storage and it seems the upload of files are also really fast especially for my own use, but if I share link then it takes a while before the “429 Too Many Request” error gone. If there’s limited storage then what’s the limited storage space on IPFS desktop app? Also how would I access the files if I switch to another Computer because I don’t have like an account to login to the saved work or anything. I think this industry is really interesting and have great potential to grow.

It’s a common misconception, IPFS is not a “place” where you “upload”.

The files you add, stay on your computer the whole time. The difference is that when the app is online other ppl can fetch the data. Think of it like bittorrent but fancier.

Hope it helps!

3 Likes

So it use up the spaces from my own computer? The more spaces my PC have the more I can import? I think I tried deleting the files from my own computer folder but it seem like the files imported to IPFS is still working.

It might be that a gateway (a website that speaks IPFS and that you can talk to via HTTP), has seen that you advertised your file, fetched it preventively, and is now caching it for some time. You shouldn’t count on it being available for a long time if you’re not providing it yourself (or if you have no reason to believe someone else provides it, either because you paid them to do so, or because they too have this file).