Users who are accustomed to surfing the Internet have probably encountered cases of website data loss.

" 404 " is a common HTTP status code often encountered during web browsing. When you try to access a web page, the server returns a status code to tell you if the request was successful or not. The " 404 " status code indicates that the resource you are trying to access was not found on the server.

This may be because:

- The webpage has been deleted or moved, and the URL has not been updated.

- There is an error in the URL, causing the server to be unable to find the requested resource.

- There is a server configuration error.

Instead of relying on centralized services such as the Internet Archive, Baidu Cloud, Baidu Snapshot, etc., it is more fulfilling to take care of "permanent" storage yourself. After all, blockchain is also a kind of "database," and your own data should not be lost.

For Web3 regular users, how to find the simplest and most user-friendly storage methods for text and images? This article lists practical decentralized storage products, striving to make more users aware of, familiar with, and use these products, and achieve faster Mass Adoption from this aspect.

Firstly, the simplest and most primitive method of storage is to upload the converted hexadecimal data to the blockchain during the transfer process.

Satoshi Nakamoto once left a message in the Bitcoin genesis block, "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks."

This method is not difficult. Taking Ethereum as an example, you only need to use input data in the transfer (the transfer amount can be zero), convert the text you need to record into hexadecimal, and add "0x" at the front end.

The output content is, Hello BlockBeats

However, specialized craftsmanship is required to preserve large files such as web pages and videos. This article does not discuss the merits of theory and underlying protocols, but focuses on practical applications and introduces some products that ordinary users can actually use. Most of the products mentioned in this article have been used and tested by the author. Previously, the author also introduced Hologram, which combines NFTs with videos and live streaming. If you have more usable or fun products, please feel free to contact me, and let's onboard more real users together.

It is worth noting that the information mentioned in the storage applications can theoretically be accessed by everyone, so do not easily store sensitive files such as password-protected files. If you want to keep files confidential, encrypt them before uploading. Otherwise, as has happened before, embarrassing incidents may happen again, such as personal diaries uploaded by users on Mirror being made public.

Save web pages like Baidu Snapshot

ArConnect

ArConnect, as an unhosted wallet of the Arweave protocol, has a basic usage method similar to the well-known MetaMask. But its built-in Archive Page function is a web page preservation artifact. With just one click, you can save web pages to Ardrive and provide a simple and effective way to interact with Permaweb applications.

This is an archive of the Weekly Report on July 31, 2023, and it is displayed in a document format with no difference from the web page. It is stored in Ardrive as an 11-page document in PDF form, and can be downloaded.

It is worth noting that, just like operating MetaMask with Ethereum, using ArConnect's Archive Page also requires the use of AR tokens. For users who are not familiar with the Arweave network, there may be some difficulty. In this regard, we can solve this problem in the weweave mentioned later in this article.

Archive the Web

Archive the Web is an open and permanent public network archive. It is an open version built on Arweave, and users can also choose to save external links of web pages during the web page archiving process.

Archive the Web allows different users to select the same website for the Archive, thereby creating a chronological record of webpages. The above picture is an Archive of the BBC official website. Post articles like blogs and Medium.

In fact, Mirror is already the most successful Web3 product, but recently Mirror's momentum has gradually been replaced by traditional Substack. However, due to the team's concept, Mirror has been swinging between protocols and products for a long time, and the competition of the first WRITE token has also come to nothing. And because it has always focused on the protocol layer, Mirror's product is relatively weak, and authors are constrained when editing the page. And there is no official data display, and many components mainly rely on the community for support. As we all know, Mirror uses Arweave as its storage method for text, so let's take a look at what good products there are on IPFS.

Reference reading: "Mirror's choice of road: product or protocol?"

Planet

Planet is an open-source macOS native App that allows you to directly publish a website or blog from your computer to IPFS, and this website or blog can be bound to an ENS domain (such as ending in .eth). Because IPFS and ENS are both decentralized, the website you publish is also decentralized. Others can follow your latest updates through this App, and your updates can reach your audience directly without relying on a centralized cloud.

· Download and open the Planet client, click the plus sign at the bottom of the main interface to create your own Planet. After creating and writing the first article, your Planet will be published as an IPNS. Right-click on your website in the sidebar, select Copy IPNS. Then you will get a string of IPNS.

· Then you send this string of IPNS to other Planet users, and they can receive updates from you and can also bind their own ENS.

At the same time, Planet can also add RSS feeds on its own, and users who like to use RSS can also experience it.

If you use Planet, I strongly recommend reading olivida.eth's articles. You can appreciate the founder's meticulous polishing of the product, which is rare in the encryption industry. At the same time, ordinary people can also gain a lot of knowledge about IPFS, such as an introduction to IPFS and Pinning services.

Note: "Pinning" is a concept in IPFS. When a file is "Pinned" to a node, the file will not be deleted by the node's garbage collector even if it is no longer referenced by any other files. This makes "Pinning" a method to guarantee the persistence and accessibility of files.

Reference Reading: "Introducing Planet"

xLog

xLog is an on-chain open-source blog community for everyone, with a strong emphasis on social features. XLog supports wallet and email connectivity, allowing users to quickly create custom blogs with features such as custom domain names, subscriptions, comments, NFT minting, RSS subscriptions, and AI-enhancements.

In addition to leveraging a separate sidechain developed by the team itself, xLog not only uses IPFS to store content, but also has richer compilation and management tools, supporting more Web2 design display channels.

Store files like Dropbox and Baidu Netdisk. Filebase, web3.storage, and Ardrive

In contrast to Arweave, which requires payment from the start, IPFS protocols may be more friendly for beginners to test, as many IPFS-like products offer free storage space.

Two points need to be pointed out. Firstly, storage quota is based on the total amount of data you upload, not the amount of data stored at any given time. This is because these services use decentralized storage networks (such as IPFS and Filecoin) designed to provide durable, immutable data storage. This means that once you upload the data, it will be permanently stored on the network, even if you later delete the references to that data.

Web3.Storage

Web3.Storage is a platform that provides simple file storage services for developers, using decentralized protocols such as IPFS and Filecoin. Each user can get 5 GB of free storage quota, and users can access distributed storage without complicated operations.

When you upload files through Web3.Storage, these files will be added to the IPFS network and "pinned" to the nodes of Web3.Storage. This means that even if your local node is offline or you are not running your own IPFS node, your files can still be accessed by others on the IPFS network.

In addition, Web3.Storage also backs up your data to the Filecoin network, a decentralized storage network that provides additional data durability guarantees. This means that your data is not only stored on the IPFS network, but also on the Filecoin network, providing additional redundancy and durability.

The author uploaded the PDF file of the mentioned Archive to Web3.Storage

Filebase

Filebase provides a simple way to use and leverage decentralized storage networks, making it easier for developers to build and deploy decentralized applications. Filebase also provides an Amazon S3 compatible API, which means existing S3 tools and libraries can be used to interact with Filebase without the need to learn a new API or modify existing code.

Filebase also offers 5 GB of free storage space.

Ardrive

ArDrive is a platform based on Arweave that provides permanent storage services, allowing users to store valuable files on decentralized networks. Users need to connect their Arweave wallet and pay a one-time fee to permanently store their data. The files mentioned in the Archive using ArConnect are displayed in this protocol.

This file link: https://app.ardrive.io/#/file/c4525815-1a84-4145-833b-a65d06412b 95/view

Weweave

Due to the difficulty for users to use AR tokens and download wallets, there is a certain learning curve for users accustomed to the Ethereum ecosystem. PermaDAO, a DAO organization focused on the Arweave ecosystem, has built Weweave, a cloud storage-like product based on Arseeding.

The main point is that you can enjoy Arweave's storage service without integrating with the Arweave ecosystem. Users can connect their Ethereum wallet and use Ethereum or BSC chain tokens to obtain storage on the Arweave ecosystem.

Weweave is easy to understand, and users familiar with Ethereum can easily start using it to achieve true permanent storage.

Preserving the front-end of websites

In addition to saving various proprietary data, displaying the front-end of a website in a decentralized manner is a more advanced way to play.

The combination of websites and IPFS

In an interview as early as 2020, F2Pool co-founder Wang Chun mentioned that stake.fish is based on IPFS for building or backing up websites. Uniswap also has been relying on IPFS for front-end backup since the V1 version, which has continued to the V3 version and kept up with updates.

Source: Uniswap's GitHub

Given that this feature has not been tested by the author, we will briefly introduce the steps based on "Decentralized Uniswap Interface Hosting on IPFS" by Crust Network.

Step 1: Build the Uniswap website

The latest version of the Uniswap interface includes all content in a Build folder.

Step 2: Upload the website to IPFS

Uniswap uses Pinata (one way of pinning) to upload the Build folder to the IPFS network so that the file can be retrieved on the IPFS network.

Step 3: Pin it to IPFS

Uniswap Interface integrates with Pinning services, such as pinata.cloud and Crust Network, to ensure that the Build folder is distributed across the network.

Step 4: Update DNS Records

The DNS records for Uniswap Interface allow the website to be accessed via a readable URL, app.uniswap.org. The DNS record configuration is as follows: CNAME record for app.uniswap.org with a value of cloudflare-ipfs.com.

Above are the simple steps to integrate IPFS with Uniswap. For the latest Uniswap ports, it is best to confirm through official channels such as GitHub.

Integration of Websites and Arweave

Similarly, deploying web frontends like Uniswap to Arweave is also feasible. Interested students can refer to the article "Permanently deploy decentralized React frontends to Arweave" for more information.

In my search for information, I also discovered that there is already an Arweave-based frontend for Uniswap.

Storage Integrated into Protocols

In addition to the aforementioned products, decentralized media platform Glass allows creators and communities to directly interact. It focuses on uploading video content to the blockchain and conducting a series of community and financial activities. OurNetwork, a reputable on-chain data community, has previously uploaded their data analysis courses to Glass.

Lens Protocol, highly sought after by airdrop users, also adopts a hybrid approach of decentralized and centralized storage for user data.

Source: Lens Protocol Documentation

The data of Lens Protocol can be stored in decentralized and immutable solutions such as IPFS or centralized services, depending on the use case.

Not to mention, uploading the original PFP image to decentralized storage networks has become a standard practice in the NFT industry.

What are the challenges of mass adoption in storage?

In addition to user habits. In a conversation with Sandy, a developer from everVision Arweave, the author learned that from the perspective of application development, many data and interfaces at the protocol layer are not yet friendly to application development. Moreover, as an application, there is also a certain difficulty in obtaining funding for sustained development.

Cost, stability of underlying protocols, and data availability may all be problematic. Many application layer products need to rebuild a system based on previous data. And many teams capable of doing so will eventually not maintain a practical application with a wide range of use cases, but will turn to "protocols" or "middleware" like Mirror did before, actively integrating other applications by promoting their own standards.

Just like the current situation of Layer 2 protocols, most of them focus on implementing staking, security, data availability, and so on. But when it comes to products, they often don't differ much from Layer 1.

Considering the sustainability of the product. In Web3, under the same circumstances, it is difficult for a product to sustain profitability without introducing tokens. Products that do not make money are difficult to maintain and update in the long term. This is why we often see many products that are relatively rudimentary, fail to operate continuously, or simply become ineffective. Either they are used for small team practice or they do not prioritize user experience and only need to be functional.

And if tokens are introduced, not only will the product be influenced by airdrop hunters, but it is also likely to fall into a similar predicament as GameFi in the combination of product and tokens, inevitably leading the product and tokens into a "death spiral".

The market is like playing a balance game, seeking the best balance between investment and actual returns. Just by looking at the current industry trend, we can see the result: people are more inclined to focus on protocols and pay relatively less attention to applications.