Decentralized Cloud Computer Storage Device Myths You Should Know

Decentralized cloud computer storage operates by encrypting data, breaking them up, and distributing it on separate storage devices run by a different organization. This type of setup allows better management of power supply and a more stable network connection compared to its centralized counterpart.

Centralized cloud storage holds a massive amount of information in huge data centers run by a single organization which results in significant and possibly wasteful energy consumption.

However, people may still be more familiar with centralized cloud storage due to the mysteries and myths surrounding decentralized cloud storage.

Decentralized Cloud Computer Storage Device Myths

Here are some of the common misconceptions about decentralized cloud storage:

Decentralized Cloud Storage is not a thing.

Some people may think that decentralized cloud computer storage is not real since the concept of bringing independent individuals together to complete this setup sounds chaotic. How can independent storage service providers who are not coordinated deliver a great outcome?

However, if you think about it-- this concept is not too far-fetched. For instance, whenever you are in a video call using a web app or even your mobile app-- your audio and video are broken up into lots of little bits, encrypted and distributed over different routers run by many different companies all around the world. Even though these companies are not exactly associated with one another, your video call still works.

Decentralized cloud storage uses a similar concept to function. Companies are offering these services in the market already. So, decentralized cloud storage is very much a thing. It exists.

You can lose data when a storage node goes offline.

First of all, what is a storage node? It is a physical server with one or more storage devices like hard disk drives (HDD) or solid-state drives (SSD). This device is used in backup and recovery operations.

Some people believe that since decentralized cloud storage uses independent service providers, there is a possibility of losing data if one of the storage nodes goes offline.

However, you need to keep in mind that service providers offering decentralized cloud storage audit their storage nodes to ensure that they are all in tip-top shape. They also try to detect any malicious behavior to prevent system errors. Aside from that, much like with any computer storage service provider, decentralized cloud storage providers also observe redundancy when it comes to their backups. Your data will still very much be available even if a storage node goes offline.

Storing data on separate data centers can't be safe.

The whole concept of cloud storage is being able to store your data in a whole different place than your physical office. Although understandably, people entrust their data to ONE centralized cloud storage provider, the experience is no different with decentralized cloud storage providers.

Decentralized cloud storage providers will not leave you to fend for yourself to manage the different locations of the computer storage devices. You just need to find a service provider that you can trust and get over the idea of the independent data centers.

On top of that, most-- if not all-- decentralized networks create zero-knowledge, zero-trust environments which means your data is safe.

Data distribution makes the network slow.

Since decentralized cloud storage utilizes independent computer storage device networks, people have a misconception that this type of setup is slow. This myth comes from the idea that it takes time to distribute all the data all over the network.

Contrary to this belief, decentralized cloud storage is high-performing. Why? Because instead of downloading a single file from a single location and serializing that transfer, you get a data-sharing system that has no bottleneck due to parallelism.

Your data will only be limited by the bandwidth where the actual download is occurring. It means that if you have high-bandwidth data-- you can greatly benefit from decentralized cloud storage.

Bottomline

This type of storage device network setup is an excellent choice for backing up large data sets from point-to-port file transfer for large files, media serving to software distribution.

Hopefully, you would see decentralized cloud storage in a better light after busting these common myths.