Sia Coin Cloud Storage Releases Version 1.0.0 - Rent Your Unused Hard Drive Space

 Sia is the first one out of the gate with a fully functional blockchain based storage solution.

They just released version 1.0.0 makes it easy for anyone to rent unused storage space, set their own pricing, and length of contract. It also lets you do the opposite and rent storage space from others.

Additionally 3rd parties can write software for functionality such as image storage, searching and sharing.  Lots of possibilities here for future applications.

For a very detailed description read their Whitepaper.  

You may also find their FAQ helpful.

Currently the software is only available in a ZIP file format, a self-executing file is in the works for installation.  Versions are available for darwin, linux, and windows.

Just unzip the file and copy the resulting folder to a location of your choice.  In Windows double-click on the Sia-UI.exe file and the setup process begins.

So far the setup has been a breeze. First create your wallet (make sure to write down the wallet seed and password or you will not be able to recover funds if your hard drive fails or your computer is stolen), give it time to sync the blockchain for the first time, which can take some time.  On my system it took about 60 to 90 minutes, but mileage will vary depending on your connection speed and system.

If you want to check progress go to "Terminal" on the menu and type the word "consensus".

You will then need to deposit Sia coins to your wallet. You need to have a minimum of 50,000 Sia in the wallet to be able to rent your storage space, possibly more depending on how much space you are renting.  You can do this from existing coins in another wallet or purchase them from an exchange and deposit to your new wallet.

My next step was to setup as a host, you need to do this if you want to rent your free hard drive space. To do this specify the following:

- The folder you want to rent

- For how long you want to rent the space in weeks

- Collateral per TB per Month (SC), I set mine to 8000 SC initially

- Price per TB per Month (SC), I set it to 4500 SC

- Bandwidth Price (SC/TB), I set it to 1000 SC

- Set the "Accepting Contracts" Button to Yes

- Click on "Announce" at the upper left of the screen and you are in the rental business!

There are some status boxes displayed on the upper right that indicate the amount of active contracts, SC Earned, and SC Expected.

If you want to rent space for your own files you select Files from the options on the left of the screen, then click on buy storage and you are shown the options of 10GB, 100GB, and 250GB along with cost estimates.  

There is also a message that states that "Any unused funds will be refunded".  I take this to mean that if you rent 100GB and have only used 50GB at the end of the contract period you would get 1/2 your money back, but I still need to check on this as its just a guess at the moment.

All-in-all for version 1.0.0, so far it looks like the Sia team has done a fantastic job with this software/network.  Everything so far has performed without any glitches and I'm very happy having invested in Sia and will definitely take advantage of the service for my own use as well.  Hope to eventually eliminate Dropbox as the software continues to evolve.

If you have any questions feel free to post below and if its something I can answer for you, I will!

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