Sia is a decentralized Cloud Storage platform that provides a marketplace for individuals who want to rent their free disk space to others who want to upload their files to the network. Sia Coin enables users to exchange value directly making it possible to sell and purchase storing space with no centralized authority involved. In this guide we going to speak about uploading files to the network using Sia coins.
After this tutorial, no outside company will be able to access or control your files, unlike traditional cloud storage providers. Since you hold the keys, you own your data!
If you don’t have any Siacoin, use an exchange like Bittrex, Yunbi, Poloniex, Shapeshift.io or Bitsquare.
Part 1: Download Sia-UI
Step 1: Go to the Sia website (or click here) and on the header press the “download” Button
Step 2: Choose your OS clicking on the “download” button below (in our case we are using a windows 64-bit)
(If you’re running Mac OS X Sierra or later, you’ll need to drag Sia-UI.app into your Applications folder before running it)
Step 3: Once the download is complete, unzip the file and double-click on “sia.exe” file
Step 4: Allow the firewall if needed
Part 2: Use Sia-UI
After launching Sia-UI, you will have 5 tabs, but today we just going to speak about Files and Wallet tabs. So, “files” provides an interface for uploading, downloading, and interacting with your files stored on the network. “Wallet” provides an interface for sending and receiving money, the Sia cryptocurrency ‘SC’. (you can read the “How to use the Sia Coin Wallet (Sia-UI)” tutorial)
Step 1: After your Sia-UI client has fully synchronized (check the indicator at the top-right, it should show ‘Synchronized’ in green lettering), Click on the "Wallet" tab.
Follow the on-screen instructions for creating a new wallet, and save your seed/password in a safe place (or, you can read our guide about how to use Sia Wallet “How to use the Sia Coin Wallet (Sia-UI)”).
Then click the "Receive Siacoin" button and send the Siacoin to that address.
You should see an incoming transaction for the amount that you sent in the wallet’s ‘Recent Transactions’ view.
Now that your have Siacoin in your wallet, you’re ready to start uploading files.
Step 2: To upload files, you must first set an allowance. So, in the Files tab, click the “Create Allowance” button. An allowance is a quantity of Siacoin that Sia will set aside for uploading, downloading, and storing files on the network. An allowance lasts for 3 months and is automatically renewed at the half-way point. You will be greeted with a dialog explaining the process and mechanics of an allowance, along with an estimation of the cost of fees and the resulting storage space. Set your desired quantity of Siacoins, and click "accept".
After clicking accept, you can see Sia selecting and forming contracts with hosts on the network, by seeing the ‘Forming Contracts’ loader in the Files tab. The process of forming contracts can take up to 45 minutes, so just wait
Step 3: Once done, you should see about various contracts in the Files tab. You can now upload files to the network, using the "Upload Files" button.
Upload and download progress are indicated by the File Transfers view, and redundancy can be viewed on the files themselves.
That’s it, you now know how to storage file with Sia-UI. We hope this guide was helpful!
Sia's code is fully open source and can be viewed on GitHub (Sia, Sia-UI).
Don't forget to regularly check your allowance. If the entire allowance period elapses and you do not renew your allowance, your hosts will delete your files, leaving them unrecoverable.