
ELI5: Where are the data blocks in the IPFS? - ColinWright
If I install IPFS, does that mean that I&#x27;m part of the storage solution?<p>It uses a DHT, does that mean my machine becomes part of the routeing system?<p>I&#x27;m having a hard time finding a simple explanation of the basic operation of the IPFS - are there already ELI5 documents?<p>TIA.
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diggan
You'll probably get better answers in the future if you post directly on
[https://discuss.ipfs.io](https://discuss.ipfs.io) instead of on HN.

> If I install IPFS, does that mean that I'm part of the storage solution?

There will be nothing automatically stored on your node so you won't
automatically share anything. Things you fetch via `get` or `cat` will be
stored and shared temporarily, until a repository garbage collection runs.
`pinning` a hash keeps this content around for as your repository exists, even
if you run gc.

> It uses a DHT, does that mean my machine becomes part of the routeing
> system?

By default, yes, you'll help route the location of content and other such
records. You can run the daemon in `dhtclient` mode instead, and just read the
dht without helping providing any routing though, by doing `ipfs daemon
--routing=dhtclient`

>I'm having a hard time finding a simple explanation of the basic operation of
the IPFS - are there already ELI5 documents?

Best place to get started: [https://flyingzumwalt.gitbooks.io/decentralized-
web-primer/c...](https://flyingzumwalt.gitbooks.io/decentralized-web-
primer/content/)

Also, check out the community at
[https://discuss.ipfs.io](https://discuss.ipfs.io) as there are many people
ready to answer any questions there.

~~~
ColinWright
That's an outstanding response - thank you.

I've tried looking through the discussion website and not found an ELI5
document. Yes, perhaps I can and should ask there, and I probably will, but I
figured the document(s) must exist, and someone here on HN would probably know
if it. Indeed, it's plausible that they've written it. But searching more than
casually but not (yet) intensively has failed to find anything that bridges
the gap between "Your files magically exist" and "Here's the spec, read it and
the code."

Perhaps I'll have to write one as I learn about it - your response is a great
starting point.

Again, thank you.

