How to send files without limits and in a decentralized way with Saturn

The way we send and share files has changed over time. One of the way we can do this is by sending attachments in an email. The disadvantage of doing so is that, as a limit, they usually have a maximum size of 25MB. Today we share photos with more and more megapixels and videos with higher resolution. Simply with a few high resolution photos we will exceed 25MB, and in the case of videos we may not be able to send any. So the solution we have left is to use our space in the cloud of Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive among others, but unless we have a payment plan, it will fall short very soon. In this tutorial we are going to talk about Saturn to send files without limits, in a decentralized and secure way.

send files without limits and in a decentralized way with Saturn

The first thing we are going to see is what Saturn can offer us, which is basically a file exchange application directly in the browser. Then we will see how it works and we will give an example with small files. There we will see how the download link is generated and how we can download that file that we have uploaded

What does Saturn offer us for file sharing

Saturn can be defined as a decentralized P2P file sharing application. Its way of working is very simple, users can upload several files and they are compressed into a file with a ZIP extension that they can download later.

As storage, it runs on the blockchain and everything is public. In that aspect, Saturn does not encrypt the files we upload. For this reason, it is not recommended to share files related to anything important except with a more secure option that is using a Wallet.

On the other hand, if we use a web3 wallet connection, we can use our decentralized identity to sign the file transfer. In that case, this application offers us a way to verify the source of the documents. So when sending files, Saturn offers web3 users two options:

  1. Sending files to anyone, and in that regard anyone who has the link can download it.
  2. The ability to lock files with specific users. Thus, after sharing the link, the recipient must log into their wallet (in English) associated with the IDX account. This means that you can share this information with anyone who has a wallet on any blockchain. What this does is that greater privacy is achieved. Web3 users, in addition to being able to view their history, can also review the files they have previously submitted.

This application is a great alternative to send files to everyone. In this way, in a decentralized and free way we can share large files and photos .

Steps to share files in a decentralized way

This free application for sharing large files and photos has its peculiarities. The first is that it is an online web tool. This means two things, the first is that it does not require installation so that we can use it. The second means that only to be able to use it we will need our browser and an Internet connection.

Therefore, if we want to use Saturn to upload files and share them, we will start by running our Internet browser. All we have to do is click on this link . Then a screen like this will appear:

Now we are going to comment on its most interesting sections, explaining what they are for and that they are marked with black arrows. At the top left we have the icon of the planet Saturn . If we click on it we will go to this home page, it is ideal, to start again if we want to send more files or we have not made a mistake.

Then we would have the Choose files section in which we can add the files we want to share. It does not have to be one, if we want we can add more.

In the upper corner we have the CONNECT WALLET button in which we can use a wallet that works with blockchain and widely used with cryptocurrencies. In this case, the button does not work at the moment and they will implement it later. However, we are going to explain how it would be used once connected to our Wallet we would have the option to fill in three fields:

  1. Title : message title.
  2. Message : we could send a text with instructions or explaining the content.
  3. Recipient Address : adding an address will lock the file so that only the recipient can download the file.

Finally, at the bottom we have the TRANSFER button, this button will start uploading a file, compress it and generate a download link.

How to generate a link to share files

To carry out the test I used a 600Mbps symmetric fiber connection. If we do a speed test we would obtain these results:

As you can see, we have a good Internet connection that will allow us to upload files at a considerable speed. The first thing we are going to do is in « Choose files » select our files. In this case we have added the compressed file REDESZONE.rar of 53.7 MB and a photo of 56 KB. Here you can see that all the work is done and it only remains to start the upload by pressing the TRANSFER button.

Then we will see that a screen like this starts where the progress of the upload is seen:

The transfer process finishes in 9 seconds and then we see a screen like the following one, with a download link.

If we click on the button that indicates the black arrow, the download link will be copied to the clipboard. Then we send this link to another user so that they can download these files.

Download the uploaded files to Saturn

If we want to download those files that have been sent to us with Saturn, we will have to follow a few simple steps. We open our browser, copy the link and press enter. Then we will see a screen like this:

Here what we have to do is press on the DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE button. Then we will see how to prepare that compressed file that we have to download.

When finished, a screen will appear so that we can save that file with a ZIP extension.

The only thing we have to do then is unzip it to be able to recover those files. As for the time it took, it has been 40 seconds, and it must be borne in mind that the larger the size, the longer it will take.

As you have seen, this tool is quite interesting for sending files, however, if you want data confidentiality, our recommendation is that you use data encryption programs such as Veracrypt, where you can upload the encrypted container so that no one can read its content, we do not recommend sending confidential files without additional protection such as that provided by this type of program.