Fig. 10

Overcoming the 95KB size limit to upload larger files on the blockchain. For this operation, we break up the file into chunks smaller than 95KB; they are posted on the blockchain as a multi-part archive file, which can be downloaded to recreate the original file. First, download “7-Zip” open-source file archiver (https://www.7-zip.org/). Right-click on the file, go to “7-Zip” and click on “Add to archive”, which will open the application interface and present the compression options: select “zip” as archive format (the most widely used format), leave the other settings as default, then go to “split to volumes, bytes:” where we can specify the split size, set a value less than 95KB (e.g., 70KB) and click on “OK”. The program will compress and break up the file into multiple parts, which will be saved in the same location as the original file. The files will be automatically named with an incrementing numbering system (e.g., “1.zip.001”, “1.zip.002”, “1.zip.003”), which is essential for successful merging of the files. We can now convert them to Base64-encoded text (using a free tool, e.g., https://base64.guru/) and use INNBC DApp (https://database.innovativebioresearch.com/) to upload the Base64-encoded files to the blockchain. Next, browse to the transaction page in the chain explorer and retrieve the data from the “input data” of the transaction. In order to copy the data correctly, we can exclude the initial external characters that are not part of the Base64-encoded data by pressing “Decode Input Data”, which will show us exactly where our data start. As shown in the figure, after we copy the data correctly, we can decode the data back from Base64 to file using the same free Base64 tool (https://base64.guru/) and download the files. Here, it is important to rename the files exactly with their original filenames (e.g., “1.zip.001”, “1.zip.002”, “1.zip.003”) and save them as “All files” with no extension, as shown in the figure. This is required for successfully merging the archive parts and extracting the original file. After downloading all the files and renaming them with the correct filename, we can right-click on the first file on the list according to their numbering system (e.g., “1.zip.001”), go to “7-Zip”, and click on “Open archive”, which will open the program interface, showing us a preview of the reconstructed file. We can then click on “Extract”, and the program will merge the archive parts, extracting the original file and saving it in the selected location