Abstract: A distributed network includes a plurality of hosts and a shared communication channel. Each host has a storage device. Each host may act as a client and a server. A file is divided into a plurality of segments. Each segment is transmitted to the storage devices of several of said hosts and stored in said storage device of said host. Each host is coupled to the shared communication channel. A host acting as a client requests that the hosts act as servers and collectively send all of the segments to the requesting client so that the requesting client can gather the segments together in order for the segments to self-assemble and generate a single copy of the file. At least one host has a global list with entries. Each entry contains all the necessary information about the file.