Options for "mining" with, or leasing out, spare drive capacity are becoming increasingly popular with the market. This probably has a lot to do with the fact almost every option being substantially cheaper than current market options like Amazon Web Services. (See Burst, Storj)
Filecoin is the most recent ICO in this space and raised a staggering $245 Million with, as of yet, no released product. Demand was reportedly so heavy that their website crashed during the first hour of the ICO, locking prospective customers out temporarily.
Like some other recent ICOs, this seems a bit like market mania. I personally don't think there is that great of a demand for competition in this space. EOS is attempting to supplant a much larger and more impactful market, and though it set some records at the time, I don't believe it's ICO was as explosive (though it is longer and ongoing as well).
How Filecoin works, per Filecoin.io:
I would recommend great caution for anyone looking to invest in Filecoin early. If you want to take a shot on the coin, it might be worthwhile to sign up to be an early miner (link below.)
Having said that, there is one interesting feature Filecoin brings I haven't noticed elsewhere - an active bid/ask market for drive space, which should optimize network usage and pricing for participants / "miners".
There's no way to determine the potential profitability of "mining" Filecoin by sharing drive space on the network, since Filecoin is pre-launch. If past hard-drive mining coins are an example, the profitability will be relatively low but potentially volatile and better than doing nothing with your excess drive space, presuming your PC is already running anyway.
Sources: Filecoin.io, Wall Street Journal, Google, Zerohedge, ibtimes.co.uk, a Reddit user
Copyright: Jurassic Park