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A distributed storage system is a software architecture that aggregates storage resources across multiple independent networked nodes to present a single logical storage abstraction to clients. Rather than relying on a single central storage device, the system partitions data into fixed-size blocks or chunks and places redundant replicas of each block across distinct physical machines, thereby achieving fault tolerance and horizontal scalability ^[1]. The system typically separates metadata management from data storage: one or more metadata servers maintain the namespace, directory hierarchy, and block-to-node mapping, while the data nodes store the actual block replicas and service client read and write traffic directly. To satisfy always-on availability requirements, such systems employ weakly consistent replication protocols, consistent hashing for decentralized data placement, and application-assisted conflict resolution under network partitions and node failures ^[2]. The storage interface may expose a file-system namespace, a key-value object store, or a block device, and the system dynamically rebalances data when nodes are added or removed.