Patent ID: 8892598

Claim:
A method for execution by a user device, the method comprises: determining, by the user device, to retrieve a dispersed error encoded file from a dispersed storage network (DSN), wherein the dispersed error encoded file is stored as a plurality of sets of encoded data slices and wherein a data segment of the file is encoded into a set of encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices; determining, by the user device, whether a neighboring user device also has a desire to retrieve the dispersed error encoded file; and when the neighboring user device has a desire to retrieve the dispersed error encoded file, coordinating, by the user device with the neighboring user device, retrieving of the dispersed error encoded file such that, collectively, the user device and the neighboring user device receive: at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of a first set of encoded data slices; and at least the decode threshold number of encoded data slices of a second set of encoded data slices; and coordinating, by the user device with the neighboring user device, exchanging the at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of the first and second sets of encoded data slices such that each of the user device and neighboring user device separately dispersed storage error decodes the at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of the first and second sets of encoded data to recover first and second data segments of the file.