Article on data import options & tradeoffs

docs/how-to/data-import.md

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+---
+title: Data import in Kubo
+description: IPFS nodes can be customized using the configuration file. The default values should be fine for most use-cases. However, you may want to make some changes if you are running a specialized IPFS node, or simply want to tweak things to your liking.
+---
+
+# Options and tradeoffs around data import in Kubo
+
+IPFS Kubo commands has multiple data import commands, which are as follows:
+
+- `ipfs add`
+- `ipfs dag put`
+- `ipfs block put` 
+
+While many users are ok with the default chunker and has functions for these commands, the `ipfs add` supports a much wider range of options:
+
+- Custom `--chunker` and `--hash` functions
+- Using a `TrickleDAG` instead a MerkleDAG with the `--trickle` option
+- `--raw-leaves`
+
+## Defaults
+
+### Chunk size
+
+The current default chunk size is `256` * `1024` bytes, or `262144` bytes.
+
+### Chunking algorithmn
+
+
+
+## Options 
+
+### --trickle
+
+The `--trickle` (`-t`) option changes to the default DAG type from MerkleDAG to TrickleDAG. Unlike a MerkleDAG, which uses a tree structure, a TrickleDAG is structured as a list of lists.
+
+As such, TrickleDAGs are optimized for reading data in sequence, whereas MerkleDAGs are optimized for random access.
+
+### --chunker
+
+The `--chunker` (`-s`) option  dictates the chunking strategy; in other words, how to break files into blocks. Blocks with same content can
+be deduplicated. Different chunking strategies will produce different
+hashes for the same file. The default is a fixed block size of
+256 * 1024 bytes, 'size-262144'. Alternatively, you can use the
+Buzhash or Rabin fingerprint chunker for content defined chunking by
+specifying buzhash or rabin-[min]-[avg]-[max] (where min/avg/max refer
+to the desired chunk sizes in bytes), e.g. 'rabin-262144-524288-1048576'.
+
+The following examples use very small byte sizes to demonstrate the
+properties of the different chunkers on a small file. You'll likely
+want to use a 1024 times larger chunk sizes for most files.
+
+  > ipfs add --chunker=size-2048 ipfs-logo.svg
+  added QmafrLBfzRLV4XSH1XcaMMeaXEUhDJjmtDfsYU95TrWG87 ipfs-logo.svg
+  > ipfs add --chunker=rabin-512-1024-2048 ipfs-logo.svg
+  added Qmf1hDN65tR55Ubh2RN1FPxr69xq3giVBz1KApsresY8Gn ipfs-logo.svg
+
+You can now check what blocks have been created by:
+
+  > ipfs object links QmafrLBfzRLV4XSH1XcaMMeaXEUhDJjmtDfsYU95TrWG87
+  QmY6yj1GsermExDXoosVE3aSPxdMNYr6aKuw3nA8LoWPRS 2059
+  Qmf7ZQeSxq2fJVJbCmgTrLLVN9tDR9Wy5k75DxQKuz5Gyt 1195
+  > ipfs object links Qmf1hDN65tR55Ubh2RN1FPxr69xq3giVBz1KApsresY8Gn
+  QmY6yj1GsermExDXoosVE3aSPxdMNYr6aKuw3nA8LoWPRS 2059
+  QmerURi9k4XzKCaaPbsK6BL5pMEjF7PGphjDvkkjDtsVf3 868
+  QmQB28iwSriSUSMqG2nXDTLtdPHgWb4rebBrU7Q1j4vxPv 338
+
+Finally, a note on hash determinism. While not guaranteed, adding the same
+file/directory with the same flags will almost always result in the same output
+hash. However, almost all of the flags provided by this command (other than pin,
+only-hash, and progress/status related flags) will change the final hash.