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IPFS works based on files visited. I wonder if you could write a script that crawls randomly until it hits a certain threshold stored...

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Just a cursory look at the CLI, it looks like you have the ability to get stats on each block (including size, https://docs.ipfs.io/reference/cli/#ipfs-block-stat), and pin them (https://docs.ipfs.io/how-to/pin-files/#three-kinds-of-pins).

I'm betting someone could create an open source project to traverse the Merkel tree, choose random blocks, and pin them... It could be made smarter by also checking the number of peers per block and prioritize the least pinned blocks.

Edit: And a related discussion I found: https://www.reddit.com/r/ipfs/comments/b4he2m/idea_partialse...

On a related note (Yes crypto, sorry) Filecoin is encouraging people to help backup certain large data sets: https://filecoin.io/blog/intro-filecoin-discover/

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