With the price of electricity and the profitability of GPU mining, some miners have started to switch gears. The Chia mainnet launched in 2021 and uses drive space, Proof of space and time, to secure the network and payout rewards.
Segate Exos Drives:
Storage: 1TB Storage: 2TB Storage: 4TB
Price: $94.99 Price: $145.00 Price: $98.10
Cost: $94.99/TB Cost: 94.99/TB Cost: $24.53/TB
Storage: 6TB Storage: 8TB Storage: 10TB
Price: $148.99 Price: $159.99 Price: $204.00
Cost: 24.83/TB Cost: 19.99/TB Cost: 20.4/TB
Storage: 12TB Storage: 14TB Storage: 16TB
Price: $230.00 Price: $209.00 Price: $269.99
Cost: 19.17/TB Cost: 14.99/TB Cost: 16.87/TB
Storage: 18TB Storage: 20TB
Price: $299.99 Price: $349.99
Cost: 16.67/TB Cost: 17.49/TB
More about Segate Exos Drives:
10TB-16TB Drives:
194MB/s Sequential Data Rate
7200 RPM
2M hours MTBF
500TB/yr Workload
Operating Temperature = 5 Degrees Celsius – 60 Degrees Celsius
Helium-enabled low power and weight
PowerBalance and PowerChoice to manage performance for additional savings
5 Year limited Warranty
1-2TB Drives:
These smaller drives have a faster read/write speed of 249MB/s and a higher workload of 550TB per year while achieving the same 2 million MTBF.
WD Gold Drives:
Storage: 1TB Storage: 2TB Storage: 4TB
Price: $76.50 Price: $109.99 Price: $149.99
Cost: $76.50/TB Cost: $54.99/TB Cost: $37.49/TB
Storage: 6TB Storage: 8TB Storage: 10TB
Price: $194.99 Price: $209.99 Price: $239.99
Cost: $32.49/TB Cost: $34.99/TB Cost: $23.99/TB
WD Gold 12TB: WD Gold 14TB: WD Gold 16TB:
Storage: 12TB Storage: 14TB Storage: 16TB
Price: $287.39 Price: $319.99 Price: $299.99
Cost: $23.95/TB Cost: $22.86/TB Cost: $18.75/TB
Storage: 18TB Storage: 20TB Storage: 22TB
Price: $345.90 Price: $455.00 Price: $546.75
Cost: $19.22/TB Cost: $22.75/TB Cost: $24.85/TB
More about WD Gold Drives:
Rated for 550TB per year
2.5M hours MTBF
7200 RPM
HelioSeal technology (12TB and above)
up to 262 MB/s
5 Year limited Warranty
WD Red Plus:
Storage: 1TB Storage: 2TB Storage: 4TB
Price: $54.99 Price: $69.99 Price: $91.89
Cost: $54.99/TB Cost: $34.99/TB Cost: $22.97/TB
Storage: 6TB Storage: 8TB Storage: 10TB
Price: $129.99 Price: $149.99 Price: $189.99
Cost: $21.66/TB Cost: $18.75/TB Cost: $18.99/TB
Storage: 12TB Storage: 14TB Storage: 16TB
Price: $226.85 Price: $243.35 Price: $279.99
Cost: $18.90/TB Cost: $20.28/TB Cost: $17.50/TB
Storage: 18TB Storage: 20TB Storage: 22TB
Price: $316.00 Price: $399.99 Price: $499.99
Cost: $17.56/TB Cost: $19.99/TB Cost: $22.73/TB
More about WD Red Plus Drives:
Available in capacities ranging from 1-14TB
Supports up to 180TB/year workload rate
3-year limited warranty
MTBF of up to 1 million hours
WD Red Pro Drives:
Available in capacities ranging from 2-22TB
Supports up to 300TB/yr workload rate
5-year limited warranty
MTBF of up to 1 million hours
What is Chia:
Chia farming is the process of earning rewards by providing storage space for the Chia blockchain. Chia is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2018 by Bram Cohen, who had also created the BitTorrent protocol. Chia uses a "proof-of-space-and-time" (PoST) consensus algorithm over the typical proof of work (PoW) or proof of stake (PoS).
In Chia farming, users allocate unused hard drive space on their computers to create plots. These plots serve as a type of proof-of-space, which are used to validate transactions on the Chia blockchain. Farmers are rewarded with Chia coins for providing storage space and contributing to the security of the network.
Why farm Chia:
Chia farming has grown because it is more energy-efficient than traditional PoW cryptocurrencies and arguably PoS, which require significant amounts of electricity to operate. To put this into perspective, the average HDD will use anywhere from 5 to 15 watts and a typical GPU when mining, like the 3070, will use around 120watts when mining.
Does HDD Cache or RPM Matter:
For the most part the HDD cache and RPM do not play a significant role in farming Chia. For your plotting drives it is important to prioritize HDD space, MTBF, and total transfers over the read/write speeds and available cache. The RPM and cache size can help at first when you initially plot your drives. However, after the plots are created the Chia network will only scan the available space every 10 or so seconds, meaning that speed is not a priority.
For more information on plotting, which NVMe drive to get to plot or specifications with getting started, We recommend checking out the official Chia website here.
