4 ms·

To be precise, the process of "plotting" (using disk space for Chia) causes a lot of writes to disks, but those writes are a one-time process. Once a plot is wr

by Glench 5y ago

To be precise, the process of "plotting" (using disk space for Chia) causes a lot of writes to disks, but those writes are a one-time process. Once a plot is written it can be moved anywhere and farmed forever. The actual proof of space algorithm for farming only takes an initial 5 seeks and then 64 seeks for the full proof so farming is not a big stress on disks long-term.

wruza 5y ago
What numbers are we talking about here? Assuming 1tb ssd with say 1000 cycles of warranty, would it die instantly or would it not even feel it?
- YarickR2 5y ago
  I stumbled upon an interview with the actual Chia <s>miner</s> farmer, he claims best SSDs will stay healthy for about a year, and having SSD is a must. Plotting should be done on an SSD (preferably as an NVMe), since this process involves creating 300Gb temp file on the same device that will be used to form a plot. Actual interview [0] is in Russian, but I guess you could get a decent Google Translate-processed English translation . [0] https://habr.com/ru/company/ruvds/blog/554046/ https://habr.com/ru/company/ruvds/blog/554046/
  - wruza 5y ago
    This was really precious, spasibo! Especially for warnings on [not] using regular disks. But from what I learned there, Chia is not a consumer’s tech, cause mainnet already requires huge TBW per dollar ratio, which ubiquitous Samsung EVO/Pro and alikes cannot do. It goes miners-are-special-hardware route again, sadly.
  - neurostimulant 5y ago
    I wonder if it's feasible to use a ramdrive for the temp file. Or maybe the miners already run the number and decided it's cheaper to burn a stack of SSD every once in a while instead of investing in nodes with huge ram.
  - reelen 5y ago
    That would only be with enterprise class SSDs. I’ve been plotting on both consumer and enterprise and the former’s lifespan won’t be more than 3-4 months.

by Glench 5y ago

wruza 5y ago

What numbers are we talking about here? Assuming 1tb ssd with say 1000 cycles of warranty, would it die instantly or would it not even feel it?

YarickR2 5y ago
I stumbled upon an interview with the actual Chia <s>miner</s> farmer, he claims best SSDs will stay healthy for about a year, and having SSD is a must. Plotting should be done on an SSD (preferably as an NVMe), since this process involves creating 300Gb temp file on the same device that will be used to form a plot. Actual interview [0] is in Russian, but I guess you could get a decent Google Translate-processed English translation . [0] https://habr.com/ru/company/ruvds/blog/554046/ https://habr.com/ru/company/ruvds/blog/554046/
- wruza 5y ago
  This was really precious, spasibo! Especially for warnings on [not] using regular disks. But from what I learned there, Chia is not a consumer’s tech, cause mainnet already requires huge TBW per dollar ratio, which ubiquitous Samsung EVO/Pro and alikes cannot do. It goes miners-are-special-hardware route again, sadly.
- neurostimulant 5y ago
  I wonder if it's feasible to use a ramdrive for the temp file. Or maybe the miners already run the number and decided it's cheaper to burn a stack of SSD every once in a while instead of investing in nodes with huge ram.
- reelen 5y ago
  That would only be with enterprise class SSDs. I’ve been plotting on both consumer and enterprise and the former’s lifespan won’t be more than 3-4 months.