How and what to mine on hard drives in 2022

The process of mining (mining) cryptocurrency has become very expensive. Therefore, the search for ways to reduce the cost of its production does not stop. For many users, the question of what to mine on hard drives in 2022 is relevant. After all, those cryptomonets, the extraction of which was available a few years ago, is no longer possible.

On which hard drives can I mine

For mining, you can use both HDD and SSD drives. But SSD mining turns out to be expensive and economically unprofitable.

The mining disk must have at least 1 TB of memory. Smaller disks will not bring sufficient profit.

Examples of suitable HDD models: Toshiba X300, Toshiba N300, Seagate Exos X16, Seagate IronWolf Pro, WD RedPro. Their cost starts from 30,000 rubles.

Cryptocurrencies that can be mined on hard drives in 2022

The choice of cryptocurrencies for mining on disks is not very large: Burst, Sea, Story, FileCoin. Perhaps this list will be updated in the future.

The profitability of these coins is not very high yet, so the income will be small. But for beginners, it can be a great start in the crypto world.

How to mine on hard drives today on a specific example

Let’s consider mining on the example of the BurstCoin cryptocurrency.

Where to start

First of all, you need to select and configure a crypto wallet. Bundle is a good fit for BurstCoin. It can be downloaded and installed as an application on a personal computer. Then activate Burst Wallet in the wallet.

A mnemonic phrase is used to restore the password to the wallet. It is almost impossible to remember it. Therefore, the phrase must be recorded and stored in a safe place, otherwise unauthorized persons may gain access to the funds.

In the Faucets window, you need to get some coins and transfer 1 Burst to any wallet. This action is necessary to activate the payment method.

Plotting

The next step is to mark up the hard disk. To do this, you need to launch WritePlots, specify the disk for mining the crypt and click on the Start Plotting start button. This action is performed once, but if a failure occurred during the process and the computer disconnected from the network, you will have to repeat it.

Choosing a mining pool

You should click the Start mining button and select a pool, set a password and register the client’s address (for this, there must be at least one active coin on the account). Then save the data by clicking on the Submit button.

If there was a failure when selecting a pool, you can start the process over and select another pool.

Profitability of hard disk mining

According to expert estimates, the payback period for BurstCoin is about three years. Probably, the same situation will be for other types of crypts.

Such estimates are very approximate, since the cryptocurrency exchange rate is influenced by many factors, and any estimates are unreliable.

Advantages and disadvantages of this method of investing in cryptocurrency

All actions related to mining are performed automatically after installing special software. The mining program generates data (they are called fruits) that are stored on the hard disk.

The mining speed is proportional to the number of sessions, i.e. the amount of hard disk memory allocated for mining. This is the essence of the Proof of Capacity algorithm used. This algorithm is used for mining BurstCoin.

There are also cloud storage systems that pay with cryptocurrency for providing disk space for data storage (Proof of Storage algorithm, proof of storage). The algorithm is used in the Sia cryptocurrency network.

The Story cryptocurrency network uses the Proof of Reliability algorithm (Proof of Extraction), when the user is paid not only for storage, but also for downloading data to his PC.

It is advisable to allocate a computer (laptop) for cryptocurrency mining, which is not used for other tasks. Moreover, the user cannot know thoroughly what data will be stored on his computer.

If the computer is also used for other tasks, it is not recommended to load its mining capacity by more than 50%.

The advantages of mining on disks are obvious:

• you don’t need a very powerful computer (you can use an office computer if its characteristics meet the requirements);
• easy software setup;
• the built-in video card is enough;
• very powerful uninterruptible power supplies are not required;
• hard drives do not heat up much compared to video cards, so powerful coolers are not needed.

The CPU load during HDD mining is so small that the user can watch movies or play online games in parallel without hanging up.

The main disadvantage is the small list of mining coins currently available.

The following nuances should also be taken into account. Hard drives are gradually falling out of use, it can be difficult to buy or sell them. Mining on disks has led to a rush of demand and an increase in prices for them. If you buy mining equipment now, the payback period can be quite long.

Is it worth going in 2022

There are usually two reasons for waiting for the growth of coins that can be mined on hard drives: environmental friendliness and manufacturability. This method of mining is cheap compared to others in which the user’s equipment is provided for rent. This makes disk mining accessible to almost any user.

Coins that can be mined on hard drives are not very popular yet, and the competition between manners is quite high. Therefore, it will not be possible to make quick money on the increase in the value of coins. As an investment method, mining on disks is more suitable for those who count on long-term investments with a horizon of 5-10 years. But it should be remembered about the increased risk of investing in any cryptocurrencies and not spending more money than the user can afford to lose.

Published: 20 September, 2022