If you heard “mining”, you will think about heavy computing using GPU. However, recently many new algorithms based on data space appeared. We can classify them in two main categories:
- Sharing your free space to users and reward you for that
- Using your free space for using a consensus called Proof of Space and Time (PoST)
We will list and compare some of them in this article. We tried to keep the article as simple as possible, you can check links to get more details. Maybe, you can earn even more using your SSD/HardDisk at the same time as your GPU. This article is a first version, and it will be improved later.
Sharing your free space
The most famous names are Filecoin and Filebase. However, the latter is based on Storj, Sia, Skynet network (you can earn reward joining those networks).
Filecoin
Minimal requirements
- 8-core CPU and 32 GiB RAM
- Enough space to store the current Lotus chain (preferably on an SSD storage medium). The chain grows at approximately 38 GiB per day
Requirements if you want to earn money
- 128 GiB of RAM are needed at the very least. This should be complemented with 256 GiB of swap on a very fast NVMe SSD storage medium.
- A minimal amount of 1TiB NVMe-based disk space for cache storage is recommended.
https://docs.filecoin.io/mine/hardware-requirements/#general-hardware-requirements
Potential rewards
Storj
Minimal requirements
- 8 TB and a maximum of 24 TB of available space per node
(Minimum of 550 GB with no maximum of available space per node) - Uptime (online and operational) of 99.5% per month
Potential rewards
- $1.50 per TB for storage
- $20 per TB for bandwidth
- $10 per TB for repair bandwidth
https://www.storj.io/blog/sharing-storage-space-for-fun-and-profit
Sia
Minimal requirements
- At least 100Gb of free space to offer
- A static public IP address
- A reliable connection, with the hosting computer being available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. An availability of 97% of the time (uptime) is required
- A minimum of 2000SC (about 20$) for setting up Collateral
Potential rewards
It is only a guess, but rewards can be something like 500SC (5$) for 2TB.
Skynet
Skynet uses Sia network.
Proof of Space and Time
Chia network
Minimal requirements
- Quad core 1.5Ghz CPU
- 2 GB Ram
https://github.com/Chia-Network/chia-blockchain/wiki/INSTALL
Potential reward
$5.34 / month for 1TB.
Burst coin
The Pioneer of Proof-of-Capacity
Minimal requirements
- Any PC or any mobile phone (no matter how old) can be used for the mining of Burst.
Potential reward
$0.23 / month for 1TB.
Conclusion
To conclude we can say, that sharing your free disk space for money requires a very stable environment, a fast connection and several TB of free space on SSD. It is not the case of most of personal computers and not the case of my computer, so I could not try.
The Proof of Space can be a little more easy to set up and usual computer. However, the first reward could take several months. In addition, if you want to try, Chia node is supposed to be executable on a Raspberry Pi 4.
