Buying a used SSD or hard drive becomes a minefield

Buying a used SSD or hard drive becomes a minefield
Those looking to get a good deal on an SSD or hard drive should exercise caution now, as Chia miners giving up their quest for this cryptocurrency are supposedly mass-selling used units (and some are even being advertised as new models). The main drawback here is that the discs used for the chia extraction can be practically worn out. Chia is a fairly new cryptocurrency that was launched in May 1 and got off to a somewhat shaky start, but then rose in value fairly quickly, but has since plummeted and now sits at about one-sixth one of the cost. of the work (at the time of writing this article). The one big difference with Chia over other crypto assets is that it was developed to be more environmentally friendly and use a 'proof of space' model that relies on storage capacity, meaning it requires units rather than GPUs (or ASICs) that consume a lot of power. . ). As you can imagine, in Chia's early days this resulted in a vehicle acquisition frenzy. However, as noted by Wccftech, VNExpress International noted that given the huge drop in the value of Chia, Asia, miners began selling their records to move to another cryptocurrency. No other coins use readers, so the only real option for miners is to try to download them and move to a completely different model with a cryptocurrency alternative. As a result, there are now plenty of drives entering the used market, with some of the shabbier types promoting SSDs or HDDs as "new" (or refurbished) models when they're actually used. And it's not just used, but used seriously: chia extraction is actually quite difficult in terms of disk wear, which means that a XNUMXTB SSD, for example, can only last eighty days of use (tracking ) of the hard drive instead of the many years of life it should endure. have. So anyone purchasing an old Chia workhorse could be acquiring something that is literally on the brink of death.

Analysis: sowing the seed (Chia) of mistrust

The secondhand market for readers has indeed become a more dangerous place because of this activity, at least in Asia, as this report points out. Not surprisingly, however, there could be Chia miners in other parts of the world who abandon this cryptocurrency and experience a similar sale of their hardware (potentially failing). Of course, it's even more maddening to hear that some of these drives can be shown to be like new, and it's certainly worth paying attention to where you make a purchase. Beware of third-party marketplaces, such as apparent miner trinkets that have cut costs, probably because the motivation in question is about to die. Therefore, now more than ever, it's best to stick with the well-known and trusted online retailers when it comes to your warehouse shopping, although it's generally a good idea anyway.