Mining top-tier cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum is a resource-intensive task that requires top-of-the-line computer hardware to reap the rewards. The recently announced Chia (XCH) coin opts for a different kind of mining approach called "farming," which relies on unused storage on the device to protect the network rather than powerful GPUs.

While this may seem like a more cost-effective way to mine cryptocurrencies and make a profit, it could still quickly prove to be very costly. This is because Chia mining could burn through SSDs at a rapid pace due to the incessant write requests to solid state drives (SSDs).

MyDrivers reports that the average consumer-grade 512GB SSD will run out of life in just 40 days during the Chia farming process, which could double to 80 days for 1TB SSDs and 160 days for 2TB drives.

The cause of this potential SSD burnout is the endurance capability built into the SSD. The average consumer SSD typically ships with a rating of 600 TBW (terabytes written), and our friends at Tom's Hardware point out that for basic daily use, this should provide years of reliable functionality. However, Chia pharming can significantly increase the strain on storage, potentially destroying a typical SSD in a fraction of the time.

The Chia blockchain is built around a newly developed "space and time proof" consensus model used to verify transactions; this system, developed by BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen, allows participants to "plot" cryptographic numbers on a "plot" and requires them to reserve a certain amount of storage space that is "seeded." Users are rewarded in the form of XCH tokens, and as of this writing, the price of one coin exceeds $1,000 via CoinGecko.

Fortunately, there are alternative solutions to mining that will not destroy storage in a matter of weeks. For starters, there are more durable SSDs with higher TBW ratings, but they are generally much more expensive and designed for professional use and data centers.

TeamGroup recently launched the T-Create Expert PCIe SSD. This is a 12,000 TBW rated drive, specifically designed for chia farming, and comes with a 12-year warranty. If you don't want to risk your own hardware, Amazon Web Services is opening up its cloud servers for XCH mining.

As of this writing, Chia prices have jumped more than 50% in the last week, and as more people try to get in on the XCH mining craze, SSD and hard disk drive (HDD) prices are rising as well. This is similar to how the increased demand from Bitcoin and Ethereum miners has caused high-end graphics cards to become scarce and sell at a significant premium on the secondary market.

So even if you think the risk and potential expense of having to replace your SSD in just a few months is worth it, if the Chia boom continues unabated, it may actually be harder or more expensive to find new stock. Before setting up a plot, pay attention to what's in your rig.