Chia mining could cause storage shortages, which is a real drag given that certain CPUs, GPUs, and even some power supply units are almost always out of stock. However, given the proverbial glass half full, Chia mining could also help SSD makers focus on producing longer-lasting drives. [Sublent's new Plotripper and Plotripper Pro SSDs are the latest examples of this, with endurance that surpasses most consumer models.

They are not yet available, but it appears that Sabrent will release at least three models, with endurance ratings ranging from 10,000 terabyte writes (TBW) to 54,000 TBW. [As the company is quick to point out, the top-of-the-line models are built to last 18 times longer than typical SSDs that utilize triple-level cell (TLC) NAND flash memory chips.

In some cases, this is a conservative estimate. For example, one of the best SSDs for gaming, WD's SN850 2TB model, is 1,200 TBW. Compared to this drive, Sabrent's 2TB Plotripper Pro is a whopping 45 times more durable.

The lower capacity results in a lower endurance rating because of the faster fill rate (repeated write operations wear out memory cells), which in chia mining can destroy a typical 512GB SSD in just six weeks. Still, a standard 2TB SSD might last only 160 days.

For this reason, SSD manufacturers are increasingly emphasizing the endurance of their drives. TeamGroup had already achieved this with its T-Create Expert SSD, an SSD for creators that offers endurance levels of up to 12,000 TBW. More recently, TeamGroup switched to marketing the T-Create Expert SSD as ideal for the "new crypto boom," and now Sabrent is following suit with its Plotripper and Plotripper Pro product lines.

I would not be surprised if other drive manufacturers follow suit. The bigger question is whether high endurance SSDs will become the norm when Chia Mining loses its luster.

We may soon find out; Chia launched four weeks ago at an opening price of just under $1,600 and lost half its value that day. It then soared to nearly $1,700 a few weeks later, but fell again (like other popular cryptocurrencies, it is volatile) and has settled around $700 for the time being.

What about performance; Sabrent has yet to provide a speed rating or any information on pricing or availability (only that these drives are "coming soon"). However, durability does not necessarily have to come at the expense of fast read/write speeds. These T-Create drives can achieve up to 3,400 MB/sec sequential read and 3,000 MB/sec sequential write, both very good numbers for a PCIe 3.0 drive. These are very good numbers for a PCIe 3.0 drive.

There has been a lot of attention recently on the endurance of SSDs, and hopefully Chia miners are not the only ones who will benefit from this.