How to set up Chia plotting and farming? (HDD mining)

Understanding Chia Plotting Fundamentals

1. Chia mining relies on proof-of-space rather than proof-of-work, eliminating the need for GPU or ASIC hardware. Instead, users allocate disk space to store cryptographic plots—large files generated through a computationally intensive process.

2. Plotting requires substantial RAM and fast temporary storage. A minimum of 3.5 GiB RAM is required per plot, but 4 GiB or more significantly improves speed and stability during parallel plotting.

3. The official Chia Blockchain software supports both Windows and Linux environments. macOS is not officially supported for farming due to filesystem limitations with APFS and lack of native support for required network protocols.

4. Plot files are created in phases: forward propagation, backward propagation, compression, and final write. Interruptions during any phase may result in corrupted plots unless using a checkpoint-enabled plotter.

5. Each plot file is typically 101.4 GiB when created for the current k-size (k=32), and must reside on a drive formatted with NTFS (Windows) or ext4/xfs (Linux) to ensure proper file locking and atomic writes.

Hardware Configuration for Efficient Plotting

1. CPU selection matters more than raw core count—high single-thread performance accelerates phase one and two. Intel Core i5-10600K or AMD Ryzen 5 5600X deliver strong throughput per thread.

2. Temporary storage should be NVMe SSDs with sustained sequential write speeds above 2 GB/s. SATA SSDs introduce bottlenecks during phase three and four, increasing total plot time by up to 40%.

3. RAM bandwidth and latency affect propagation speed. Dual-channel DDR4-3200 or DDR5-4800 configurations reduce phase one duration by ~12–18% compared to single-channel setups.

4. HDDs used for final plot storage must support 4K random reads at ≥100 IOPS. Drives with SMR (shingled magnetic recording) technology are strongly discouraged—these cause severe latency spikes during farming challenges.

5. Power delivery stability is critical. Uninterrupted power supply units rated at 650W or higher prevent mid-plot corruption caused by voltage sag during high-CPU+NVMe load cycles.

Software Setup and Plot Generation Workflow

1. Download the latest stable release of Chia Blockchain from https://github.com/Chia-Network/chia-blockchain/releases. Avoid third-party forks or modified installers, as they may compromise private key integrity.

2. Install Python 3.9+ separately if using CLI-based plotting tools like chiapos or madMAx. The official GUI bundles its own Python runtime, but advanced users often prefer command-line control for resource tuning.

3. Use the command chia plots create -k 32 -r 4 -u 128 -t /tmp/nvme -2 /tmp/nvme -d /mnt/hdd/plots to initiate a plot with optimized threading, buffer size, and dual-temp directory usage.

4. Monitor active plots via chia plots show to verify registration status and detect missing or invalid entries in the plot directory index.

5. Disable Windows Defender real-time scanning on plot directories and temp paths. Antivirus interference has been confirmed to increase phase two duration by over 200% in multiple independent benchmarks.

Farming Node Configuration and Network Integration

1. Farming requires a full node synced with the Chia blockchain. Initial sync can take 24–72 hours depending on internet bandwidth and SSD random read performance.

2. Configure port forwarding for TCP 8444 on your router to allow inbound connections. Nodes with NAT or restrictive firewalls experience reduced peer discovery and slower block propagation.

3. Add plot directories using chia plots add -d /mnt/hdd/plots instead of relying solely on GUI auto-detection, which occasionally misses subdirectories after system reboots.

4. Enable UPnP only if your router firmware supports IGD v2 and has no known vulnerabilities related to SSDP reflection. Manual port mapping remains the most reliable method.

5. Validate farmer public key consistency across all machines using chia keys show --show-mnemonic-seed, ensuring identical key derivation paths for wallet and plot metadata signing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I reuse plots across different Chia networks like Testnet or Mainnet?A: No. Plots contain network-specific parameters embedded during creation. Attempting to farm Mainnet plots on Testnet results in immediate rejection during challenge submission.

Q: Does RAID 0 improve HDD farming performance?A: No. RAID 0 increases failure risk without measurable gains in farming throughput. Chia reads plots randomly and independently; striping adds unnecessary controller overhead and eliminates individual drive redundancy.

Q: Why does my plot show “Not Found” in the GUI even though it exists on disk?A: This occurs when the plot’s internal header contains an invalid fingerprint or when the file permissions deny read access to the chia process user. Run chia plots check to validate integrity and ownership.

Q: Is it safe to plot and farm on the same physical drive?A: Not recommended. Concurrent plotting I/O saturates drive queues, causing farming timeouts during proof verification windows. Separate temp and final storage paths are mandatory for stable operation.