If you have access to stolen hardware, then sure, it can be one of the ways to maximize profit at the expense of someone else. But retail computer setups will only get you pennies in terms of earnings. Hard Drive letting for crypto projects is still very experimental and doesn't compare well to the readily available solutions. There is very low demand and ample supply. Some suspect that botnets are the major bidders, squashing demand. At least until a more viable network is built, such actovoty wouldn't be justified economically from rational parties with their own hardware, electricity and repair bills.
Couldn't agree more with you, mate. It's not cost-effective to buy a hard drive with the hopes of getting a ROI in the shortest time possible. You're better off using ASICs or GPUs for mining crypto that would give you more bang per buck. If I were to mine any HDD-based cryptocurrency, I'd do so with spare hard drives taken out from old/decommissioned computers. I have a few that still work, so using them for "free money" would be the wisest thing to do. Of course, leaving them 24/7 mining crypto would shorten their lifespan. But that doesn't matter, since I didn't spend a dime on the drives. Even USD flash drives and SD cards can be used to mine HDD-based cryptocurrencies.
If developers want to attract a lot of people into their Blockchain projects, they'd need to improve the PoC (Proof-of-Capacity) consensus in every way. Focusing on small miners instead of the big ones (like Magi is doing with its PoW consensus algorithm) would allow HDD mining to be profitable within the crypto/Blockchain industry. At least, that's my point of view. But if there's no demand for HDD-based cryptocurrencies, I doubt developers would be interested in doing some changes to the already-established consensus algorithm. In the end, mining HDD-based cryptocurrencies like Burst, Sia, or Storj will be more of a hobby than anything else. Just my opinion
