Can a SMR drive handle these requirements?

[Toyoo]

Please allow me to quote myself from a different discussion, I’ve cut the quote to the parts relevant here:

@Toyoo

Regarding the topic itself, consider the following. Hetzner has close to 9k /24 blocks (source ). Within their pricing structure you will see that it is possible to rent servers with between 64-224 TB of non-redundant disk space at 1.375 USD/TB/month — assume that’s their operating cost after all the wages, hardware cost, power usage, cooling, etc. Assume 5% egress monthly, which is what we’re already observing, making each TB stored bring 1.5 USD + 1 USD in Storj payments. This means that Hetzner would earn 1.125 USD/TB/month hosting nodes on their own hardware. If they chose to host 9k nodes exposing 224 TB disk space each, all of them on a separate /24 block, that’s 2 exabytes profiting (not just revenue) 2MUSD monthly. This is not even specializing the hardware to Storj needs, just using what they offer off-the-shelf.

They’re not doing it because Storj is way too small for that yet. And Hetzner’s far from the largest data center operators out there.

That’s the numbers I base my beliefs on.

I think this reasoning is still valid under the assumption of Storj as a network becomes big, i.e. storing at least exabytes, not petty petabytes. If anything, they now offer even cheaper storage commercially, making the profit even bigger. These would be the professionals I have in mind.