That would be perfectly fine with me.
My assumptions:
- Increase the customer storage price to $5 or $6.
- I will be able to buy a used hard drive just for a storagenode.
- I will be able to cover the power consumption.
- I can break even in about 2 years.
- With this we can reach Exabyte.
Calculations:
I pay 0.4031€/kWh in Germany.
I have a nuc and a 12TB hdd with an average consumption of about 17W.
So about 5€ per month for electricity.
A used 12TB hdd costs about 162€ and is about 1,5-2 years old.
With a new node in 2 years and:
2$ storage
2€ storage
2€ repair
I may earn $368 in the first 2 years.
-120€ for electricity - 162€ hdd I would be left with 86€.
That would be an average earning of about 3.5€/month. That would be worth it to buy another used hdd when the first one is full.
My absolute minimum would be:
$1.7 storage
2€ storage
2€ repair
I may earn 319$ in the first 2 years
-120€ for electricity - 162€ for hard drives I would be left with 37€.
That would be an average earning of about 1.5€/month. That would be ok, because it gives me a little wiggle room in case energy prices go up even more.
In both cases it is not really worth it in the first two years, but at least the break even point is reached. The hdd is now about 4 years old in both cases. After 4 years, the probability increases strongly that the hdd can break at any moment. So every additional month would be a hope that the hard disk will not break. And for every month I would earn something.
I used for a new node and calculated with realistic-earnings-estimator