2 Questions regarding plotting and mining

[thecolony]

My first is regarding Blago’s Cpu Xplotter
Occasionally the file does not get completed because of a drive error or a computer crash. But the file appears to be completed even if i have only gotten 55% done. The file also works to mine with. No errors. How can we ensure that we are getting the full mining benefit for the plotted space if the plot wasnt successfully completed?
Blago’s PlotChecker states it is not for use with Xplotter.

Next question is regarding mining with multiple files and computers.
I have 7 basic laptops that i could plot with on a regular basis. I have 5 desktops that are completely maxed out mining with , between 3 and 6 GPU’s. I can mine with those desktops but i cannot plot with them.
Can i plot many 256gb plots on the laptops and transfer those plots at my convenience to large Drives located on the desktops to mine with as long as i keep the nonces in the plots from overlapping?

Is there a loss if i am mining at the same pool with 5 different computers?
Can you move a plot file to another drive?

I know, more than 2 questions…forgive me.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[jaxblack]

as soon as you start plotting, that amount of space will be shown used on the drive. So if you were going to plot 8 TB’s, but only got 10% into it, it would still show the 8 TB’s used on the drive, but when put to mining will only be mining the 10%…There is no way to know 100% if your plotted files are all being used or not. If you have a noticeably different speed at which the drives are read is your best way to tell. The mentioned plot checker is just to make sure files that were plotted with a GPU were optimized. The CPU plotter (xplotter) already plots optimized files.

I believe you can just restart the plotter and it should continue, i have never had a crash, but i believe blago’s will do this.
You can copy plotted files back and forth from any drive to any computer. I normally plot to a internal drive because it is way faster and then copy over to the externals’s.

The only loss to mining by using multiple computers is the efficiency of electricity… you have to have 5 times the operating hardware running. whereas you could just hook up all drives to one computer…

But the mining part of it makes no difference. or at least i do not believe so.

[thecolony]

Thanks @jaxblack
Very Helpful.
That answers my question

[Digidigm]

I can answer the question on xplotter. Lets take the sample line below

XPlotter_avx2.exe -id 123456789012345 -sn 810000000000 -n 30520264 -t 6 -path D:\plot -mem 12G

This is just an example yours will be different but if you want to know if your plotted file was completed restart the xplotter program with the NONCE Number exactly that same as when you were first running the plot. e.g. go into the plot file you started. Look at the nonce number and make sure your batch file which contains the line above matches.

In the example above my nonce number is 30520264 (yours will be different). Just take your nonce number with all the other variables and RESTART the xplotter.

If the file was not done, you will see it spin through the plot file and PICK UP WHERE IT LEFT OFF if it did not finish. Once it restarts it will continue to plot until it is finished. If the xplotter program detects that it was finish it will tell you so.

I suggest you do a test for yourself. Plot a very small file and kill the batch program and practice restarting it and you will see for yourself that xplotter will pick up where it left off.

The GREAT THING about xplotter is that it OPTIMIZES your plot files from THE GET GO. No need to run another program to optimize your plotted file. If you can use the AVX2 version as noted above of the xplotter program do that. It runs 20% faster than the AVX program. No difference just in speed.

FYI Once you plot a file you can move it anywhere you like. I plot on one computer and mine on another.

Hope that helps.