Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Development & Technical Discussion => Topic started by: NoahWL1 on May 31, 2015, 10:25:38 PM



Title: Store Bitcoin-QT's Blockchain Data in The Cloud?
Post by: NoahWL1 on May 31, 2015, 10:25:38 PM
Hi!  So I was going through my laptop and cleaning it out and realized that the blockchain data is really taking up a big percentage, and that by removing it I could save a lot of space on my hard drive.  At first I was just going to move it to a flash drive or my portable HDD, but then I thought of the idea of using something like Dropbox or Google Drive to store it.  And I don't mean just backing up the blockchain and copying to those hosts, I mean directly storing the blockchain that the wallet itself uses in the cloud.  The blockchain doesn't contain any sensitive data, so it's no like people could hack my online accounts and steal my data, so why not?  Of course it'd be slower, but I have a fast internet connection so that shouldn't matter too much.  As long as I save some space.  The only problem is, I don't know how!  I was thinking up just setting the blockchain directory to my Dropbox folder, but then it would still be on my computer.  So that wouldn't work.  Now I'm pretty much out of ideas... I'm open to using any cloud storage service, because as I said security isn't an issue.  Maybe you guys can think of something I can't.  Thanks!


Title: Re: Store Bitcoin-QT's Blockchain Data in The Cloud?
Post by: NyeFe on June 01, 2015, 08:46:52 AM
You can store the blockchain on the cloud, but it would need to be on your computer for you to use it.
If you need hyper secure online wallets & a wallet service only, then use Blockchain.info (https://blockchain.info) or Coinbase (https://coinbase.com) if you require exchange services. This way you would be using the same services as thousands of other users and you wouldn't have to download the blockchain on your computer if you cant afford to.


Title: Re: Store Bitcoin-QT's Blockchain Data in The Cloud?
Post by: spin on June 01, 2015, 11:01:56 AM
Hi!  So I was going through my laptop and cleaning it out and realized that the blockchain data is really taking up a big percentage, and that by removing it I could save a lot of space on my hard drive.  At first I was just going to move it to a flash drive or my portable HDD, but then I thought of the idea of using something like Dropbox or Google Drive to store it.  And I don't mean just backing up the blockchain and copying to those hosts, I mean directly storing the blockchain that the wallet itself uses in the cloud.  The blockchain doesn't contain any sensitive data, so it's no like people could hack my online accounts and steal my data, so why not?  Of course it'd be slower, but I have a fast internet connection so that shouldn't matter too much.  As long as I save some space.  The only problem is, I don't know how!  I was thinking up just setting the blockchain directory to my Dropbox folder, but then it would still be on my computer.  So that wouldn't work.  Now I'm pretty much out of ideas... I'm open to using any cloud storage service, because as I said security isn't an issue.  Maybe you guys can think of something I can't.  Thanks!

Pruning support coming ot a bitcoin core near you soon:
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/f9ec3f0fadb11ee9889af977e16915f5d6e01944

Basically it will only store the most recent N blocks.


Title: Re: Store Bitcoin-QT's Blockchain Data in The Cloud?
Post by: virtualx on June 01, 2015, 11:41:34 AM
Hi!  So I was going through my laptop and cleaning it out and realized that the blockchain data is really taking up a big percentage, and that by removing it I could save a lot of space on my hard drive.  At first I was just going to move it to a flash drive or my portable HDD, but then I thought of the idea of using something like Dropbox or Google Drive to store it.  And I don't mean just backing up the blockchain and copying to those hosts, I mean directly storing the blockchain that the wallet itself uses in the cloud.  The blockchain doesn't contain any sensitive data, so it's no like people could hack my online accounts and steal my data, so why not?  Of course it'd be slower, but I have a fast internet connection so that shouldn't matter too much.  As long as I save some space.  The only problem is, I don't know how!  I was thinking up just setting the blockchain directory to my Dropbox folder, but then it would still be on my computer.  So that wouldn't work.  Now I'm pretty much out of ideas... I'm open to using any cloud storage service, because as I said security isn't an issue.  Maybe you guys can think of something I can't.  Thanks!

You could use a light wallet for this purpose. I do not think there is a cloud interface which uploads and downloads the required data when requested at present.  I think this could be technical achievable but there is simply no such implementation afaik. Another solution might be to use one of the wallet services as people mentioned.


Title: Re: Store Bitcoin-QT's Blockchain Data in The Cloud?
Post by: michinzx on June 02, 2015, 09:14:40 PM
Hi!  So I was going through my laptop and cleaning it out and realized that the blockchain data is really taking up a big percentage, and that by removing it I could save a lot of space on my hard drive.  At first I was just going to move it to a flash drive or my portable HDD, but then I thought of the idea of using something like Dropbox or Google Drive to store it.  And I don't mean just backing up the blockchain and copying to those hosts, I mean directly storing the blockchain that the wallet itself uses in the cloud.  The blockchain doesn't contain any sensitive data, so it's no like people could hack my online accounts and steal my data, so why not?  Of course it'd be slower, but I have a fast internet connection so that shouldn't matter too much.  As long as I save some space.  The only problem is, I don't know how!  I was thinking up just setting the blockchain directory to my Dropbox folder, but then it would still be on my computer.  So that wouldn't work.  Now I'm pretty much out of ideas... I'm open to using any cloud storage service, because as I said security isn't an issue.  Maybe you guys can think of something I can't.  Thanks!

You could use a light wallet for this purpose. I do not think there is a cloud interface which uploads and downloads the required data when requested at present.  I think this could be technical achievable but there is simply no such implementation afaik. Another solution might be to use one of the wallet services as people mentioned.

this. electrum and multibit are two great light wallets; they sync the blockchain from servers and do not require any download of the blockchain.


Title: Re: Store Bitcoin-QT's Blockchain Data in The Cloud?
Post by: NoahWL1 on June 02, 2015, 09:22:14 PM
I should have mentioned I liked having the full blockchain as I like contributing to the network by hosting a node, sorry for not saying this before!  I already use Coinbase as my main wallet.