Bitcoin Forum

Hi,

It's been going for a day now. I've maxed out and exceeded my monthly broadband data cap and it still only shows 67% complete (it was 62% yesterday). I've checked the log file and the qt has not stalled so it is still downloading but a) downloading the good stuff very slowly and b) getting loads of errors ('ERROR... already have block' and 'Misbehaving' et. al)

What I want to know is: 1) is this absolutely necessary and 2) can I safely interrupt this for a while and resume at a later time(like next month when I have more data to throw at it)?

Please help.

Thanks

The official client does need to download the whole blockchain. Other clients like Electrum and MultiBit offload this work to another server, and so they start working instantly without needing a copy of the blockchain.

You can safely interrupt the client and it will resume the next time you open it.

Oh, thank-you.

That's not one I've heard of, yet... QT is repeating requests for the same block to multiple peers, or is someone spamming the same block(s) to him?

ETA: and yeah, QT is currently unusable for anyone on a capped ISP plan (current blockchain size is 8.6gB, and growing more and more rapidly -- it's like the Internet's winsxs folder), practically blocking out entire countries from using it. Aside light clients like Electrum and MultiBit, you could also try relatively secure web-wallets like Blockchain.info if you're only dealing with small sums of money.

You could also find a friend with an uncapped plan, get him to download it and sneakernet it ;-).

However, the official client will still sync constantly, so there will be a monthly bandwidth usage of several gigabytes. If that is not something you can handle with your Internet connection, a "light" client is probably your best option. You can see a comparison of current clients on the bitcoin wiki site:

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Clients

... and wallet is unuseable without this blockchain?

Now that is very important info for newbies. That should be under pre-requisistes in any Bitcoin 101 article/site.

Pfff.

Thanks, for the heads up, people.

If you go through the official site, bitcoin.org, you are warned a couple of times.

Click *Choose your wallet*: "The original client is more resource intensive and will take a complete day to synchronize."
Click *Bitcoin-QT*: "Note : Bitcoin-Qt initial sync can take a day to complete. You should make sure that you have enough bandwidth and storage for the full blockchain size."

You should also read "You need to know": http://bitcoin.org/en/you-need-to-know

I read http://bitcoin.org/en/you-need-to-know but it said nothing about the blockchain download being a pre-requisite to bitcoin use and the the size of the current blockchain. 8.x GB is quite a bit on capped plans. But yes, I guessed the info is probably out there somewhere aimed at newbies. I looked but I didn't see it where I looked.

The one post I found which refered to the download size mentioned 2GB. I figured it may have increased but had no idea by how much.

Anyway, thanks.

There's a reason bitcoin.org isn't recommending a light client (there were too many bugs last they checked, resulting in a poor experience for new users), but maybe they could make it even clearer that the recommended client requires a significant download to sync.

I will say that you have to pass two warnings to download bitcoin-Qt from bitcoin.org. The one on the actual download page contains a link to the blockchain size:

http://blockchain.info/charts/blocks-size

Hi again,

I have been downloading the blockchain (on and off) for 5 months, now. During those 5 months, the blockchain size has increased from 8GB to 11GB.  Will I ever get there? Seems I'm very much swimming against the tide with my broadband connection, which I upgraded to uncapped (but still a bit slow at the best of times).

Could someone please just confirm that I need to download the entire thing in order to buy a bitcoin?

Thanks

If you don't want this, you can use an online wallet like blockchain or inputs.io

If you have so slow internet, Electrum client is ideal, no need for downloading the blockchain

Or blockchain.info's "My Wallet".

Wow, you just set new record for downloading the Blockchain for 5 months actively and not finished  ;)

And no, you can buy bitcoin even if your not synced, but you will see ballance in Bitcoin-qt later. Or check ballance of any address at blockchain.info anytime