Bitcoin Forum

I found that the folder named "Bitcoin" in "Application Data" is so big, and my C disk has not that much volume to hold it, I want to place them else where? How can I achieve this? I use client v0.4, thanks. 

This is what I have done on Windows 7 using a symbolic link:

1. Open C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\

2. Move the file blk0001.dat (the large file that stores the block chain) to a different disk, eg. D:\bitcoin-blockchain\

3. Run Command Prompt as Administrator (Accessories>Command Promt) and right click "Run as administrator". CAREFUL! mistyping a command here could damage your OS, so make sure you have backed up all important files before doing this.

4. Go to Bitcoin Folder


5. Execute mklink commnand, eg.



This replaces your blk0001.dat file with an identically-named symbolic link file.

Good luck.

If you are using and older version of Windows with NTFS then I can send you an "ln" executable (or the source code for it in c++) that I whipped up years ago (just calls the API function to make a hard link - note that being a hard link the other logical drive must be on the same physical hard drive).


Cheers,

Ian.

On Windows Vista or later, the whole %appdata%\Bitcoin directory can be replaced with a symbolic directory link:
(0) Make sure the bitcoin client is not running.
(1) Move the %appdata%\Bitcoin directory to its target location (e.g. d:\bitcoinData)
(2) Run the command prompt as root and issue the command mklink /d "c:\users\<your_user_name_here>\appdata\roaming\bitcoin" "d:\bitcoinData"
done!

This allows you to keep bitcoin client data anywhere, e.g. on a secure local fileserver.

EDIT::You should update your client to 5.2, there is no benefit in using the outdated version. Great many bugs were fixed since 4.0.

Had you tried that yourself you'd know that bitcoin client crashes when using hard-linked directories.
Try your own tool or grab Sysinternals Junction from Microsoft (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb842062) and for crying out loud test your advice before posting.

How about just moving the whole folder to another drive and start the bitcoin client/server with the option set?

The following link is mandatory for someone running bitcoin on their computers https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin

This seems a bit of a band-aid to me as the modified path has to be specified at every start. Should OP use an unmodified shortcut (like the one in Start Menu) or launch the executable manually, the client will generate a new %appdata%\bitcoin directory.

Still, in dire need the -datadir parameter can be used with great success. Good thing you mentioned it psy.

Modify the shortcut that starts the client so it has the option and just click 2 times to open the app as usual?

If in windows, right click the Bitcoin shortcut icon and choose Properties.
On the Target field append -datadir=<dir> after the path to bitcoin that is already there(don't forget to enclose the new dir path in quotes if it contain spaces.
Save.
Click the icon and open Bitcoin with your new dir, now and forever.

Incredible how you say that using a software feature is a band-aid and at the same time suggest symlinks and registry changes to achieve the same result...

Provided only this modified shortcut is ever used.
Should an unmodified shortcut or the executable itself be invoked, this approach will fail.
An installer might overwrite the start menu shortcut during upgrade.

I'm not complicating things, I'm trying to point out potential problems.

I removed the line suggesting registry changes as I said this was a total overkill.
I can't see anything wrong with symlinks, that's a great feature of the new versions of Windows.
Then again, I agree that an approach requiring some command prompt action might be considered a bit geeky by the non-techie crowd.

The user just needs to modify the shortcut every time he updates the app.
If he's not capable of (remembering to) perform such a simple administration task he shouldn't be updating it on the first place ;)

Ideally, path to the data files should be accessible in the client via the Settings -> Options menu.

The beauty of using a symlink is that it won't ever be broken by reinstalling the client. It is paid for by the necessity to type a few dozen characters into the elevated command prompt.
The biggest benefit of modifying shortcuts is simplicity. This approach is less bulletproof.
Both are acceptable solutions, enough said.

A bright side of messing with the registry... ugh, there is no bright side to that :D

Bingo and that setting should be stored in the bitcoin.conf (which should exist in all instances even if just set to defaults).


No problem with app data folder having config file but given:
a) the size of the blockchain
b) the need to keep secure and backup the wallet

the data folder should be a user defined option.

Then again I think the wallet should be separated from the daemon completely.  The wallet just being a front end that handles the GUI, keeps the wallet.dat file secure and "talks" to the daemon for everything else.

This does not help with the OP's problem directly, but the Bitcoin client should be split into two parts-- (1) a daemon that maintains a shared block chain and relays transactions for all users on the computer. (2) a wallet management program that users have to manage their wallet(s), send money etc.

Well I only mentioned a tool rather than what to do with it actually - the advice I would have given (if he was interested in the tool at all) would be to hardlink to the large file rather than to a directory and I *know* Bitcoin works with that because that is how I use it.

thank you so much, and it's helpful to me.

Again, thank you all above for your great patience and passion on solving the trouble.

In fact, I consider there will be some commands or option settings to help me to achieve this aim, but seems it's not that easy, for us, engineers, it's not so bad to do those operations, but I think it would not be simple for one not familiar with computers, maybe in the future the words with btc_artist can be considered by the dev team.

thanks.

I've had to google this twice over the past several months, and was surprised both times to not find this in the wiki. Is this still the best way to accomplish this? Should it be added? (Here (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory), probably.) I would prefer someone more familiar with the workings of windows to write it up (see first sentence for my lack of credentials on the subject).

What would I put into the bitcoin.conf file to change it to look for the blockchain in H:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin  ?  The wiki doesn't mention it at all.

I don't think you can change that?

An option in the GUI is a must I think.  Blockchain just hit 3GB and is increasing rapidly....

I tried Timo Y's idea  but I have three .dat files:
blk0001.dat
blk0002.dat
blkindex.dat

and I wasn't sure how they would work out. 

jake262144's trick is what I used. It lasts perfectly through upgrades and does exactly what I wanted.

I think Tinman is asking if he has to link each of the 3 files.

yeah wtf,
 downlaoding the initial blockchanin is a mess! i corrupted three hard disks and even with the initial file from sourceforge i am trying to it for over a month now here in vienna/austra/europe

so i cannot stress enough the following proposal:

Ideally, path to the data files should be accessible in the client via the Settings -> Options menu.

The beauty of using a symlink is that it won't ever be broken by reinstalling the client. It is paid for by the necessity to type a few dozen characters into the elevated command prompt.
The biggest benefit of modifying shortcuts is simplicity. This approach is less bulletproof.
Both are acceptable solutions, enough said.

A bright side of messing with the registry... ugh, there is no bright side to that

I feel that this need a necrobump, I ran into this solution, And damn, Jake262144's fix is PERFECT
It creates a shortcut to tell your bitcoin client to go someplace else, BTW, if your blockchain downloads really really slow, Blame your harddrive

My data dir is 13.4GB... That is a LOT of expensive SSD space. My SSD is very nearly full now
Junction are workable but aside from being advanced knowledge they are also hard to change later on (if I want to move it again to a new location).

1. conf file should be stored in same directory as executable, not in data dir.
2. conf file should specify the data dir (as either relative or absolute path), which should be changable via GUI.

Anyone think that this information is worth pinning/adding into the bitcoin client?

pinning at least.

btw, i use the -datadir option, works fine.

I do think something needs pinning but it would be better served with a new thread where the first post is a step by step guide on how to apply the two alternative fixes (with a link to this thread)
Adding to the client itself... I am not sure what you mean there.

Adding a "Data directory" field in the options I guess.

That way only maybe a "datadir.conf" file would be at the default location pointing to the actual location.

Exactly, or just add it to the current config file.

New versions of the software and all shortcuts will then work, and no hard links required.

That is a great idea! better then mine

Any word on whether the option to specify the blockchain location is getting worked into the main client?

For anyone still struggling with this issue:

You can follow the steps above, but instead, copy the entire Bitcoin folder to a separate drive. Then, in place of step 5, do this:


This will create a directory link, allowing you to store ALL blocks at a separate location.

+1

This!

Except you can do it better by deleting everything except wallet.dat, linking the whole folder on another drive and redownloading the blockchain.

Guys, Really this is the better one, I literally forgot that i was using it, ive been using it all the bitcoin clients across my house's computers it works great and im even using Shortcuts instead!

A more user-friendly way of essentially the same thing is using this tool:
http://bitsum.com/junctionmaster.php

thank you for all the replies !!! i just transfered my bitcoin,litecoin,dogecoin appdata folders to my external hard drive disk !!
thank you ! ;D

My solution is to create a bat file in the same directory as the exe for litecoin/bitcoin/dogecoin/etc
You need to disable the "run at startup" option in the client itself, as this would create a shortcut at the startup dir for running the client with the default data directory. Trying to change that shortcut will be futile as it will reset to the defaul form (IIRC whenever you look at options menu)

bat file code:

As you can see, it uses a relative subdirectory called DATA and located inside the client's folder.
It creates that directory if it doesn't exist because otherwise the client will error out saying the directory is missing and self terminate (instead of creating the directory)

Then you just need to put a shortcut to that bat file in the startup directory and set that shortcut to run minimized to avoid an unsightly command prompt coming up every time.
The reason I use "start" and "exit" is to ensure that the cmd prompt itself is gone after the program starts.

oh, and make sure to change bitcoin-qt.exe to litecoin / dogecoin / whatevercoin as needed

This is exactly what i've been looking for. 

many thanks

Not to be the a threadomancer but this set of instructions really helped me out. Bitcoin was getting too large for my SSD and this is the perfect solution. Just make sure you backup you wallet before doing so.

Also in order to make a symbolic link we need to remove the existing bitcoin directory in the appdata folder by either cutting and pasting it or moving it all together.

I Would like to part the wallet from the blockchain (database, index and everything ).
Store the wallet on a HDD, and store the blockchain on the, occasionally volatile SSD or external Flash drive.


I'v tried using symbolic links for the blk*, blocks folder, and chainstate folder. when loading QT, it crashes
...Also, it is only supported for destination-NTFS paratition. not all usb flash (such as mine) support these.

I Consider opening a feature request on the GIT. it seems like a VERY needed feature to part the wallet and the BC, for the storage requirements of each very different...

Again, moving the whole data dir is NOT an option, for the fact that HDD are much more prone to erros than flash or SSD.


(Search keywords, what I tried too lookup on google:
offloading the blockchain onto an ssd or flash drive )

Hi!
i need to run the wallet as administrator. How can i change the bat file to do that?

Thanks!

I know this is an old thread but I had to use it a couple times and wanted to share some useful info.


If you want to create a symlink to a new bitcoin data directory in Windows you have to make sure that the original directory is either deleted or renamed. I suggest the following:


Shutdown bitcoin client
rename C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin to something else, like bitcoin_old
Then create the new directory where you want your data to be stored, example E:\bitcoinData
then you can run the mklink command. mklink /d "c:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin" e:\BitcoinData


I had trouble with this and the command fails if the original bitcoin directory is still there. So you have to rename it.

Also, if you want to do the same for a NAS share, you have to specify the full path to the share, and not the drive letter:

mklink /d "c:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin" \\nas-server-name\BitcoinData

Great, thank you! I'm surprised there isn't a setting to specify a destination location for blockchain data, etc. With the size exceeding 25GB already, it's probably well overdue.

Yeah,

This seems to be fixed in bitcoin core 0.9.3

I was asked twice: First when 'opening' bitcoin,

and again when starting for the first time with a warning to the 25GB blockchain size