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Bernard Lerring (OP)
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June 16, 2014, 07:01:10 AM |
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I've set up bitcoin-qt on Ubuntu and have a copy of bootstrap.dat downloaded and I'm ready to sync.
When I copy bootstrap.dat to my ~/.bitcoin directory and start up the client I understand it will consolidate the data from bootstrap.dat to speed up sync of my client with the blockchain.
What I want to know is: will I end up with twice as much hard disk space missing once sync has finished?
I haven't got that much room left on this particular drive and I don't wanna lose 2 x 17GB = 34GB worth of space.
Ta.
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Lieji
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June 16, 2014, 07:42:55 AM |
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After the block00***.dat files are generated, you can remove the bootstrap.dat. Btw, the blockchain size is 21 GB now.  |
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Bernard Lerring (OP)
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June 16, 2014, 07:50:37 AM |
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Thanks. I started syncing and looked in my ~/.bitcoin/blocks directory and can see a load of blk00xxx.dat files being generated. Each one is 134.2MB and I was thinking that the client will use those once it's fully synced.
Currently about half way through sync and I will delete bootstrap.dat once it's finished.
BTW, Is it a good idea to leave bitcoin-qt running permanently as a node to help the bitcoin network when I'm not using it?
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ranochigo
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June 16, 2014, 08:19:39 AM |
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Thanks. I started syncing and looked in my ~/.bitcoin/blocks directory and can see a load of blk00xxx.dat files being generated. Each one is 134.2MB and I was thinking that the client will use those once it's fully synced.
Currently about half way through sync and I will delete bootstrap.dat once it's finished.
BTW, Is it a good idea to leave bitcoin-qt running permanently as a node to help the bitcoin network when I'm not using it?
If you keep your computer on for 24 hours, it can be a good idea to be a full node. However, if you are only using it for a few hours per day, it will not be a good idea to run a full node. The network needs full nodes that are reliable and achieve more than 99% uptime. |
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Bernard Lerring (OP)
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June 16, 2014, 09:37:40 AM |
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It's usually, but not always, on for 24 hours, so I'll run a node.
The sync has slowed right down at 14 weeks to go, so I guess it's now catching up with data that wasn't in bootstrap.dat.
I've started ufw and I've opened up port 8333 using "sudo ufw allow 8333" whilst bitcoin-qt was running. I don't need to restart bitcoin-qt, do I? Will I lose all of my sync'ed data? I'm guessing it will just carry on where it left off, right?
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ranochigo
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June 16, 2014, 09:41:12 AM |
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It's usually, but not always, on for 24 hours, so I'll run a node.
The sync has slowed right down at 14 weeks to go, so I guess it's now catching up with data that wasn't in bootstrap.dat.
I've started ufw and I've opened up port 8333 using "sudo ufw allow 8333" whilst bitcoin-qt was running. I don't need to restart bitcoin-qt, do I? Will I lose all of my sync'ed data? I'm guessing it will just carry on where it left off, right?
Yup, if you ever stop or restart it, it will continue to sync after you turn it on. |
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Bernard Lerring (OP)
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June 16, 2014, 09:48:35 AM |
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Just restarted and I'm down to 13 weeks now. In options, map port using UPnP is checked. Can I turn that off now that I've forwarded port 8333 in ufw? |
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Angela8488
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June 16, 2014, 02:14:35 PM |
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Blockchain now is getting bigger, sooner or later will exceed the capacity of computer hard drives
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Bernard Lerring (OP)
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June 16, 2014, 03:36:24 PM |
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I doubt it, Angela.
It's taken 5 years for the blockchain to get to 20 GB. Imagine the average size of a home computers hard drive in 5 years time.
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ranochigo
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June 16, 2014, 04:49:17 PM |
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I doubt it, Angela.
It's taken 5 years for the blockchain to get to 20 GB. Imagine the average size of a home computers hard drive in 5 years time.
Block chain bloat is a huge problem. At the start, there weren't as much transactions. Now, there's a lot, the average block size is a lot higher, the blockchain would increase in a faster rate. Even if the hard drive can be 10tb in 5 years time, people wouldn't have that much money to invest in a hard drive since the cost could be quite high. |
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Domino
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June 16, 2014, 04:58:41 PM |
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I doubt it, Angela.
It's taken 5 years for the blockchain to get to 20 GB. Imagine the average size of a home computers hard drive in 5 years time.
Block chain bloat is a huge problem. At the start, there weren't as much transactions. Now, there's a lot, the average block size is a lot higher, the blockchain would increase in a faster rate. Even if the hard drive can be 10tb in 5 years time, people wouldn't have that much money to invest in a hard drive since the cost could be quite high. Currently, the average block size is about 200-250 KB, according to https://blockr.io/charts. For average block size 250 KB, 150 blocks a day, the block chain will grow by about 13.5GB a year. |
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ranochigo
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June 16, 2014, 05:02:06 PM |
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I doubt it, Angela.
It's taken 5 years for the blockchain to get to 20 GB. Imagine the average size of a home computers hard drive in 5 years time.
Block chain bloat is a huge problem. At the start, there weren't as much transactions. Now, there's a lot, the average block size is a lot higher, the blockchain would increase in a faster rate. Even if the hard drive can be 10tb in 5 years time, people wouldn't have that much money to invest in a hard drive since the cost could be quite high. Currently, the average block size is about 200-250 KB, according to https://blockr.io/charts. For average block size 250 KB, 150 blocks a day, the block chain will grow by about 13.5GB a year. Possibility of it growing larger as bitcoin gain more recognisation, more people would be using it, we should be expecting more than 13.5Gb per year. |
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Domino
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June 16, 2014, 05:08:26 PM |
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Possibility of it growing larger as bitcoin gain more recognisation, more people would be using it, we should be expecting more than 13.5Gb per year.
Possible. Btw, there has been discussion on blockchain compression since 2012. Feel free to check https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=88208.0 |
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Bernard Lerring (OP)
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June 16, 2014, 11:30:13 PM |
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Update: I've just come in from work and bitcoin core has fully synced and is now running as a node. The downloaded blockchain files have caused my small SSD to be half full but I don't mind. In fact, I've been thinking of buying a bigger SSD and the prices are reasonable right now for a decent sized one, so I might upgrade in the next couple of weeks. After looking at this page it's surprised me how few nodes there are when you think how many people are prepared to invest big money in BTC without supporting the network. I'd urge more people to install bitcoin core and help out. The official link is at the top of the boards, under your user name. You won't gain any BTC from it but you can do your bit to keep this dream alive. Anyway, enough of the smug-ness. I'll be keeping my node running as often as possible as the main PC is on almost 24/7. |
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signorama
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July 17, 2014, 01:36:11 PM |
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This is how I do-it in Linux
1) ./bitcoin-qt -loadblock=/home/signorama/Downloads/bootstrap.dat -datadir=/media/signorama/Bitcoin
2) ./bitcoin-cli -loadblock=/home/signorama/Downloads/bootstrap.dat -datadir=/media/signorama/Bitcoin
The first if you prefer the Qt wallet. The second for the command-line-interface. As you see, the bootstrap.dat file is in a separate folder.
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