Bitcoin-Qt synchronizing very slowly - bug or not?

[secretman]

Hello everyone. My bitcoin client is currently synchronizing and has 191762 / 195388 = 98.15% of the blocks downloaded. It is going really slowly, maybe only 4 blocks a minute. At this rate it will take about a day to finish. Is this normal? Obviously it could not have taken this long on the earlier blocks. Is it because of higher transaction volume as of late or what?

Thanks in advance for your help,

secretman

[Stephen Gornick]

Hello everyone. My bitcoin client is currently synchronizing and has 191762 / 195388 = 98.15% of the blocks downloaded. It is going really slowly, maybe only 4 blocks a minute. At this rate it will take about a day to finish. Is this normal?

Normal.  Especially if you are using an encrypted filesystem.

Obviously it could not have taken this long on the earlier blocks. Is it because of higher transaction volume as of late or what?

Yup,

 - http://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=all

The most recent release of the client, v0.6.3, performs better than older versions.

Upcoming versions (w/ LevelDB, Ultraprune) will make this much less of an issue.

Electrum is a good alternative that requires no blockchain download.  The keys are kept local/private.

[secretman]

Hello everyone. My bitcoin client is currently synchronizing and has 191762 / 195388 = 98.15% of the blocks downloaded. It is going really slowly, maybe only 4 blocks a minute. At this rate it will take about a day to finish. Is this normal?

Normal.  Especially if you are using an encrypted filesystem.

Yep, I am.

Obviously it could not have taken this long on the earlier blocks. Is it because of higher transaction volume as of late or what?

Yup,

 - http://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=all

The most recent release of the client, v0.6.3, performs better than older versions.

Upcoming versions (w/ LevelDB, Ultraprune) will make this much less of an issue.

Electrum is a good alternative that requires no blockchain download.  The keys are kept local/private.

Thanks! I have the 0.6.3 beta.

[Bugpowder]

Normal.  It is the biggest problem with bitcoin, hopefully devs will improve system before 1.0

[secretman]

Is it recommended to download the whole block chain before receiving or sending bitcoins?

[chriswen]

Bitcoin will sychronize faster if you port forward or have Pnp enabled and can be used.

Since, you have only 8 connections.  These are usually connections that you initiated yourself.  Your client will stop looking for peers after 8 connection.  But, it'll still accept more connections.  But, if you have a router it gets screwed up sometimes.  SO, with only 8 connections that you start you won't be getting as much speed than if you had more connections.  Currently I have 26 connections.

This might not be normal but, it is a lot of data.  And you are using 8 people's bandwith which might not be a lot.  And I don't think bitcoin uses a lot of bandwith also.  It's not like torrent, my speeds don't usually drop so, I don't think it uses that much bandwith.  I might be wrong.

You can send bitcoins if you have enough money if your balance as of now.  You will see more bitcoins come once the future blocks are proccessed.  You can also wait because if you have more bitcoins chances are the tx fees will be less.

You can receive bitcoins even if you don't have the full blockchain.  But, you won't see them in your balance till you get the blocks the transaction is in.

[Foxpup]

Is it recommended to download the whole block chain before receiving or sending bitcoins?

It's not just recommended, it's required. Because transactions are stored in the blockchain, the software does not even know how many bitcoins you have until it the blockchain is downloaded: if someone sends you bitcoins, the bitcoins will not show up in your balance (and you will not be able to spend them) until your blockchain download has reached the block in which that transaction appears. At that point you can spend the coins before it finishes downloading the blockchain, but the transaction will be labeled as unconfirmed until the blockchain is downloaded, even if it actually is confirmed since the software has no way of knowing that without the blockchain.

TL;DR: If you're expecting a payment but haven't received anything, or your own payments appear to never confirm, make sure your blockchain is complete and up to date before panicking.

[mypolopony]

You can keep your client open! This allows it to synchronize continuously so you won't have to wait.

Also, it ensures that Bitcoins remain on your mind at all times

[Stephen Gornick]

Normal.  Especially if you are using an encrypted filesystem.

Yep, I am.

What I do is have a nonencrypted filesystem for the blockchain and index, and thyen have a symlink for them in my ~/.bitcoin

It is a bit faster.

[secretman]

Is it recommended to download the whole block chain before receiving or sending bitcoins?

It's not just recommended, it's required. Because transactions are stored in the blockchain, the software does not even know how many bitcoins you have until it the blockchain is downloaded: if someone sends you bitcoins, the bitcoins will not show up in your balance (and you will not be able to spend them) until your blockchain download has reached the block in which that transaction appears. At that point you can spend the coins before it finishes downloading the blockchain, but the transaction will be labeled as unconfirmed until the blockchain is downloaded, even if it actually is confirmed since the software has no way of knowing that without the blockchain.

TL;DR: If you're expecting a payment but haven't received anything, or your own payments appear to never confirm, make sure your blockchain is complete and up to date before panicking.

ok, that makes sense.

Also, it ensures that Bitcoins remain on your mind at all times

Not sure if I want that...