Is Downgrading to an Older Version Better for Bitcoin Core Synchronization?

[Joeboy]

When a traveler is lost, it’s those around him that help him out in pointing the right way."  That’s why I’m reaching out to those more experienced in this area.

I have been using the Bitcoin core, version 29.0 on my HP laptop (with an SSD internal storage) for some while now, but I keep experiencing this two problems which is:

1) The synchronization process is very very slow.

2) And just within 30 minutes of syncing tit, it will consume roughly about 12GB of my mobile data without even syncing much

My question now is: Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong that I am not aware of? or is it because I am running a prunned Synchronization?

Some persons suggested that I should revert to an earlier version (v28.1 or v25), with the assumption that those versions sync better and use less data. I am not even sure how accurate that advice is. I would however appreciate any advice on this. Should I downgrade, change some settings, or is v29.0 simply more data intensive?

[LoyceV]

A few pointers:
Newer versions of Bitcoin Core are usually more efficient in syncing than older versions.
You're going to download 600+ GB of data. If you're doing that on mobile data, 12 GB in 30 minutes isn't even that bad.
The older blocks are much easier to verify than the newer blocks. So in the start, you're probably limited by your internet speed. Later on, your RAM or SSD may become the limiting factor and slow it down further.
If you can't spare 600+ GB of bandwidth, you're better off with a light wallet than Bitcoin Core. Syncing in 1 or 2 days isn't bad at all.

[BitMaxz]

Who said that downgrading use less data while syncing?

Honestly, if you are going to use the lower version, you will experience the bugs that exist on that version. That is why they keep updating or releasing a new one is to fix those issues and improve performance.

How exactly did you set up Bitcoin Core to prune? You might have entered a large size. If you don't want to consume more mobile data, then try lowering them to "550MiB" which is a minimum, or just set it to "2000MiB".

Also, tell us the exact specs of your laptop so that we know what the cause of your slow syncing process is.

If you intend to use it for daily transactions, I recommend switching to a lite version such as Electrum if you do not want to continue experiencing syncing issues (in the future if this one is fixed).

[Joeboy]

Who said that downgrading use less data while syncing?

Honestly, if you are going to use the lower version, you will experience the bugs that exist on that version. That is why they keep updating or releasing a new one is to fix those issues and improve performance.

How exactly did you set up Bitcoin Core to prune? You might have entered a large size. If you don't want to consume more mobile data, then try lowering them to "550MiB" which is a minimum, or just set it to "2000MiB".

Also, tell us the exact specs of your laptop so that we know what the cause of your slow syncing process is.

If you intend to use it for daily transactions, I recommend switching to a lite version such as Electrum if you do not want to continue experiencing syncing issues (in the future if this one is fixed).

Thank you very much.
This is my laptop spec:
HP laptop with AMD processor, 8gb RAM, 128 SSD, 1.80GHZ Windows 11

And how can I lower it to 550MIB like you said

[LoyceV]

How exactly did you set up Bitcoin Core to prune? You might have entered a large size. If you don't want to consume more mobile data, then try lowering them to "550MiB" which is a minimum, or just set it to "2000MiB".

This doesn't make sense. Pruning doesn't mean you have to download less.

HP laptop with AMD processor, 8gb RAM, 128 SSD, 1.80GHZ Windows 11

With 8 GB RAM, your SSD will get pounded while syncing the last few years of block data. It will work, but only get slower as chainstate grows.

[Mia Chloe]

~snip

Basically if you are going to run Bitcoin core on your computer there are some major things you have to take into consideration aside from your computer specs and one of them is good internet connection. I suggest make use of the Wi-Fi network for your download and syncing I'm not a cellular network carrier.

Be it a pruned or full synchronization you still need a decent amount of space and stable power supply since you can't risk your computer turning off during the syncing process or else sometimes you could restart since the files could get corrupt.

[ABCbits]

2) And just within 30 minutes of syncing tit, it will consume roughly about 12GB of my mobile data without even syncing much

When i write this reply, size of Bitcoin blockchain is currently almost 700GB.

Should I downgrade, change some settings, or is v29.0 simply more data intensive?

What is your goal of running Bitcoin Core? If you need Bitcoin wallet that is easy to use, consider wallet software such as Electrum. If you want to help the Bitcoin network, you don't have to force yourself to run full node especially when there are at least 22K reachable nodes (according to bitnodes.io)

HP laptop with AMD processor, 8gb RAM, 128 SSD, 1.80GHZ Windows 11

With 8 GB RAM, your SSD will get pounded while syncing the last few years of block data. It will work, but only get slower as chainstate grows.

I don't know quality of HP product. But if it use very cheap/QLC-based SSD, the sync speed (after certain block height) will reduce significantly and may cause slowdown whole laptop/task.

[promise444c5]

And how can I lower it to 550MIB like you said

Here’s how pruning works: it downloads the full blockchain but keeps only latest block-data upto to the size you specify( like the 550MiB you mentioned ), old block-data that goes beyond that size(550MiB if used) will be deleted leaving behind the latest block-data that fits with the size (550MiB) ..
The setup itself mainly gives you more disk-space(which will help your hardware).. other than that, everything stays the same as your node will download and verify the entire blockchain history…

[Findingnemo]

~
I don't know quality of HP product. But if it use very cheap/QLC-based SSD, the sync speed (after certain block height) will reduce significantly and may cause slowdown whole laptop/task.

I tried looking for the available models that match the specified hardware and all I can find are basic models which has processors with power class 'U' (TDP 15W) and in that class we can't expect to have NVMe so they are only intended for very basic tasks and any intensive tasks can damage the hardware due to throttling. OP can stretch it by upgrading RAM and SSD, but definitely not recommended if he plans to keep doing other tasks as well on the same device.

[nc50lc]

Some persons suggested that I should revert to an earlier version (v28.1 or v25), with the assumption that those versions sync better and use less data. I am not even sure how accurate that advice is. I would however appreciate any advice on this. Should I downgrade, change some settings, or is v29.0 simply more data intensive?

Leaving v28.1, there'll be an issue if you want to continue syncing using an older client.
That's because in v28.0, newly created block files are XOR'd which isn't compatible with clients older than v28.0,
So if ever those assumptions have technical basis unknown to us, you'll have to start over if you want to downgrade <v28.0. (unless you use blocksexor=0)

Can you share the doc or post where found those information?
It would be interesting to check the reasons of why they think that it'll faster.
(I hope it's not because they think that the blockchain was relatively smaller when those versions were released)

[DubemIfedigbo001]

1) The synchronization process is very very slow.

Check also size of database cache you allocated to the synching process, If you have a bigger RAM space, you can allocate a bigger size to it and it would make synchronization faster

You can access it from Window>options

Be it a pruned or full synchronization you still need a decent amount of space and stable power supply since you can't risk your computer turning off during the syncing process or else sometimes you could restart since the files could get corrupt.

Correct, if the computer he is using looses power all of a sudden, his progress would not be saved properly and the track of new blocks synchronized may be lost prompting him to start again from the last point that got properly saved. It would be safer for him to hibernate his PC when he senses possibility of power loss or he can close the software so that it properly saves his progress before shutting down.

How exactly did you set up Bitcoin Core to prune? You might have entered a large size. If you don't want to consume more mobile data, then try lowering them to "550MiB" which is a minimum, or just set it to "2000MiB".

This doesn't make sense. Pruning doesn't mean you have to download less.

Yeah, sure it only helps save disk space by keeping only recent block data and deleting older ones that your node no longer needs but you would still need to sync the remaining required blocks to be up to date, so there is no way you are downloading less than required.

[LoyceV]

~ stable power supply since you can't risk your computer turning off during the syncing process

OP is using a laptop. Those have built-in UPS.

~they are only intended for very basic tasks and any intensive tasks can damage the hardware due to throttling.

CPU throttling is the last thing that damages hardware. Decent computer hardware doesn't get damaged from intensive tasks. If it breaks, it was flawed already. The most common problem is probably dust in the CPU fan, especially on CPUs with high TDP. That's easy to fix by cleaning the fan.

[Findingnemo]

~they are only intended for very basic tasks and any intensive tasks can damage the hardware due to throttling.

CPU throttling is the last thing that damages hardware. Decent computer hardware doesn't get damaged from intensive tasks. If it breaks, it was flawed already. The most common problem is probably dust in the CPU fan, especially on CPUs with high TDP. That's easy to fix by cleaning the fan.

I meant to say that due to CPU throttling and not the best cooling system in that class will put the motherboard at risk due to excessive heat, trust me speaking from experience although mine was from rendering a long video.

[Mahiyammahi]

1) The synchronization process is very very slow.

2) And just within 30 minutes of syncing tit, it will consume roughly about 12GB of my mobile data without even syncing much

My question now is: Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong that I am not aware of? or is it because I am running a prunned Synchronization?

Well the synchronization process you said earlier typically varied on CPU/RAM . Most of times I saw it's not about the Data speed but the system performance what taking it so long. Ex - My friend had Core I7 & My was AMD 5500U his synchronization was finished within 30h and my synchronization take more than 48h.

Well pruned mode shouldn't be any problem, I also use pruned mode. It would be better if prunde 10/20GB space. 12GB in 30min is typically normal for synchronization. Roll back to older older version is not ideal. You may face more slow synchronizing

[Joeboy]

Ex - My friend had Core I7 & My was AMD 5500U his synchronization was finished within 30h and my synchronization take more than 48h.

Thank you for this @Mahiyammahi. So my question based off on this is that how many GB of mobile data did it take you to complete the pruned synchronization process?

[LoyceV]

how many GB of mobile data did it take you to complete the pruned synchronization process?

See:

You're going to download 600+ GB of data. If you're doing that on mobile data