Moving "work" from 1 pc to another

[maxim.veksler]

Hello,

I've started to mine a coin on a Linux server, using bitcoind. After having it running for several days I would like to shutdown this server, but obviously I do not wish to lose the work I have put into generating this coin so far. What should I copy to continue the generation on another Linux server? On my Windows machine at home?

Also, can I "merge" work from several machines? I would assume that each of them started matching for a different cryptographic key, meaning mining a "different" coin?

New and a bit confused to the bitcoin concepts...

Thanks,
Maxim.

[maxim.veksler]

Hi Monoquark,

I see your point, guess I simply don't understand the protocol then. I was sure that you get a "cryptographic target key" and then you try all options starting from 0 to the maximum bit field size (which is?).

Also you mention something about solo mining, I'm currently using Bitcoin client and I see it do 4208 khash/s. I don't know if it uses my GPU, I have AMD Radeon HD 6800 how can I verify I'm using the GPU?

[Dude65535]

Every time a new block is found or a transaction is added to the block you are working on you end up working on a different problem. Also there is no guarantee that the problem you working on at any given time even has a valid solution so there is no incentive to avoid adding transactions or ignoring a new block that shows up.

Edit: to get more specific about the problem being worked on, it is a guess and check sort of problem with you computer making millions of guesses per second each of which has an equal chance to find a acceptable solution (a cryptographic hash that is lower than a certain value).

[grue]

Hi Monoquark,

I see your point, guess I simply don't understand the protocol then. I was sure that you get a "cryptographic target key" and then you try all options starting from 0 to the maximum bit field size (which is?).

Also you mention something about solo mining, I'm currently using Bitcoin client and I see it do 4208 khash/s. I don't know if it uses my GPU, I have AMD Radeon HD 6800 how can I verify I'm using the GPU?

mining is like throwing a bunch of coins, if they all land heads, you win. saving the coins from you failed attempts do not help toward your future attempts.

[Meni Rosenfeld]

Hi Monoquark,

I see your point, guess I simply don't understand the protocol then. I was sure that you get a "cryptographic target key" and then you try all options starting from 0 to the maximum bit field size (which is?).

Also you mention something about solo mining, I'm currently using Bitcoin client and I see it do 4208 khash/s. I don't know if it uses my GPU, I have AMD Radeon HD 6800 how can I verify I'm using the GPU?

You're not using the GPU. Don't use bitcoind's generate coins option. Instead, join a pool and run a GPU miner like poclbm.