Copying .bitcoin to a new machine - fail

[bitcoindaddy]

I decided it would be fun to try to run the bitcoind client on a Raspberry Pi. Mostly because I wanted to try p2pool and it requires that the client is always running.

So I compiled the latest bitcoind from git on the Raspberry and fired it up - after 24 hours, it was not even close to being done with the block chain.

I then copied the .bitcoin directory contents from another machine (a standard PC) to the Pi and deleted the wallet.dat file so it would create a new one. Well, when bitcoind started up, it started all over from the beginning with the lowest block numbers.

Is there something I need to do on the sending-side before copying the .bitcoin directory to a new PC so I don't have to start over and download and process the whole blockchain?


Edit - I suspect I have to detach the databases first in the client...
Edit - Detaching the databases before copying didn't help.

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[kjj]

If you have a successful detach, and your node is still ignoring the files, you don't have them in the right place.  Double check that your blk*.dat and blkindex.dat files are where they are supposed to be.

[Pieter Wuille]

If you compiled the current development version in git, you have a pre-release for 0.8, which uses a completely different database layout compared to older versions. As there is no auto-migration implemented yet, it is expected that it would just start downloading from scratch.

What you can do: move the old blk0001.dat and blk0002.dat to blocks/blk00000.dat and blocks/blk00001.dat, and start bitcoind with -reindex.

Also: don't expect the CPU of a Pi to be fast - the part of the block chain after 193000 (the last checkpoint, after which signature checking is enabled) is dominated by CPU power. It's bound to take many hours on a Pi, running at 100% cpu.

[bitcoindaddy]

If you compiled the current development version in git, you have a pre-release for 0.8, which uses a completely different database layout compared to older versions. As there is no auto-migration implemented yet, it is expected that it would just start downloading from scratch.

What you can do: move the old blk0001.dat and blk0002.dat to blocks/blk00000.dat and blocks/blk00001.dat, and start bitcoind with -reindex.

Also: don't expect the CPU of a Pi to be fast - the part of the block chain after 193000 (the last checkpoint, after which signature checking is enabled) is dominated by CPU power. It's bound to take many hours on a Pi, running at 100% cpu.

I suspect this is the problem. I had tried a bunch of things and no matter what it would start from scratch. Thanks for the tip.