What is the fastest way to download the entire blockchain?

[sbtctalk]

I tried torrenting and it is going to take me more than 24 hours since there isn't many seeds around. Is there a direct link where I could do wget?

[Jet Cash]

Well it isn't over free WiFi.

I don't know the fastest way to download, but the method involving the least effort seems to be by obtaining a copy on DVD or USB stick.

[funkydog]

Sometimes i see them on Newsgroups (NZB) to download with a news grabber... maybe you could take a look.

[sbtctalk]

Sometimes i see them on Newsgroups (NZB) to download with a news grabber... maybe you could take a look.

Newsgroups. Brings back memories. It's been a while since I used it. You must be a hardcore developer. :-)

[funkydog]

Sometimes i see them on Newsgroups (NZB) to download with a news grabber... maybe you could take a look.

Newsgroups. Brings back memories. It's been a while since I used it. You must be a hardcore developer. :-)

Haha yeah... i'm old school.

Newsgroups are still the best for movies though.

[shorena]

I tried torrenting and it is going to take me more than 24 hours since there isn't many seeds around. Is there a direct link where I could do wget?

The fastest way is to run bitcoin core. Any other method of downloading either requires you to verify the download later or trust someone else. If you verify it later instead of while downloading you lose time. If you have to trust someone else you failed to see the point in running a full node.

[ezeminer]

I'll do a shameless plug here..
I can sell you a USB with the Blockchain on it. They are almost maxed out tho. 56GB used / 59GB total

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1271951.0

[Sir_lagsalot]

You could buy one of those pre-downloaded blockchain USBs, but the blockchains of those could have been tampered with, or become outdated during shipping. It would usually take longer to ship than two download. Done people say torrenting is gates, but the new version of bitcoin qt utilizes torrent software. So in actuality, bitcoin qt is the fastest.

[sbtctalk]

You could buy one of those pre-downloaded blockchain USBs, but the blockchains of those could have been tampered with, or become outdated during shipping. It would usually take longer to ship than two download. Done people say torrenting is gates, but the new version of bitcoin qt utilizes torrent software. So in actuality, bitcoin qt is the fastest.

The QT client progress bar indicated...5 weeks...

[biggus dickus]

You can download a bootstrap.dat of the blockchain from a link at bitcoin.org, but like fbueller says, it takes a long time for Bitcoin core to verify it.

https://bitcoin.org/bin/block-chain/bootstrap.dat.torrent

Furthermore, that bootstrap.dat's readme file says it's faster to let core sync than use a bootstrap file since core version 0.10.0.

https://bitcoin.org/bin/block-chain/README.txt

As of Bitcoin Core version 0.10.0 and later, the block chain bootstrap torrent hosted here takes more time to download and import than it would to simply start Bitcoin Core and let it sync itself.

[HeroCat]

Try to buy it on the USB - it will be fastest way. Downloading take a lot of time 

[HarryKPeters]

http://dumps.webbtc.com/bitcoin/
This one is very handy, but if your browser times out you have to start over again.

the torrent bootstrap is more convenient ni that regard.

Just move the bootstrap to your Bitcoin folder
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin

And open your bitcoin client.

[praprata]

When you have a fast connection try the dump from webbtc. When your internet connection is 'slow'
You will need several days to download it. So using a torrent it the best solution for you.

When the download is done, the process of syncing will probably will take upto 1 day.

[cr1776]

You can safely ignore most of the people saying to download a dump of it - they look to be trying to boost their post count.  As others have said, current versions are faster downloading it themselves.

[tyz]

The fastest way is not to download the entire blockchain Try to use software like Multibit or Electrum. Both do only download a small part of the blockchain.

I tried torrenting and it is going to take me more than 24 hours since there isn't many seeds around. Is there a direct link where I could do wget?

[Jet Cash]

I might copy it onto a DVD, that would be the cheapest transfer medium, and the cheapest to post.

[P-Funk]

The fastest way is not to download the entire blockchain Try to use software like Multibit or Electrum. Both do only download a small part of the blockchain.

I tried torrenting and it is going to take me more than 24 hours since there isn't many seeds around. Is there a direct link where I could do wget?

Seconded. SPV clients like Electrum get you going with Bitcoin quick and easy.  I highly recommend this client if you want something lightweight.

[jl777]

Iguana is still in development, but I am downloading the full blockchain at whatever bandwidth my test node has.

and processing all the blocks in parallel, so it validates using as much CPU cores you have.

I am storing the data in ramchains, which provides blockexplorer level API and generating this almost as fast as I can download it. It looks like the total size will end up around half the size of the raw data, though during the download another 5GB is probably needed.

More RAM makes it go faster, but I aim to allow it to run within 4GB RAM

James

P.S. the fastest time I got for downloading the entire chain was 12 minutes, but realistically it will be more like half an hour to get all the ramchains setup and ready to use

[target]

why is there the need to download it, is it necessary to download blockchain for a user who isn't a miner?

[achow101]

why is there the need to download it, is it necessary to download blockchain for a user who isn't a miner?

If you run any full node software like Bitcoin Core, then it is necessary to download the entire thing because it is part of verifying every transaction and block. To verify all of those, the full history needs to be known.