We already know that we have to download Bitcoin Core wallet if we want to contribute the network by running the full node of the blockchain.
But it will be a tedious job download the full chain of size 80 GB again if there happens something wrong with one's wallet and it needs to restart a wallet from the beginning.
So is there a recent bootstrap file available anywhere so that I can keep it as a backup in case I need it whenever I start a new wallet?
Or can anyone help me out on how to create a bootstrap file myself directly from the wallet files?
Technical helps are much appreciated
1. Configure/keep data directory under subdirectory in the installation directory, change your startup script to point to that data directory.
2. Backup your wallet.dat
3. Delete wallet.dat from your data directory. Backup the whole installation/data directory.
4. Now you can put backup in 3. anywhere (for example: your new node)
5. Restart 4., it will recreate wallet.dat (with a new default address)
If you backup installation/data directory every few weeks (and before any major release), you will be ok. Even if they are down for a while, when you restart
them, they will catch up. No need to download of the whole blockchain.
Remember, blockchain and your wallet are two different things. The blockchain files are (should be) identical on all your nodes once synchronized with the network.
wallet.dat should be different.
Just keep blockchain with the matching binaries, so that if you need to upgrade, you'll have no issues. First synchronize, then upgrade.
You should maintain your nodes by upgrading binaries to the latest, released version.
