[ANN] Bitcoin blockchain data torrent

[pedrog]

For some reason I can't get this to work.
Can someone kind explain the steps I need to take from that I download the file to that I import the block into the wallet?
So far it doesn't seem to recognize the file until I shut the wallet off and then I get an error message.
//DeaDTerra

Well, I've made a symlink at .bitcoin directory to bootstrap.dat, but you can just paste the file into your bitcoin config files directory.

If linux: ~/.bitcoin

Edit: Check here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory

[DeaDTerra]

For some reason I can't get this to work.
Can someone kind explain the steps I need to take from that I download the file to that I import the block into the wallet?
So far it doesn't seem to recognize the file until I shut the wallet off and then I get an error message.
//DeaDTerra

Well, I've made a symlink at .bitcoin directory to bootstrap.dat, but you can just paste the file into your bitcoin config files directory.

If linux: ~/.bitcoin

Edit: Check here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory

Where do I want to paste it,
The database directory?

[pedrog]

For some reason I can't get this to work.
Can someone kind explain the steps I need to take from that I download the file to that I import the block into the wallet?
So far it doesn't seem to recognize the file until I shut the wallet off and then I get an error message.
//DeaDTerra

Well, I've made a symlink at .bitcoin directory to bootstrap.dat, but you can just paste the file into your bitcoin config files directory.

If linux: ~/.bitcoin

Edit: Check here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory

Where do I want to paste it,
The database directory?

Nop, paste it in the main directory, then start Bitcoin-QT it should detect the file and start importing.

[deepceleron]

For some reason I can't get this to work.
Can someone kind explain the steps I need to take from that I download the file to that I import the block into the wallet?
So far it doesn't seem to recognize the file until I shut the wallet off and then I get an error message.
//DeaDTerra

Well, I've made a symlink at .bitcoin directory to bootstrap.dat, but you can just paste the file into your bitcoin config files directory.

If linux: ~/.bitcoin

Edit: Check here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory

Where do I want to paste it,
The database directory?

Nop, paste it in the main directory, then start Bitcoin-QT it should detect the file and start importing.

Nope, copy the bootstrap.dat file into the Bitcoin database directory, the same directory that contains your wallet.dat file. When you restart Bitcoin-qt, it will import all blocks from the bootstrap.dat that weren't previously downloaded.

[pedrog]

For some reason I can't get this to work.
Can someone kind explain the steps I need to take from that I download the file to that I import the block into the wallet?
So far it doesn't seem to recognize the file until I shut the wallet off and then I get an error message.
//DeaDTerra

Well, I've made a symlink at .bitcoin directory to bootstrap.dat, but you can just paste the file into your bitcoin config files directory.

If linux: ~/.bitcoin

Edit: Check here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory

Where do I want to paste it,
The database directory?

Nop, paste it in the main directory, then start Bitcoin-QT it should detect the file and start importing.

Nope, copy the bootstrap.dat file into the Bitcoin database directory, the same directory that contains your wallet.dat file. When you restart Bitcoin-qt, it will import all blocks from the bootstrap.dat that weren't previously downloaded.

Well, that's the main directory:

$ ls .bitcoin/
blocks  chainstate  database  db.log  debug.log  peers.dat  wallet.dat

[bg002h]

Wow that was fast...I'm a new seed (5 Mbit/s up)...

[Moebius327]

Wow that was fast...I'm a new seed (5 Mbit/s up)...

I downloaded the torrent in 65 minutes. WOW

[Sukrim]

I've seeded already in total for sure above 100 GB.

Would be great to have a new check point and also a new torrent soon. We're already ~18k blocks further down the road after all.

Please also consider creating an RSS feed that one can then subscribe to, once enough people do this, you can even swith to faster releases, as new torrents will be seeded much faster.

[michagogo]

Would be great to have a new check point and also a new torrent soon. We're already ~18k blocks further down the road after all.

The checkpoints are hard-coded into the Satoshi client. New checkpoints can only happen at new releases of said client. Once that's released (or at least committed to the repo -- the timing is up to Jeff) a new torrent will presumably be made.

[pointychimp]

I will download and support this.

edit:

Can't get that linearize.py script to work and I haven't connected to anyone in the swarm yet. Sigh.

[botolo86]

I am so glad I found this thread. I had Bitcoin-QT open for several days and I was still so behind in downloading the blockchain!

[michagogo]

I am so glad I found this thread. I had Bitcoin-QT open for several days and I was still so behind in downloading the blockchain!

I'm beggining to think Bitcoin-QT should download the torrent itself!

Well, sipa (Pieter Wuille) is working on implementing headers-first syncing, where the client will start by downloading all the block headers from a peer, and once that's done, the downloading of block data can happen in parallel from multiple peers at once, making bootstrap.dat much less needed.

[BaalMcKloud]

100Mbit/s FR SeedBox added

1Gbit/s FR SeedBox added...

[QuantumQrack]

Never thought I would be sending the blockchain to people in Nepal.  Crazy.  

[rmines]

Thanks a lot for creating this torrent and all those that are seeding!

[XCASH]

Forgot to mention...  the following python util, linearize.py, was checked into the bitcoin repo today:

     https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/tree/master/contrib/misc

This tool may be used to recreate bootstrap.dat byte-for-byte identical with the bootstrap.dat in this torrent.

If you are running bitcoind locally, create bootstrap.dat locally, then start seeding the torrent immediately at 100%!

Hi,

I tried this link today, but I got a 404 file not found message. Is this download still available?

[deepceleron]

Forgot to mention...  the following python util, linearize.py

I tried this link today, but I got a 404 file not found message. Is this download still available?

You can create the bootstrap.dat with pynode. It will get it's own copy of the blockchain from a single IP (your own bitcoin), and you can then create the file with mkbootstrap.py.

[jgarzik]

linearize was moved to

      https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/tree/master/contrib/linearize

[agent13]

Will bitcoin-qt only recognize a bootstrap.dat file starting at block 1?

is it possible to use the python util to create a new bootstrap.dat starting at block 250001 ? For example - to update an off-line PC which has only had previous access to the 250k bootstrap.dat.

Creating a new 10gb+ file up to 270k+ seems silly when I only need to create the difference between the two (and easier to transfer to off-line PC).

Thanks.

[XCASH]

Thanks