Block chain size/storage and slow downloads for new users

[solex]

This article says the blockchain download time will be reduced dramatically with the changes mentioned:

http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-blockchain-initial-sync-time-dramatically-reduced-headers-first-sync/

Is this true? If so, when will the new Bitcoin software be released?

There must be an error in this article because it says the new version of Bitcoin software will be 0.10. Yet the current version is 0.9.3

The article is correct on the software version. Version numbers are not decimals, the points separate counts of major to minor releases.

0.10 is due in a "few" months. No one knows exactly when yet. When it is tested as much as is practicable  .

Yes. Sync time should be dramatically improved for all new nodes which use it.

[colinistheman]

Oh my bad. I see it's version "10" and the last version was "9.3"

Thanks for the explanation

[TonyT]

Excellent thread, thanks to the OP.  

Two things I got from this thread:

1) Multibit, an excellent SPV client wallet (and I have it), is not as anonymous as Armory, since every send bitcoin transaction that comes from it must have come from your Internet Address and nobody elses.  I did not know that.

2) The Powers That Be in Bitcoin, and that includes their chief scientist G.A, intend as of last year (and things may have changed since then, though I doubt it) to eventually 'sell out' Bitcoin to the financial authorities, correctly perhaps surmising that for Bitcoin to grow it must become like any other non-anonymous currency, and be subject to identification of the bitcoin users, for better or worse (see the quotes from at the OP post in the beginning).  Of course the Bitcoin community can resist this for a while, by asking that Bitcoin integrate with say DarkCoin or something similar, but if DarkCoin or equivalent was outlawed by western democratic countries, then Bitcoin would have to surrender or also go extinct.  The writing is on the wall, and clear, as clear to me as it was over 20 years ago when I predicted Swiss banking would become much less anonymous, as it did.

TonyT

[Jybrael]

For the past few days I have been having a little bit of a problem with the synchronization of my Multibit wallet...I usually open it once a week to try and synch it to the new block chains..can someone help me with the issue please?

[bitnanigans]

I can't even run Bitcoin Core on my desktop anymore due to the speed of my Internet connection. I have my wallet hosted on a VPS.

[mlferro]

For the past few days I have been having a little bit of a problem with the synchronization of my Multibit wallet...I usually open it once a week to try and synch it to the new block chains..can someone help me with the issue please?

I had this same problem. I do not know what happened, and  multbit  wallet synchronized and I removed all my bitcoin for another  wallet

[MadGamer]

I can't even run Bitcoin Core on my desktop anymore due to the speed of my Internet connection. I have my wallet hosted on a VPS.

Just use something like like MultiBit or Electrum (I'am personally using Electrum) and I think it's the best (y) 

[ranochigo]

I can't even run Bitcoin Core on my desktop anymore due to the speed of my Internet connection. I have my wallet hosted on a VPS.

Your VPS provider have the potential to steal your wallet since they have direct access to your VPS. Why don't you run a lightweight client instead? It is much safer than having your wallet at a wallet which you have no physical access to.

[TonyT]

It took me 23 hours to add fully functional bt-core on my MAC. Downloaded bootstrap.dat and synchronised with network. Macbook is new, but process was so slow.

It took me 44 hours to install Armory.  I switched to an online wallet Multibit, but it's not 100% anonymous or even as anonymous as Armory.

I hate to say it but BTC is doomed unless they change their business model.

[ranochigo]

It took me 23 hours to add fully functional bt-core on my MAC. Downloaded bootstrap.dat and synchronised with network. Macbook is new, but process was so slow.

It took me 44 hours to install Armory.  I switched to an online wallet Multibit, but it's not 100% anonymous or even as anonymous as Armory.

I hate to say it but BTC is doomed unless they change their business model.

Armory needs Bitcoin Core to function properly. Sure MultiBit isn't 100% anonymous, you can just get a anonymous VPN or use Tor and it would be as anonymous. Multibit just use their server to check balance and broadcast transactions, your anonymity isn't 100% compromised this way. Running a full node is just for users which are more advanced for example, developers. Normal users are encouraged to use SPV clients.

[Meuh6879]

I hate to say it but BTC is doomed unless they change their business model.

I agree but Bitcoin core is the network of bitcoin.
If you don't have bitcoin core ... bitcoin doesn't exist.

Pool's and mining station is the fondation of the bitcoin network.
They use a bitcoin core (or bitcoinj) completly installed.

At this time, you can retrieve more quickly "bootstrap" from torrent official link (need 24h to recreate the blockchain with 75% CPU usage) ... or from other P2P network in final stage (upgraded every 10 generated block in a list of downloads, no need CPU, index and chainstate include).

Dev. must implement this strategy to diffuse more quickly, the blockchain for new client of bitcoin core.

[ranochigo]

I hate to say it but BTC is doomed unless they change their business model.

I agree but Bitcoin core is the network of bitcoin.
If you don't have bitcoin core ... bitcoin doesn't exist.

Pool's and mining station is the fondation of the bitcoin network.
They use a bitcoin core (or bitcoinj) completly installed.

At this time, you can retrieve more quickly "bootstrap" from torrent official link (need 24h to recreate the blockchain with 75% CPU usage) ... or from other P2P network in final stage (upgraded every 10 generated block in a list of downloads, no need CPU, index and chainstate include).

Dev. must implement this strategy to diffuse more quickly, the blockchain for new client of bitcoin core.

The developers are developing headers-first synchronization which can make normal computer sync faster. Bitcoin core are normally run by Bitcoin enthusiast and other online Bitcoin services. Bitcoin core can only be useful to the network if you port forward port 8333 and leave your computer online for long periods of time. For normal user, it would be better to run a SPV wallet.

[GailSan]

Took me four full days to download the BTC blockchain.
For newcomers and widespread adoption that isnt to hot actually..

[halfawake]

Took me four full days to download the BTC blockchain.
For newcomers and widespread adoption that isnt to hot actually..

I'm surprised it wasn't longer than that if you downloaded it recently, personally.  I downloaded the Blockchain back in June of last year and it took me about 3 full days, and that was when it was "only" 9 GB.

I'm having to do some troubleshooting stuff to recover my computer from a virus I had earlier, enough that it may end up wiping my drive knowing how messed up Windows is.  Is the blockchain BitTorrent still being maintained?  I'm just wondering because I need to know if I need to make a backup of the blockchain on my hard drive.

[ranochigo]

Took me four full days to download the BTC blockchain.
For newcomers and widespread adoption that isnt to hot actually..

I'm surprised it wasn't longer than that if you downloaded it recently, personally.  I downloaded the Blockchain back in June of last year and it took me about 3 full days, and that was when it was "only" 9 GB.

I'm having to do some troubleshooting stuff to recover my computer from a virus I had earlier, enough that it may end up wiping my drive knowing how messed up Windows is.  Is the blockchain BitTorrent still being maintained?  I'm just wondering because I need to know if I need to make a backup of the blockchain on my hard drive.

You can upgrade your computer to SSD if possible. The read and write speeds are significantly faster. The Blockchain snapshot on the BitTorrent is still available but you may need sometime for it to sync as it isn't the newest snapshot.

[TaiChen]

Took me four full days to download the BTC blockchain.
For newcomers and widespread adoption that isnt to hot actually..

I'm surprised it wasn't longer than that if you downloaded it recently, personally.  I downloaded the Blockchain back in June of last year and it took me about 3 full days, and that was when it was "only" 9 GB.

I'm having to do some troubleshooting stuff to recover my computer from a virus I had earlier, enough that it may end up wiping my drive knowing how messed up Windows is.  Is the blockchain BitTorrent still being maintained?  I'm just wondering because I need to know if I need to make a backup of the blockchain on my hard drive.

You can upgrade your computer to SSD if possible. The read and write speeds are significantly faster. The Blockchain snapshot on the BitTorrent is still available but you may need sometime for it to sync as it isn't the newest snapshot.

whats a blockchain bittorrent?? i just started syncing and its so slow. is that something to speed up sync?

[ranochigo]

Took me four full days to download the BTC blockchain.
For newcomers and widespread adoption that isnt to hot actually..

I'm surprised it wasn't longer than that if you downloaded it recently, personally.  I downloaded the Blockchain back in June of last year and it took me about 3 full days, and that was when it was "only" 9 GB.

I'm having to do some troubleshooting stuff to recover my computer from a virus I had earlier, enough that it may end up wiping my drive knowing how messed up Windows is.  Is the blockchain BitTorrent still being maintained?  I'm just wondering because I need to know if I need to make a backup of the blockchain on my hard drive.

You can upgrade your computer to SSD if possible. The read and write speeds are significantly faster. The Blockchain snapshot on the BitTorrent is still available but you may need sometime for it to sync as it isn't the newest snapshot.

whats a blockchain bittorrent?? i just started syncing and its so slow. is that something to speed up sync?

It is basically the Bitcoin Blockchain file on torrent. By downloading the blockchain using Torrent and put in your bitcoin datafolder, you can speed up sync. This process skips the CPU verification part and the problems of having slow peers by connecting to lots of peer. Take note that the first start up will still take sometime as the client still needs to verify the blocks. Since the blockchain file on torrent was created sometime ago, you still have to synchronize with the network for sometime. Here's the full tutorial https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/doc/bootstrap.md

[cyberarmy786]

I am using dropbox and google drive its working fast for me

[PeaceCoinDev]

It took me 23 hours to add fully functional bt-core on my MAC. Downloaded bootstrap.dat and synchronised with network. Macbook is new, but process was so slow.

It took me 44 hours to install Armory.  I switched to an online wallet Multibit, but it's not 100% anonymous or even as anonymous as Armory.

I hate to say it but BTC is doomed unless they change their business model.

is armory better than bitcoin core?

[Muhammed Zakir]

It took me 23 hours to add fully functional bt-core on my MAC. Downloaded bootstrap.dat and synchronised with network. Macbook is new, but process was so slow.

It took me 44 hours to install Armory.  I switched to an online wallet Multibit, but it's not 100% anonymous or even as anonymous as Armory.

I hate to say it but BTC is doomed unless they change their business model.

is armory better than bitcoin core?

Armory only runs with Bitcoin core except for offline usage. You will have to download Blockchain data. Armory gives extra features especially security for Bitcoin core.

   ~~MZ~~