bitcoin-qt huge blocks file

[spudy12]

Is there anything I can do about the huge file size of the blocks folder in app data? It is currently 12gb?!
Is it okay to delete them or do I have to do something else?

[briehost]

You can use a web wallet such as electrum or blockchain.info, however these 12gb represent all the block headers as well as all unspent transactions. The Satoshi/original client no longer saves spent transaction details so at least it is not as large as it could be

If you delete this folder you will have to download and verify every transaction again next time you open bitcoin-qt

[spudy12]

If I  were to delete all these and re download them ( I know this would take a long time but thats not an issue) would the overall size be smaller?

[briehost]

It would be bigger than it is now, since new blocks are found every 10 minutes (or more quickly due to hash rate increases)

Ultimately you would end up with a wallet the same size as if you had not done this, and you would also be using much more of your bandwidth, as well as others' since they have to send you the blockchain again.

Running bitcoin-qt helps secure the network and keep it decentralized by providing an extra layer of transaction and block validation, as well as rebroadcasting, even if you are not mining. It is also the best way to verify a payment has really been sent to you, since it verifies all transactions against previous transactions/generation, while a web wallet or block explorer generally gives you info from a database which could be modified to include false transactions.

If you simply can not keep this much data on your hard drive then the only route to go (if you are using your wallet every day) is to have a web wallet. I am not saying that any of these web wallet services are or are not secure, or that they do not work well. But both you and the rest of the network are better off if you run a full node.

You can keep a paper wallet or an encrypted wallet.dat file if you are simply buying and holding bitcoin or do not spend them that regularly.

[spudy12]

okay, is there a way I can move this data off of my main SSD on the a secondary drive?
 I am all for helping the network, Just need it off my SSD! haha

[briehost]

okay, is there a way I can move this data off of my main SSD on the a secondary drive?
 I am all for helping the network, Just need it off my SSD! haha

Oh yes, with SSD I can see how you'd want to save those 12gb for something else!

EDIT: Use the -datadir option.
Right-click on your bitcoin-qt shortcut, press properties, and add -datadir=D:\Bitcoin
Go make that directory, then run bitcoin. If a bunch of files show up in there, you've done it correctly.

Found here: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/9259/bitcoin-qt-setup-change-block-chain-file-location-settings-documentation

[dserrano5]

these 12gb represent all the block headers as well as all unspent transactions. The Satoshi/original client no longer saves spent transaction details so at least it is not as large as it could be

This is untrue. The reference client saves the raw blockchain on disk, which contain all blocks and therefore all transactions. Some orphan blocks are saved too, since the program doesn't learn they are orphans until too late. However it doesn't keep an index into transactions, which means you can't ask your client about arbitrary transactions—but they exist on disk nevertheless. The parameter -txindex controls this indexing and is 0 by default.

[briehost]

these 12gb represent all the block headers as well as all unspent transactions. The Satoshi/original client no longer saves spent transaction details so at least it is not as large as it could be

This is untrue. The reference client saves the raw blockchain on disk, which contain all blocks and therefore all transactions. Some orphan blocks are saved too, since the program doesn't learn they are orphans until too late. However it doesn't keep an index into transactions, which means you can't ask your client about arbitrary transactions—but they exist on disk nevertheless. The parameter -txindex controls this indexing and is 0 by default.

Oh! I must have misread something in my research but upon further inspection it seems you are very right.

Sorry for rebroadcasting misinformation and thank you for the correction!

[cowandtea]

Is there anything I can do about the huge file size of the blocks folder in app data? It is currently 12gb?!
Is it okay to delete them or do I have to do something else?

Using online wallet is one way, but there is nothing you can do if you want to use bitcoin-qt. It will be like 1000gb after all Bitcoin have been mined so have a bigger hard disk

[Leehoya]

If you prefer bitcoin-qt then never delete. However, if you do not want a big file occupying your diskspace, use online wallet like blockchain and coinbase.

[jlp]

The blockchain is now over 25 GB.  This seems crazy.

I need to run bitcoin on a Linux server in order to process transactions, but I have to increase the size of my server from my hosting company, just because the blockchain keeps growing.  This means over time, I will have to continue to pay more for hosting.

Isn't there any way that the core team can re-architect the blockchain so that only the most recent 10-20% of blocks need to be stored, and enable us to delete the oldest 80-90% of blocks?

[fsb4000]

We MUST store ALL BLOCKS. Do not let to steal your Bitcoins!!!!

[Dare]

The blockchain is now over 25 GB.  This seems crazy.

I need to run bitcoin on a Linux server in order to process transactions, but I have to increase the size of my server from my hosting company, just because the blockchain keeps growing.  This means over time, I will have to continue to pay more for hosting.

Isn't there any way that the core team can re-architect the blockchain so that only the most recent 10-20% of blocks need to be stored, and enable us to delete the oldest 80-90% of blocks?

Please don't necro old threads; it's been nearly a year since the last post relevant to the original discussion. While your question isn't without merit, you'll get better feedback by posting it as a new thread either here or in the "Development & Technical Discussion" section.

[hhanh00]

The blockchain is now over 25 GB.  This seems crazy.

I need to run bitcoin on a Linux server in order to process transactions, but I have to increase the size of my server from my hosting company, just because the blockchain keeps growing.  This means over time, I will have to continue to pay more for hosting.

Isn't there any way that the core team can re-architect the blockchain so that only the most recent 10-20% of blocks need to be stored, and enable us to delete the oldest 80-90% of blocks?

Yes it's possible. It has been discussed as an improvement for a long while. It's not implemented.
The blockchain is 27 gb. The active part is less than 800 mb.

I am working on a thin client that would use a configurable amount of space