How big is the blockchain right now?

[mad4coinz]

I gave up downloading the bootstrap from source forge, letting the client do it now, might be done by the end of the weekend *sigh*
Then I'll have somewhere fee free offline to store my coins...

[Btuyuea]

Just curious, why do everyone report a different size?
I can see 14.2, 14.4 and even 15.3 GB, and there is something like 10% difference. Why and how?

[dimm]

Just curious, why do everyone report a different size?
I can see 14.2, 14.4 and even 15.3 GB, and there is something like 10% difference. Why and how?

depending on the time of install and use it can contain different logs, peers, debug data, etc.
wallet size are different too

[Yeot36]

Just curious, why do everyone report a different size?
I can see 14.2, 14.4 and even 15.3 GB, and there is something like 10% difference. Why and how?

depending on the time of install and use it can contain different logs, peers, debug data, etc.
wallet size are different too

Currently my wallet is just a few MB, and so as the debut log and peers.dat

I don't think these files will grow to something like a GB, or will them? 

[tropicalmonsoon]

Just curious, why do everyone report a different size?
I can see 14.2, 14.4 and even 15.3 GB, and there is something like 10% difference. Why and how?

depending on the time of install and use it can contain different logs, peers, debug data, etc.
wallet size are different too

Currently my wallet is just a few MB, and so as the debut log and peers.dat

I don't think these files will grow to something like a GB, or will them? 

Do you have Bitcoin-QT installed as your wallet?

[thorpie]

Quickest way is to download as a torrent file - is about 9 gb or torrent and this includes the blockchain until about one month ago.
Move the downloaded torrent file - bootstrap.dat - to the bitcoin folder - C:\users\me\appdata\roaming\bitcoin on win8, then start the qt client and it automagically builds the database (takes about 2 hours) and then downloads the last months transactions.

[gweedo]

Just curious, why do everyone report a different size?
I can see 14.2, 14.4 and even 15.3 GB, and there is something like 10% difference. Why and how?

depending on the time of install and use it can contain different logs, peers, debug data, etc.
wallet size are different too

Mine is the 15.3GB and that is just the amount in my block's folder, which is where the blockchain is housed. The real answer is cause different file system uses different ways of measuring a gb. I am on Mac so I can measure base 10 or base 2. Mine was measured in base 10 making 1000MB == 1gb, in base 2 mine is 14.3GB. Sorry for the confusion.

Also some people maybe a couple blocks ahead or not depending on who they are connected too as well.

[dimm]

Mine is the 15.3GB and that is just the amount in my block's folder, which is where the blockchain is housed. The real answer is cause different file system uses different ways of measuring a gb. I am on Mac so I can measure base 10 or base 2. Mine was measured in base 10 making 1000MB == 1gb, in base 2 mine is 14.3GB. Sorry for the confusion.

Also some people maybe a couple blocks ahead or not depending on who they are connected too as well.

Thanks.
didn't thought of it
thus we have to compare the amount in bytes

could it also depends on the the size of a disk's cluster and files fragmentation level?

[Flanagan]

Quickest way is to download as a torrent file - is about 9 gb or torrent and this includes the blockchain until about one month ago.
Move the downloaded torrent file - bootstrap.dat - to the bitcoin folder - C:\users\me\appdata\roaming\bitcoin on win8, then start the qt client and it automagically builds the database (takes about 2 hours) and then downloads the last months transactions.

Is downloading a torrent version of the blockchain a safe alternative? What assurances are there that the file you download this way is the real thing?

[ScripterRon]

Is downloading a torrent version of the blockchain a safe alternative? What assurances are there that the file you download this way is the real thing?

Downloading from a torrent is the best approach if you are able to do it.  You don't need to worry about getting a bogus blockchain because the bitcoin client contains built-in checkpoints.  So even if somebody gives you a blockchain which is internally consistent, the client will still reject it because it doesn't match its checkpoint values.

I run BitTorrent to seed the blockchain torrent and there is never any drop in the demand.  I also run a full bitcoin node and that also runs at capacity feeding blocks to peer nodes.  So there must be a lot of people installing Bitcoin-Qt for the first time