Downloading Bitcoin Core onto Mac Book Pro External Hard Drive

[JTV95]

Hello, I've downloaded Bitcoin core onto my Mac Book Pro. It is trying to download the full blockchain onto my computer. I do not have enough storage on my laptop to hold the full blockchain. I have a 4tb Xbox Seagate external hard drive. (Not sure if this matters but my mac asked to reformat the hard drive. I did that. I backed my laptop onto the external hard drive) Right now I'm trying to download the blockchain onto the external hard drive. I've deleted the download a few times and tried to download bitcoin core straight to the external hard drive. I think it does put bitcoin core on the external hard drive. But it is downloading the blockchain data onto my mac. Is there a way to make it download straight to the external hard drive rather than my computer?

Sorry for the wordy question.
Thanks

[1714818011]

1714818011

[1714818011]

1714818011

[Rath_]

Is there a way to make it download straight to the external hard drive rather than my computer?

Since you cannot set the datadir in the configuration file and modify the startup parameters on macOS, you have to create a symbolic link to your HDD or reinstall Bitcoin Core (only if you were prompted to select the data directory on the first startup; blockchain data might get deleted if you don't move it before uninstalling Bitcoin Core; if you weren't asked to select it, follow the former suggestion).

[LoyceMobile]

Have you considered pruning the blockchain? Depending on what you plan to use it for, that could be a better option.

[JTV95]

What I do have downloaded is only about 10% of the blockchain. It's no big deal for me to delete it and start over.
I tried deleting everything. I've deleted bitcoin core. I went here and deleted everything with bitcoin. ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/
I went to try to download it to my external hard drive. When I tried to open bitcoin core after downloading it. I get this message now when opening bitcoin core.
"A fatal error occurred. Bitcoin can no longer continue safely and will quit."

[JTV95]

Have you considered pruning the blockchain? Depending on what you plan to use it for, that could be a better option.

I'm really just trying to learn how to use it and checking it out myself. Most everything I know is what i've been told. I would preferably download the whole blockchain just for informational purposes.

[JTV95]

How do I do that?

[Rath_]

How do I do that?

The debug.log should be located in the datadir. You can check if the data directory was created on the external drive or check the default one on your Mac. I doubt that you will find anything.

[JTV95]

Find debug.log file and share it so we can identify the problem and think way to solve it.
[/quote]
Is this it?

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[Rath_]

-snip

That's not it. If you can't find any other file then consider trying the symlink method which I mentioned earlier. It would all be much easier on Windows.

[JTV95]

This may not be helpful to most people that have already been running bitcoin core. I erased my external hard drive. Deleted everything I could find that involved bitcoin core. I restarted the whole process. It's currently downloading onto the external hard drive.

Thank you guys for responding. I'm very newbie when it comes to stuff like this. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your day or night.