Bitcoin wallet

[um35h]

Hello,

Was trying to update my bitcoin wallet after many months (24 months) although the PC has now run out of Hard drive space, and the BTC software seems outdated, what is the best way to get the wallet up to date. (i have located the wallet.dat file on the pc)

Have the same issue with a LTC wallet which is also on the same PC.

TIA

[dre1982]

There is an option to prune. This will save a lot of disk space.

You will find more information here: https://coinguides.org/bitcoin-blockchain-pruning/

[bob123]

If you want to use your full node wallet, you either 1) have to get a bigger hard drive or 2) use pruning.
But keep in mind that changing your wallet file or other issues can result in a rescan needed. With a pruned node this means the whole blockchain has to be downloaded again.

If you just want to access your coins and move them, using a SPV wallet and importing your private keys would be the fastest way.

[NeuroticFish]

Buy SSD with  capacity  enough to accommodate the whole  blockchain for at least N years (N - is up to you), copy blockchain data from the old HDD to new SSD, head there  your  bitcoin client   -datadir=your_external_path . IMO, having the full node instead of  SPV using is the better option in term of privacy. SSD will save a lot of  nerves when waiting for full synchronization.

Afaik the chainstate on SSD + enough RAM (and good internet too) offers already good enough speed without the need to save all the blocks to SSD.
After all SSD is still quite expensive and the blockchain is pretty much space hungry (while of course, for HDDs this is not an issue).
Obviously a big enough disk is a must.

(For "moving" only certain folders there's always the option of symlink.)

[HCP]

Was trying to update my bitcoin wallet after many months (24 months) although the PC has now run out of Hard drive space, and the BTC software seems outdated, what is the best way to get the wallet up to date. (i have located the wallet.dat file on the pc)

Considering you're talking about wallet.dat, then I'll assume you're running Bitcoin Core.

First up, make a copy (or three) of your wallet.dat. Then you'll need to make a decision regarding your storage options. Can you add a larger drive to your system? If so, then get at least a 500GB, but preferably a 1TB drive and add it to your system.

Afterwards, goto https://bitcoincore.org/ and get the latest version of Bitcoin Core (currently 0.20.1) and install that.

Now, you can read: How to move the Bitcoin Core Data Directory-, so you can move the data directory onto your new, larger, storage drive.

Then simply start Bitcoin Core and let it sync up... it'll eventually finish and you'll have a fully synced node, using your old wallet.dat with the latest version of Bitcoin Core.


If you can't add a new drive to your setup, then your options are:

1. Pruning of Bitcoin Core
or
2. Exporting your private keys from Bitcoin Core and then importing into an SPV wallet like Electrum or Wasabi etc.