Whats wrong with my Bitcoin-Qt?

[xe99]

I just re-installed linux 12.04, fresh copy, tweaked everything the way i liked, pretty much identical to how it was.  I then installed Bitcoin-Qt and figured i'd download the entire blockchain before installing Armory again however.....for some unknown reason it takes about an hour to download one day of the blockchain. iv'e been downloading it on and off for over two weeks now and it seems like its getting slower. its taken me several days, two to three hours at a time to download about five days worth of blockchain.

i initially installed 0.8.5, the same version i had on old linux install. iv'e upgraded to 0.8.6 and nothing has gotten better.  The only two things i can think of that have changed since my previous linux install is one i downgraded my cable internet speed from 3Mbps to 2 Mbps.  My download speed has been a steady 2.8 Mbps though so i can't imaging the small difference makes that much of a difference.  The only other thing i can remotely think might be an issue is now my root folder and my home folder span a windows partition.  My root folder is before the windows partition and my Home folder is after it near the end of the hard drive.

I remember the first time i installed bitcoin-qt and armory on my previous Ubuntu install i was able to download the entire blockchain in a day.

anyone think of any other possible problems i'm missing?

[etotheipi]

You sound like a perfect candidate to try out the new BitTorrent download feature in the latest Armory testing version!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=522866.0

It will download the bootstrap.dat file from BitTorrent, then bootstrap Bitcoin-Qt/bitcoind off of it.  However, it only works if Armory is managing bitcoind for you. 

If you already have part of the blockchain downloaded, I recommend renaming your .bitcoin directory so that Armory will start totally fresh.  If it doesn't work, you can move it back and resume your multi-week download. 

And for your information, I integrated torrent for exactly this reason.   I had a neighbor complain it took 58 hours to synchronize.  And recently, I've been annoyed at how long it takes just to "top-off" the blockchain when it's off for a few days.   At least while Armory requires running a full node, we had to make this easier...

[xe99]

ok thanks etotheipi i will give that a shot later this evening if i have time or possibly tomorrow if not. will post my results once i get it figured out. sounds like my linux install might not be the issue.

[medUSA]

..for some unknown reason it takes about an hour to download one day of the blockchain
..its taken me several days, two to three hours at a time to download about five days worth of blockchain

I recently downloaded the blockchain on an old computer, the speed you quoted sounded about right on a not-so-recent computer.

I remember the first time i installed bitcoin-qt and armory on my previous Ubuntu install
i was able to download the entire blockchain in a day.

I remember downloading the blockchain 12 months ago, it took less than half a day

[etotheipi]

..for some unknown reason it takes about an hour to download one day of the blockchain
..its taken me several days, two to three hours at a time to download about five days worth of blockchain

I recently downloaded the blockchain on an old computer, the speed you quoted sounded about right on a not-so-recent computer.

I remember the first time i installed bitcoin-qt and armory on my previous Ubuntu install
i was able to download the entire blockchain in a day.

I remember downloading the blockchain 12 months ago, it took less than half a day

The new torrent download takes me a couple hours.  But then it has to process the bootstrap file which takes a few hours.  And then Armory has to build its databases which takes another couple.  I think most people will have slower internet than me, but it will still usually take less than 8 hours for that bulk download.

The key point though is:  the torrent download guarantees you can max out your bandwidth during download.  When you download through Bitcoin Core, you are downloading from a random peer that might be slow, or periodically stop responding.  I heard the devs were working on a parallelized downloading to mitigate this problem ... well we basically implemented that for them by doing the torrent thing

Let me know how it goes!

[xe99]

well i just downloaded the new Armory client, installed it and re-installed the latest Bitcoin Core through the armory interface. It automatically set everything up, located the bitcoin core launcher and is now connected and downloading via the Armory CDN. The entire process took me about 15 minutes. that was actually a very simple and pleasant process. I have to say i am pleasantly surprised. nice work!

The bootstrap torrent currently has 23 peers connected and is downloading pretty close to my max bandwidth. i'm using 'system load indicator' with Ubuntu and that program actually shows my max bandwidth being used at 280ish Mbps. Armory reports 260ish. Shows total download time at 18 hours. Considering what i was faced with before if its anywhere close to 18 hours i will be very satisfied.

Unfortunately have to stop download to get to bed but will keep track of my progress and see how it goes from here on out. so far so good...

[xe99]

..for some unknown reason it takes about an hour to download one day of the blockchain
..its taken me several days, two to three hours at a time to download about five days worth of blockchain

I recently downloaded the blockchain on an old computer, the speed you quoted sounded about right on a not-so-recent computer.

I remember the first time i installed bitcoin-qt and armory on my previous Ubuntu install
i was able to download the entire blockchain in a day.

I remember downloading the blockchain 12 months ago, it took less than half a day

HAHA! jeesh only 12 months ago were the 'good old days' of downloading. My how quickly the bitcoin times are changing!

[xe99]

Not bad! I estimate complete blockchain download, building and scanning of the database at around 25ish hours total. Complete re-scanning after restoring wallet took about 15-20 minutes.

Just a minor correction. My bandwidth speed is 2.08Mbps max...not 2.8Mbps if anyone cares for reference.