1TB micro SD card for storing blockchain, any reason not to do this?

[zabzob]

Hey all, the 1TB SSD on my Thinkpad T590 (running a full node) is running out of space and the blockchain will outgrow it within the next few months. Because of current high SSD prices, I'm looking for a cheaper alternative to upgrading to a 2TB SSD. Since the laptop has an SD card reader, I'm wondering whether storing the blockchain on a 1TB microSD card would create any issues?

[LoyceV]

I expect this to work fine. But: only put blocks on the SD card, not chainstate! Depending on your RAM, Bitcoin Core will write terabytes of data to chainstate, and SD cards don't handle that very well. The blocks directory is written only once.

[zabzob]

I expect this to work fine. But: only put blocks on the SD card, not chainstate! Depending on your RAM, Bitcoin Core will write terabytes of data to chainstate, and SD cards don't handle that very well. The blocks directory is written only once.

Thanks so much, I'll do it this way

[nc50lc]

Thanks so much, I'll do it this way

I take that you're already aware that it requires --blocksdir arg or config to tell Core where the new blocks directory path is?
If not, I recommend setting it in your bitcoin.conf file.

Anyways, what happened to your other option which is HDD? It can be plugged externally.
I saw you mentioned this in your other reply a few months ago.

[zabzob]

I take that you're already aware that it requires --blocksdir arg or config to tell Core where the new blocks directory path is?
If not, I recommend setting it in your bitcoin.conf file.

I wasn't aware of this, but was going to try to figure it out or ask here once I have the sd card. Thanks for saving me the trouble, I'll edit the config file as you explain when the time comes. It will probably be a month or two before I migrate the blocks file.

Anyways, what happened to your other option which is HDD? It can be plugged externally.
I saw you mentioned this in your other reply a few months ago.

I considered this option, but would rather avoid using an external device, since the laptop moves around frequently. I would have gone this way had the sd option not been feasible. I might still do it if an external hdd is much cheaper than a 1tb sd card. There's a relatively cheap sd from Sabrent that looks reliable.

[LoyceV]

I take that you're already aware that it requires --blocksdir arg or config to tell Core where the new blocks directory path is?

I prefer to deal with this on a filesystem level (on Linux), so I just use a symlink as blocks directory. Or you can just mount the SD card as blocks directory directly.

[zabzob]

I take that you're already aware that it requires --blocksdir arg or config to tell Core where the new blocks directory path is?

I prefer to deal with this on a filesystem level (on Linux), so I just use a symlink as blocks directory. Or you can just mount the SD card as blocks directory directly.

Thanks, I'll consider this option as well

[Bitcoin Smith]

SD card slots are available in the old model laptops, and I assume their R/W speed is less compared to SSD or even HDD!

Why not just use an HDD that is reliable compared to an SD, but you said Micro SD, which is even possible to insert in a laptop without the SD card reader? That is going to take months to complete sync.