Topic: Bitcoin Core blockchain impossible to download now, too slow and too big - page 2. (Read 498 times)

Thankyou, and for breaking it apart so nicely. You gave a lot to consider, some great info there. Going to dig in to it.

Basically, what I am saying (though DH said it far more eloquently) is that there really isn't a need for "full nodes" that are having trouble setting themselves up. There are plenty of full replicas of the blockchain, and frankly there is no real reson for an end user to keep one more. Keep in mind it's only even slightly useful if you're Always on, 24/7, with good reachability. and even if you are, your addition to the network isn't essential.

This isn't to discourage people from running full nodes. I personally run two, 24/7, but you have to learn to deal with the software and its management. It will take you anywhere from 3 days to a week to fully sync. If bootstrapping doesn't make the process any quicker then you're not bandwidth bound but CPU bound.

Just sue light wallets instead of downloading the entire bitcoin blockchain from scratch.

Welcome.


You may want to consider a lightweight wallet if your computer specs are not modern enough to handle it.


It is not growing exponentially. It is growing linearly.


You'll find that a modern computer with enough RAM and an SSD will help a lot.


It is currently less than 157 gigabytes.

An "average person" can purchase a 256 gigabyte SD Card for less than $25 at Amazon.com:
http://a.co/7Wu4ib4

An "average person" can purchase a 1 terabyte external SSD drive  for less than $350 at Amazon.com:
http://a.co/6TtcGMx

An average person can also run Bitcoin Core in "pruning mode", since the "average person" doesn't have any personal need to store the blockchain.


The point to running Bitcoin Core?  There may not be one.  That's for each user to decide for themselves.  You could establish an account with a service such as Coinbase, you could run a lightweight wallet such as Electrum, you could run Core with pruning.  Each user can decide for themselves what best fits their needs.


Why?


That's ok.  If you can't store the blockchain, then others will.


You may want to check your math on that.

Blockchain size a year ago was just a bit more than 102 gigabytes.

(157 - 102) / 157 = 35.03%

That's a LOT less than 50%


Correct.  The blocks were not full the first 6 or 7 years of Bitcoin's existence.  There just weren't many people using it yet.


I create regular backups of data that is important to me. That way I don't lose it when my hard drive "screws up".  You may want to try doing that.  You can recover a backup of your hard drive, and then just pick up where you left off.


If it is slower now than before purchasing the new drive, then I'm guessing you purchased a drive with lesser specifications.  Perhaps purchase storage with the same OR BETTER specs next time?


The block chain grows at a maximum average rate of 4 megabytes every 10 minutes.  If your internet is incapable up supplying 4 megabytes every 10 minutes (that's less than a 56k dial-up modem) or your computer is incapable of processing 4 megabytes every 10 minutes, then you should probably not be trying to run Bitcoin Core.


I started up a new node recently.  It took less than 5 days for me to get completely caught up.


Windows is crap.  That's not Bitcoin's fault.  Windows will screw up a lot of things.  Sounds like a good reason not to use Windows.  However, if you feel you need to use Windows, then I recommend frequent backups so you can recover from any mess it makes.


As I said, modern computer with good internet, or lots of patience and good backups, or choose something other than Core.


At a MAXIMUM possible growth of 4 megabytes per block, a terabyte is nearly 5 years away.  At a TYPICAL growth of 2.5 megabytes per block, a terabyte is more than 7.5 years away.


You don't need to store the entire blockchain. You can run Core in pruning mode and your transactions will be just as secure.


People that are able to run Core will.  Those that are not able to, won't.


Electrum is a very good option.

I've mentioned other options earlier in this post.


That depends on the software you use.


Bitcoin is working just fine the way it is. I'm not even sure what you're trying to suggest here.

Thanks for the reply.

Oh yes, lots of studying to be had, and learning on this constantly, so thanks!

So, regarding bootstrapping, actually it's hardly any faster than downloading through the client- this is through my personal experience. Which is really what annoyed me about it all. My Core client has been "processing blocks" for over two days now via bootstrap, it hit 30% and basically stuck at the same speed, even worse, than previously on my old drive through traditional method.

Of course I don't have to run a full node. But imagine if everyone thought this way- "why bother running a full node, I can just grab an Electrum wallet and feed through that." Well, I bet most people do go this route, but as stated in my original post, its better and safer to have the blockchain locally, given the option.

As far as "learning enough to be useful", not sure what you mean by this statement. Even newcomers can be usefull by providing nodes to the community via Core to assist with transaction verifications, even though we can't mine anymore.

I agree there is no need to run a full node, which is really the crux of this thread. Its unfortunate and discouraging, really, that those of us who do are pretty much SOL now. We should be encouraging nodes, but the current state has made it an impossibility to start from scratch, bootstrap or otherwise.

Unless you're on dialup, you'll never have problems staying up to date. Keep in mind the first few years we were nowehere near filling blocks, which means the chain grew less than it could have. nowadays we are closer to saturation, so growth is a lot more linear.

As far as bootstrapping goes, it's insane to download the Whole thing from scratch through the core client. Look for a bootstrap torrent, and sync from there. yes, first start will be slow, but it won't take nearly as long.

All this said, nobody's ever said you need to run a full node. Wallets like Electrum, especially if combined with Trezor or other hardware wallets, are safe enough--indeed more in some cases--than running a full node.
there is no need to run a full node, and not doing so won't make you anybody's slave.

If you want core and contribute, you have more studying to do, because you simply havn't learnt enough yet to be useful.

Thanks for reply.

The 1MB block limit is linear, sure, but thats related to mining. The transactions are what make it exponential. No limit on ledger size. How else to explain 3 times growth in just last 2 years with a 9 year old platform?

The hardware must evolve to keep up. Thanks for hardware tips- and I agree Windows is terrible for bitcoining. Also running a Linux server on SSD, but using that one for BiblePay

--very new to this mind you. Just so discouraged at how difficult its proving to get into Bitcoin Core. I didn't want to just be a holder of the coins- anyone can do that. I much prefer to have the source and contribute to the community.

How does the blockchain grow exponentially with one 1 MB block added, on average, every ten minutes? Isn’t that linear growth? Never mind. You can speed up synchronisation by putting the data directory, or at least the chainstate, on an SSD. Also, connection speeds, storage capacity and other such metrics keep improving as hardware evolves. And you can put Windows Update on manual, or ditch Windows altogether.

As a newcomer to Bitcoin Core. I find the Bitcoin Core blockchain impossible to download now, it is growing exponentially and is just too slow and too big for the average person. What's the point? I wanted to have the entire blockchain on my computer, but it ain't happening. Here's why:

1) Bitcoin has been in existance for almost 10 years. But 50% of the entire blockchain is just from the last year or so! I mean, I'm at 30% downloaded right now, and that's right up until November 2015!

2) If your hard drive screws up, you're screwed! I was three weeks into the Bitcoin Core blockchain download, made it to 90%. Then, BAM! My hard drive died. Got a new drive, decided to try again. Seems slower than ever, my computer runs to a crawl at times.

3) Even if someday I do manage to catch up to the most current block/day, I believe soon if not yet already there, we will never be able to get past a certain percentage, say 98%, due to the ever-growing nature of the blockchain. It will get to the point where it is growing faster than than possible to download.

4) Bitcoin is not new-user friendly! Basically, if you missed this boat, the only other one to hop on are the life rafts (exchanges) circling around the boat like a body of sharks. Anyone that the blockchain download after 2016 I bet put in a lot of wasted time and resources trying.

5) Windows automatic updates really, really screw things up. With Bitcoin Core download, there is no time that your computer is idle for the updates, yet Windows thinks it is. So it kills the process with the reboot.

6) Actually, any sort of blip whatsoever in your Bitcoin Core client or storage device causes havoc. Its not like a few years ago, where you're looking at 20 gigs. We're dealing with over 100 gigs now. What happens when this reaches a terabyte? Not too far off, watch.

So, although it is enticing to attempt having the entire blockchain for failsafe transactions, it simply isn't feasible anymore. What happens now? Well, one could say Bitcoin should just adapt permament light wallets ala Electrum using multiple redundent cloud-based storage for the blockchain. Question is, who pays for it? Easy. Have silicon-based chip storage, with a percentage coming off transaction fees for the maintenance. Except then you have individual governance, which does not work with the Bitcoin system.

Thoughts?