Author

Topic: Is there any important information outside of the Bitcoin wallet? (Read 1111 times)

legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1081
I may write code in exchange for bitcoins.
I wanted a way to more quickly distribute the blockchain to people - especially those on older computers - without sacrificing my important data. I've got an old laptop that I keep nestled away as an emergency backup and it took me between 4-5 days to to download the blockchain on a new Bitcoin install.

I removed my wallet, compressed it down to 29gb, split it into 2 archives, and uploaded it to a file service. If anyone wants to try it, let me know if it's working for you. If not, then I'll have to go with a torrent. It's down in my sig.

Thanks for your help, folks.

One suggestion, use gzipped tarball (tgz) or zip file (zip).  rar is not standard and not easy to decompress without having to download extra software.  Just a suggestion.
hero member
Activity: 926
Merit: 1001
weaving spiders come not here
I wanted a way to more quickly distribute the blockchain to people - especially those on older computers - without sacrificing my important data. I've got an old laptop that I keep nestled away as an emergency backup and it took me between 4-5 days to to download the blockchain on a new Bitcoin install.

I removed my wallet, compressed it down to 29gb, split it into 2 archives, and uploaded it to a file service. If anyone wants to try it, let me know if it's working for you. If not, then I'll have to go with a torrent. It's down in my sig.

Thanks for your help, folks.
legendary
Activity: 1456
Merit: 1081
I may write code in exchange for bitcoins.
Right, but you don't have to give them a copy of your bitcoin download, you can just point to one of the mirror services who have the pre-downloaded blockchain.

There are some instructions in this forum!   https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/howto-jump-start-bitcoin-installation-download-time-with-blockchain-torrent-51456
hero member
Activity: 699
Merit: 501
If I want to copy my Bitcoin data directory, remove the wallet, and give to people so they dont have to spend days upgrading their new bitcoin install, do I need to be worried about any data in any files outside of the wallet.dat containing any important data, like addresses or private keys or anything else?

If so, what files should i not include in the copy?

You don't need to worry about anything, your private keys are kept, managed & encrypted in the selected wallet.dat directory only, unless you've copied it to other places.
hero member
Activity: 926
Merit: 1001
weaving spiders come not here
If I want to copy my Bitcoin data directory, remove the wallet, and give to people so they dont have to spend days upgrading their new bitcoin install, do I need to be worried about any data in any files outside of the wallet.dat containing any important data, like addresses or private keys or anything else?

If so, what files should i not include in the copy?
Jump to: