You simply run the Node in "pruned" mode... it will download ALL the data, but only keeps the last XXX Megs/Gigs (based on your setting).
While it obviously helps keep the storage requirements down, the total bandwidth required is still massive... and can actually be MORE than if you just keep the downloaded data. For instance, if you ever need to "rescan" (ie. after importing a private key) it'll need to redownload EVERYTHING again.
While it obviously helps keep the storage requirements down, the total bandwidth required is still massive... and can actually be MORE than if you just keep the downloaded data. For instance, if you ever need to "rescan" (ie. after importing a private key) it'll need to redownload EVERYTHING again.
Yeah, there are many situations in which you will need to query the entire blockchain (everytime you want to access coins from a fork, you could copy-paste your blockchain into the forked client and save time for instance), so if you can afford the space, by all means keep the entire blockchain. At current blocksize, it's growing at a rate that's assumable to keep on your average 2TB harddrive for a long time. The problem is if you want an SSD... then you are going to need to spend a ton of money. mb/$ is still very expensive for SSD. If you want top performance you are going to need an m.2 SSD and I expect around $700 for a 2TB card which I can't even find easily right now.
