Possible download block chain for air gapped linux from windows?

DaveF

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Quote from: pooya87 on August 23, 2021, 10:01:02 PM

Quote from: DaveF on August 19, 2021, 10:17:00 AM

Using any web browser with TOR and just looking up the address is just about as private and more accurate, since as stated above, any changes after the fact will not be shown if they use your info or download it to a non live wallet.

Not if you have more than one address to check. Otherwise you would have to start a clean session for each address and check the balance with a new IP address. Not doing this will essentially create a weak connection (but still a connection) between your addresses.

True, but depending on the number of addresses you want to check there are enough block explorers out that you can go to one at a time to check addresses.
But, it still becomes the question of how far do you want to go to be paranoid?

-Dave

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Quote from: holahapi on August 24, 2021, 11:28:03 AM

I am new to linux and raspberry pi.
The terminal, UI logics and the disk format does give me a lot of headache.

For now, I will just using the balance dump, it provide security and privacy, although it is not directly from the blockchain.

Thank you for letting me know that the blockchain is transferable, I will try using again in the future when necessary.

Yup it is easily transferable, but make sure you have a fast drive or a very recent Pi! In my experience with Raspberry Pis up to the model 3B+ and USB-3 HDDs, it took weeks to verify the whole blockchain (no matter if you download on Pi directly or download with Windows PC and do a -rescan on the Pi).

The verification process can be quite resource intensive on these devices and my bet is that the slow HDD speed (seek right sector etc) combined with the low RAM amount that I had, meant that during verification, old utxo's always had to be looked up from disk, whereas in a system with more RAM and an SSD, an utxo might still be in RAM or if not, quickly looked up from the solid state storage.

holahapi

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I am new to linux and raspberry pi.
The terminal, UI logics and the disk format does give me a lot of headache.

For now, I will just using the balance dump, it provide security and privacy, although it is not directly from the blockchain.

Thank you for letting me know that the blockchain is transferable, I will try using again in the future when necessary.

pooya87

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Quote from: DaveF on August 19, 2021, 10:17:00 AM

Using any web browser with TOR and just looking up the address is just about as private and more accurate, since as stated above, any changes after the fact will not be shown if they use your info or download it to a non live wallet.

Not if you have more than one address to check. Otherwise you would have to start a clean session for each address and check the balance with a new IP address. Not doing this will essentially create a weak connection (but still a connection) between your addresses.

HCP

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Like I said, for those two systems (Umbrel and RaspiBlitz) it's an issue because they seem to format the drives for their specific use... and they use EXT4... so you either run with that, or start trying to change the underlying system.

Sure, other Pi OSes might be fine... and loading up NTFS drives might be "easy", but for the two I mentioned, it's a bit more difficult.

I actually think I even managed to use Ubuntu on "WSL" (Windows Subsystem for Linux) to connect and mount an EXT4 formatted external drive and then copy the blockchain data across as well... and possibly even the same thing with Ubuntu running under VirtualBox.

It was quite a few weeks ago that I was experimenting with different ways to avoid having to do the IBD on the Pi Wink

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Quote from: HCP on August 21, 2021, 11:04:08 PM

The tricky part is that an external drive formatted for use with either of these systems, likely won't be readable on a Windows machine.

I don't see how it's tricky. Usually you can get around it by format the external drive with NTFS format (on Windows machine). Most linux distro these days already include NTFS-3G driver, so usually you just need to mount it.

HCP

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Yes you can transfer the block and chainstate data from a Windows-based Node to a drive for use on a Raspiberry Pi... I've done it twice whilst experimenting with RaspiBlitz and Umbrel.

The tricky part is that an external drive formatted for use with either of these systems, likely won't be readable on a Windows machine. You'll need to use ssh/scp to copy the files from the Windows Node to the Raspberry Pi drive across a network.

Note: I highly recommend using ethernet connections for this... WiFi will slow the entire process down quite a bit.

The last time I did it (a couple of weeks ago), it took a number of hours to copy the full blockchain data... but I was using a "slow" external HDD drive (Seagate 1TB expansion drive) connected to the Pi, as opposed to using an external SSD.

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Quote from: holahapi on August 19, 2021, 10:48:24 AM

what I am using now is Master Public Key in electrum.
what I concern is about security and privacy.

Privacy, yes but security no.

Quote from: holahapi on August 19, 2021, 10:48:24 AM

Just want to konw is the blockchain possible transfer to another computer.
especially, from windows 10 to raspberry pi os.

Yes. You can. Transfer the blocks and chainstate and then start the client with a rescan.

holahapi

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Thank you NeuroticFish, NotATether, LoyceV, Dave

the wallets I am going to check is air gapped cold wallets, and will not do any transaction shortly.
thus, I do not mind the latency of days, I only check maybe once a month.

what I am using now is Master Public Key in electrum.
what I concern is about security and privacy.
May be I am paranoid, I just feel more comfortable to check the balance offline, and make sure the coin is in there.

From my research, it seems able to check the balance with the whole blockchain without internet.
I am very familiar with the blockchain and Bitcoin core.

Just want to konw is the blockchain possible transfer to another computer.
especially, from windows 10 to raspberry pi os.

Quote from: LoyceV on August 19, 2021, 09:50:20 AM

Depending on what exactly you're trying to do, using List of all Bitcoin addresses with a balance could be much faster (but not trustless).

Oh god, I think this dump able to compromise my paranoid for now, and seems much much easier, Thank you!

DaveF

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Quote from: LoyceV on August 19, 2021, 09:50:20 AM

...
My interpretation of OP's question is that he wants to know his balance without compromising privacy. In that case downloading and copying the full blockchain, followed by a rescan of the wallet will do the trick.
...

Using any web browser with TOR and just looking up the address is just about as private and more accurate, since as stated above, any changes after the fact will not be shown if they use your info or download it to a non live wallet.

Or, any of the "node in a box options" like MyNode or raspiblitz have the ability to "1 click install" a block explorer.
Anything else just seems like overkill. IMO.
But that's just me.

-Dave

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Quote from: NeuroticFish on August 19, 2021, 07:40:16 AM

I think that it would make more sense to get your Master Public Key from your offline wallet and import only that into a online wallet (maybe Electrum) .

My interpretation of OP's question is that he wants to know his balance without compromising privacy. In that case downloading and copying the full blockchain, followed by a rescan of the wallet will do the trick.

Depending on what exactly you're trying to do, using List of all Bitcoin addresses with a balance could be much faster (but not trustless).

NotATether

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You cannot check your wallet balance offline because your node will not get any new blocks that contain transactions you make from an online device.

If you're offline though, you're not making any transactions, so the balance should be the same as the last point you made a transaction online, the amount which you can record somewhere else.

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Quote from: holahapi on August 19, 2021, 07:26:44 AM

I want to check my wallet balance offline.

Is it possible to download the blockchain in windows 10.
Then transfer it to raspberry pi OS?

Imho you're doing it wrong. The balance may change while you do all those (odd) movements.
I think that it would make more sense to get your Master Public Key from your offline wallet and import only that into a online wallet (maybe Electrum) .
Then you'll be able to see your correct balance every time without any risk for your funds.

holahapi

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I want to check my wallet balance offline.

Is it possible to download the blockchain in windows 10.
Then transfer it to raspberry pi OS?

Topic: Possible download block chain for air gapped linux from windows? (Read 240 times)