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Topic: What is the fastest way to download the entire blockchain? (Read 4589 times)

staff
Activity: 3458
Merit: 6793
Just writing some code
I wanted a core client at my work and I think I installed  the core client from 2013 don't know what version. It took about a week to get 80 percent and I just stopped running it. The computer is old and still running xp don't know if its the computer or our internet speed. Back then I did not know much about the core clients and just got a blockchain wallet instead. What will increase the download speed the internet speed or a faster CPU?
Both. The internet speed makes the download faster, but it also depends on the peers. If their internet speed is slower than yours, there will be a bottleneck on them. However, CPU speed also matters since Bitcoin Core needs to index the blockchain and put it into databases. This is all on the RAM and CPU, so more RAM and a faster CPU makes this step a lot faster. Also a faster hard drive like an SSD speeds things up since it has to constantly write to the disk.
sr. member
Activity: 343
Merit: 254
From The New World
I wanted a core client at my work and I think I installed  the core client from 2013 don't know what version. It took about a week to get 80 percent and I just stopped running it. The computer is old and still running xp don't know if its the computer or our internet speed. Back then I did not know much about the core clients and just got a blockchain wallet instead. What will increase the download speed the internet speed or a faster CPU?
legendary
Activity: 1008
Merit: 1000
★YoBit.Net★ 350+ Coins Exchange & Dice
It took me about 15 hours to download the whole blockchain from fresh just the other day, i didnt want to waste an ssd for it though so its just onto a hdd. Im not sure if thats fast or slow since the last time i downloaded it  it was far smaller. Thats with around 5.5mb download speed as in 55mb connection.
hero member
Activity: 563
Merit: 500
The only valid solution at that time would be download a clone of a whole disk image with a specific check sum
Why bother with the blockchain then? If you want that security model, just trust the parties that give you that hash to tell you which transactions are confirmed.  Doing so would be much more efficient (and more secure against attacks other than the parties cheating).

Back to the original question, as other people mentioned-- the only actually slow part is verification. There isn't much you can do to speed that up right now except running a 0.12 pre-release.

Actually, if you have a powerful CPU than the average cpu and if the Bitcoin data directory is on an SSD, everything is much quicker.

Edit:
I've seen my two SSD's in raid0 get pegged utilization 100%. Same with my processor 100%. I've tested hdd vs ssd, man it takes forever on my hdd, ssd's pff blows hdd out of the water.
hero member
Activity: 563
Merit: 500
https://github.com/bitcoin-dot-org/bitcoin.org/issues/846

A comment.
Quote
The block chain bootstrap torrent formerly hosted here will not speed up
downloading the block chain on Bitcoin Core 0.10.0 or later.  If you install
the most recent version of Bitcoin Core[1], it will sync itself as fast as
possible.

Also.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.11235170
sr. member
Activity: 308
Merit: 250

why is there the need to download it, is it necessary to download blockchain for a user who isn't a miner?
If you run any full node software like Bitcoin Core, then it is necessary to download the entire thing because it is part of verifying every transaction and block. To verify all of those, the full history needs to be known.

This is a necessary inconvenience. The more full nodes we have the better.
legendary
Activity: 1988
Merit: 1012
Beyond Imagination
The most resource intensive part is the verification of all historical transactions, this is especially painful if blocks increased to 2MB or 4MB in future. I guess in future if we have huge blocks, no one would be able to download and verify the blockchain enough fast, could take years. The only valid solution at that time would be download a clone of a whole disk image with a specific check sum
staff
Activity: 3458
Merit: 6793
Just writing some code

why is there the need to download it, is it necessary to download blockchain for a user who isn't a miner?
If you run any full node software like Bitcoin Core, then it is necessary to download the entire thing because it is part of verifying every transaction and block. To verify all of those, the full history needs to be known.
legendary
Activity: 2282
Merit: 1041

why is there the need to download it, is it necessary to download blockchain for a user who isn't a miner?
legendary
Activity: 1176
Merit: 1134
Iguana is still in development, but I am downloading the full blockchain at whatever bandwidth my test node has.

and processing all the blocks in parallel, so it validates using as much CPU cores you have.

I am storing the data in ramchains, which provides blockexplorer level API and generating this almost as fast as I can download it. It looks like the total size will end up around half the size of the raw data, though during the download another 5GB is probably needed.

More RAM makes it go faster, but I aim to allow it to run within 4GB RAM

James

P.S. the fastest time I got for downloading the entire chain was 12 minutes, but realistically it will be more like half an hour to get all the ramchains setup and ready to use
sr. member
Activity: 360
Merit: 250
Token
The fastest way is not to download the entire blockchain Wink Try to use software like Multibit or Electrum. Both do only download a small part of the blockchain.

I tried torrenting and it is going to take me more than 24 hours since there isn't many seeds around. Is there a direct link where I could do wget?

Seconded. SPV clients like Electrum get you going with Bitcoin quick and easy.  I highly recommend this client if you want something lightweight.
legendary
Activity: 2814
Merit: 2472
https://JetCash.com
I might copy it onto a DVD, that would be the cheapest transfer medium, and the cheapest to post.
tyz
legendary
Activity: 3360
Merit: 1533
The fastest way is not to download the entire blockchain Wink Try to use software like Multibit or Electrum. Both do only download a small part of the blockchain.

I tried torrenting and it is going to take me more than 24 hours since there isn't many seeds around. Is there a direct link where I could do wget?
legendary
Activity: 4228
Merit: 1313
You can safely ignore most of the people saying to download a dump of it - they look to be trying to boost their post count.  As others have said, current versions are faster downloading it themselves.
sr. member
Activity: 420
Merit: 250
When you have a fast connection try the dump from webbtc. When your internet connection is 'slow'
You will need several days to download it. So using a torrent it the best solution for you.

When the download is done, the process of syncing will probably will take upto 1 day.
hero member
Activity: 896
Merit: 1000
Live Stars - Adult Streaming Platform
http://dumps.webbtc.com/bitcoin/
This one is very handy, but if your browser times out you have to start over again.

the torrent bootstrap is more convenient ni that regard.

Just move the bootstrap to your Bitcoin folder
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin

And open your bitcoin client.
hero member
Activity: 658
Merit: 500
Try to buy it on the USB - it will be fastest way. Downloading take a lot of time  Wink
sr. member
Activity: 310
Merit: 250
You can download a bootstrap.dat of the blockchain from a link at bitcoin.org, but like fbueller says, it takes a long time for Bitcoin core to verify it.

https://bitcoin.org/bin/block-chain/bootstrap.dat.torrent

Furthermore, that bootstrap.dat's readme file says it's faster to let core sync than use a bootstrap file since core version 0.10.0.

https://bitcoin.org/bin/block-chain/README.txt

Quote
As of Bitcoin Core version 0.10.0 and later, the block chain bootstrap torrent hosted here takes more time to download and import than it would to simply start Bitcoin Core and let it sync itself.
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 250
You could buy one of those pre-downloaded blockchain USBs, but the blockchains of those could have been tampered with, or become outdated during shipping. It would usually take longer to ship than two download. Done people say torrenting is gates, but the new version of bitcoin qt utilizes torrent software. So in actuality, bitcoin qt is the fastest.

The QT client progress bar indicated...5 weeks...
sr. member
Activity: 392
Merit: 251
You could buy one of those pre-downloaded blockchain USBs, but the blockchains of those could have been tampered with, or become outdated during shipping. It would usually take longer to ship than two download. Done people say torrenting is gates, but the new version of bitcoin qt utilizes torrent software. So in actuality, bitcoin qt is the fastest.
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