I'm curious about the experience of running a Bitcoin Node for the first time. I have unlimited data, but I'm running into issues with my SSD or NVMe storage.
I've got other important stuff on my PC that I can't just delete or move, so I’m wondering if there's a way around this. Can I sync the node to some cloud storage instead?
Or maybe I should ask differently: can I actually run the node directly from cloud storage? If that's a thing, what options are the most reliable?
Well, as far as I know, if you are going to run Node to complete the 14-day challenge, then mate, your account is not eligible for this.
And for this, you need to read the rules first, and if not, then I would say it is better to share more about your PC specification, as I have already ran bitcoin node on my laptop, which also doesn't contain high specification things, but still I completed my Bitcoin node. To be very honest, I don't know if you can run Node using a virtual ROM, and you will get the answer to it from other forum members, but what I know I can tell you, and this is why I am asking you for your PC specification.
It's all up to you if you feel comfortable sharing your PC specification with us publicly. And when I started running my Bitcoin node, I deleted many things that were unnecessary, and that was just taking spacing without any reason, and after that, I started to run my Bitcoin node.
Using HDD with big free RAM capacity (>12GB) or using both HDD and SSD (only blockchain data stored on HDD) are fine alternative if your concern is sync speed.
It may be possible if you use cloud storage that let you mount it as file system/drive (such as https://github.com/astrada/google-drive-ocamlfuse). But i don't recommend it, since it'll be extremely slow since Bitcoin Core perform lots of random read/write.
First of all, are you running full node or prune node? If you want to run full node to keep all blocks locally on your computer, you need to have at least a terabyte storage but with prune node, I'm sure your storage will be big enough give space, with pruned 2gb and extra 11gb for chainstate and other files, 13-14gb extra space will run prune node.
Cloud storage are for backup, you can't read and write data on a cloud storage. The best alternative is run a prune node or rent a VPS but the running cost will be more than what you will spend to get a new 1 terabyte SSD to run full node from home.
Snowpega is there a node challenge on here? I don't know about it but that's not even why I am want to do this, I am doing it out of experience and fun, since it doesn't take any hardship to do.
I guess I won't be able to do it since I will need extra space like 1 TB, is 1TB even enough for Bitcoin node right now? Or I will need more space? Is there any website that displays the space needed for Bitcoin node?
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/charts/blocks-size
The chart is showing the size in MB, so right now it's around ~730 GB. A 1 TB disk (NVMe preferably) should be fine but probably not for more than a year or two with the current growth rate.
And when you say cloud storage, you mean like something like Google Drive and Dropbox? or a VPS?
You don't need a terabyte to run the challenge, you can run a prune node like a I explained above.
This is the thread for the challenge ✅ b1exch.to Exchange [CHALLENGE] Run A Bitcoin Node: 14 Days To 14 Merits but your purpose of running shouldn't be limited to the challenge, you continue to support the network after the challenge, so you don't have to rely to other node to be able to send and receive transactions. However, the transactions you can validate and relay to other nodes is going to be limited to recent transactions, you can't validate old transactions with a prune node.
You can try reading these guides on running a Bitcoin node, and see what you can do with your available resources, hardwares and cloud.
[GUIDE] The simplest Full Node guide ever.
[Guide] How to run a Bitcoin Core full node for under 50 bucks!
You can learn and run your Bitcoin full node, and consider joining this challenge.
[CHALLENGE] Run A Bitcoin Node: 14 Days To 14 Merits. NotATether hosts the challenge and you can ask questions, he can help you with answers in that thread too.
use Bitcoin Core with pruning mode, which allows you to run a fully validating node without needing more than 700 GB of storage space.
pruning mode, mean approximately 50 GB of storage space.
to enable Pruning open bitcoin.conf locate bitcoin.conf then
This is for people that doesn't have enough space to run full node. It's configuration for Bitcoin node, you are telling your node to delete old blocks from your disk storage as it download and validate new blocks to fit in that defined space, and this can be done in Bitcoin.conf or in the GUI.
Prune=5000 means you are telling your node to keep block space between 5gb, you can set it as low as 2000 which is same as 2gb.
Yeah thats a good explanation, pruning basically helps save space by removing old blocks after validation. Its a useful option if you want to run a node but dont have a lot of storage.
As explained by ABCbits, it doesn't sound practical. Perhaps you mean a VPS? I remember that there was a user here who shared his experience with it, and it seemed to work just fine -- Running My First Bitcoin Node My Experience & Setup Guide.
Maybe you should consider running the prone node since the issue with you is just the storage space. Running the proned youll be able to to still download and validate the from genesis to date just that in this case its just the set pruned Gb space block thats youll have on your computer at any given time but all the UTXO will still be in a file. It all depends on what you intend to do with the node.
Prune node does not require to download and store the full Bitcoin blockchain so it is lighter in storage for people who can not afford to store the full Bitcoin blockchain that is very heavy.
Full node or prune node, people all have to do the same Initial Blockchain Download aka IBD and it takes the same long time with same device. This one can help but there are risk and even LoyceV warned that don't do this.
Bitcoin Core pruned blockchain: download it here! (DON'T DO THIS!)
Yes. You could mount your blocks directory from another location. But: if the connection fails, your node will crash and your data will probably be corrupted.
I would not recommend it.
You can just run a node on a VPS
If your goal is to "know what running a node feels like", just run it locally and prune it. See how long it takes you to sync
Or just try storing your blocks data on cloud storage, see how it goes, and report back here
Don't know where you are in the world but 1TB 7200RPM spinning drives are more or less scrap at this point. Even with the current drive shortage they still are not wanted.
Can't even give them away to what most people would consider 3rd world countries. It's kind of sad but thanks to MSFT killing Win 10 all these old machines are now being scrapped in mass by so many places that they are piling up faster then they can get rid of them.
So depending where you are used drives should be available.
No I would not keep the *only* copy of my wallet.dat file on one of them it but for syncing the blockchain they are more then fine.
2TB are just about there now too.
OLD 1st and 2nd gen SSDs are also in that same situation. But are a bit harder to find since people are scooping them up for archiving things at this point.
-Dave
You said no one wants them 1TB 7200RPM? Then why are they costly? I need me some for storing files only, but I can't find a good deal, they are too costly for me, or you have a price in mind?
I know that NVME are the best right now, they have faster read and write speed but why are HDD still costly when these newer SSD have taken over? I have looked into AliExpress as well but I still can't find a good deal, it's a shame.
If really no one is buying they should be offloading them already.
I don't mind picking up another few years old business laptop It's just very convenient to be able to treat laptops as almost disposable.
On the second-hand market they range from 10 to 25. With larger disks, I'm quite disappointed: I have many 2.5" HDDs, and all of them get terribly slow when writing data to them. They're designed to quickly write a bit, and then start moving it around internally. I can't recommend them and am still disappointed manufacturers don't dare mention this when you buy them.
Aliexpress is a great place to buy fake storage and lose your data
I can imagine many companies shredding them for safety.
Usually a DBAN is more then enough for security.
It's the cost due to time.
If they pull the drives and try to get rid of the PCs nobody wants them. 6th gen units with DDR3. There is just no demand. So they go to ewaste and get $0.25 a pound.
If they spend the time and time = money then they are paying someone to wipe the drives and sell the PCs and they probably will not get back what it costs to pay the person to wipe and sell.
I tried to give away USPS large flat rate boxes of 1TB drives for the cost of shipping which was about $26 and got no takers. So I wound up putting them in the ewaste pile.
Have said it many times. Want some 1TB 3.5" spinning drives and are US based, let me know and I'll take a look at what I have left, probably only 2 or 3 at this point but for me they are just taking up space on a shelf.
-Dave