How can I download the blockchain from own, trusted source?

I have two computers with two different bitcoin-qt wallets:

Very heavy-weight desktop with a great internet connection.
Less powerful laptop with relatively slow internet.

I would like to download AND validate the blockchain only on the desktop. I can trust that blockchain to contain only valid data because it actually validates the input and it is a source under my control. So I figure I don't need to do the same for the laptop. How can I syncronize the blockchain on the laptop? Could I rsync the chainstate, blocks, and database directories for instance? And then I rescan on my laptop and we should be good to go! Would this work?

Reinstate Monica

Posted 2014-04-10T11:45:52.943

Reputation: 913

I don't know, but it seems like it would be pretty easy to try. Back up your wallet.dat, of course. – Nate Eldredge – 2014-04-10T13:56:01.533

You could probably have the laptop download the blockchain from the desktop (assuming you can have them on a LAN for a suitable period of time to do the transfer). I think addnode=x or connect=x are what you want, see https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin for commands to connect to an IP

– Tim S. – 2014-04-10T16:47:50.417

@tim s.: But in that case the laptop will still verify and index the whole chain, which I think the asker wants to avoid. – Nate Eldredge – 2014-04-10T21:17:22.553

Answers

If you copy the blocks/ and chainstate/ directory, you're good to go. Rescanning the wallet will happen automatically. The database/ directory only contains temporary data.

You should make sure to shut down the node on your desktop before copying though, or the copy may be inconsistent.

Pieter Wuille

Posted 2014-04-10T11:45:52.943

Reputation: 54 032

Have you considered a bitcoin client that doesn't need to download the blockchain on your laptop? https://electrum.org/

If the two computers resides on the same private network, have you tryied to use the addnode option to point to your PC private address? You could specify it via command line or via the bitcoin.conf file. You need to try, i am not really sure if this helps, in my imagination the PC passes the already downloaded block to the laptop without downloading from the internet.

Riccardo Casatta

Posted 2014-04-10T11:45:52.943

Reputation: 379

Yes, I have considered that and prefer to use bitcoin-qt. – Reinstate Monica – 2014-04-10T15:01:51.890