Can I ignore the blocks directory for time machine backups on OSX?

3

After installing Bitcoin-QT I have over 40GB of files in the ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin. It seems that the most important file there is wallet.dat. Does it mean that I can exclude from time machine backups the ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/blocks subdirectory to reduce the backup footprint? Will the bitcoin client download again those files in case of backup restoration without this subdirectory?

Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz

Posted 2015-07-01T21:10:38.323

Reputation: 133

Answers

3

Yes, it is completely safe to exclude the blocks directory from your backup process.

In the event that you lose all your files and need to restore from backup, Bitcoin will download all missing blocks. This may take some time, but there is no information in that directory that is unique to you.

Greg Hewgill

Posted 2015-07-01T21:10:38.323

Reputation: 3 321

Huh, looks like Bitcoin-QT is really picky, removing this directory or renaming and relaunching makes it crash. And restoring it still crashes too! At least I can remove the whole Bitcoin directory and copy the wallet, shame I have to redownload now everything! – Grzegorz Adam Hankiewicz – 2015-07-01T21:59:53.270

@GrzegorzAdamHankiewicz: If you are testing this, then there's one other thing you have to delete in order to force the client to start up without crashing. Unfortunately I don't remember what it is right now and I'm not in a position to check. – Greg Hewgill – 2015-07-01T22:01:08.863

You can move the directory just fine, but if you move it while the client is running you will end up corrupting the database. – Anonymous – 2015-07-02T01:17:55.533

Asked: 2015-07-01T21:10:38.323

Viewed: 98 times

Active: 2015-07-01T21:38:21.030