Bitcoin Wiki - User contributions [en]

Data directory

2015-01-04T18:58:26Z

Habitmelon: /* Bootstrapping the blockchain from a snapshot distributed through BitTorrent */ punctuation

The location where Bitcoin's data files are stored, including the [[Wallet|wallet]] data file.

==Default Location==
=== Windows ===

Go to Start -> Run (or press WinKey+R) and run this:

%APPDATA%\Bitcoin

Bitcoin's data folder will open. For most users, this is the following locations:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application data\Bitcoin (XP)

C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin (Vista and 7)

"AppData" and "Application data" are hidden by default.

You can also store Bitcoin data files in any other drive or folder.

If you have already downloaded the data then you will have to move the data to the new folder.
If you want to store them in D:\BitcoinData then click on "Properties" of a shortcut to bitcoin-qt.exe and
add -datadir=D:\BitCoinData at the end as an example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe" -datadir=d:\BitCoinData

Start Bitcoin, now you will see all the files are created in the new data directory.

=== Linux ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/.bitcoin/

You need to do a "ls -a" to see directories that start with a dot.

If that's not it, you can do a search like this:

find / -name wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null

=== Mac ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

==Directory Contents==

===Files===
* .lock
**BDB lock file
* bitcoin.conf [optional]
**Contains [[Running_Bitcoin#Bitcoin.conf_Configuration_File|configuration options]].
* blk''xxxx''.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Contains concatenated raw blocks. Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw.
* blkindex.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Indexing information used with blk''xxxx''.dat
* __db.''xxx''
**Used by BDB
* db.log
* debug.log
**Bitcoin's verbose log file. Automatically trimmed from time to time.
* wallet.dat
**Storage for keys, transactions, metadata, and options. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins.
* addr.dat [Versions prior to v0.7.0]
** Storage for ip addresses to make a reconnect easier
* peers.dat [Versions v0.7.0 and later]
** Storage for peer information to make a reconnect easier. This file uses a bitcoin-specific file format, unrelated to any database system<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=119525.msg1287284#msg1287284 Ultraprune merged in mainline]</ref>.
The data, index and log files are used by Oracle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_DB Berkeley DB], the embedded key/value data store that Bitcoin uses.

===database subdirectory===
Contains BDB journaling files

===testnet3 subdirectory===
Contains testnet versions of these files (if running with -testnet)

===blocks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains blockchain data.

* blk*.dat
** Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw. They are only needed for re-scanning missing transactions in a wallet, reorganizing to a different part of the chain, and serving the block data to other nodes that are synchronizing.

* blocks/index subdirectory
** [v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database that contains metadata about all known blocks, and where to find them on disk. Without this, finding a block would be very slow.

===chainstate subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database with a compact representation of all currently unspent transaction outputs and some metadata about the transactions they are from. The data here is necessary for validating new incoming blocks and transactions. It can theoretically be rebuilt from the block data (see the -reindex command line option), but this takes a rather long time. Without it, you could still theoretically do validation indeed, but it would mean a full scan through the blocks (7 GB as of may 2013) for every output being spent.

===locks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains "undo" data.

* rev*.dat
You can see blocks as 'patches' to the chain state (they consume some unspent outputs, and produce new ones), and see the undo data as reverse patches. They are necessary for rolling back the chainstate, which is necessary in case of reorganizations.

===Bootstrapping the blockchain from a snapshot distributed through BitTorrent===
There is a [https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/ torrent file that gets updated] every few months that enables a much faster download of the blockchain. Once downloaded, the bootstrap.dat file can be placed in the root of the data directory, and bitcoin core 0.7.1 and above will automatically import it. <ref>[https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/README.txt README.txt for bootstrap.dat.torrent]</ref>

===Personally identifiable data [v0.8 and above]===
This section may be of use to you if you wish to send a friend the blockchain, avoiding them a hefty download.

*wallet.dat
**Contains addresses and transactions linked to them. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins. You should not transfer this file to any third party or they may be able to access your bitcoins.
*db.log
**May contain information pertaining to your wallet. It may be safely deleted.
*debug.log
**May contain IP addresses and transaction ID's. It may be safely deleted.
*database/ folder
**This should only exist when bitcoin-qt is currently running. It contains information (BDB state) relating to your wallet.
*peers.dat
**Unknown whether this contains personally identifiable data. It may be safely deleted.

Other files and folders (blocks, blocks/index, chainstate) may be safely transferred/archived as they contain information pertaining only to the public blockchain.

==See Also==

* [[Running Bitcoin]]
* [[Securing your wallet]]
* [http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/11108/153 What is the database for?] Question on Bitcoin Stack Exchange

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Technical]]

[[es:Directorio de datos]]

Data directory

2015-01-04T18:57:44Z

Habitmelon: add metadata to ref for bootstrap.dat

The location where Bitcoin's data files are stored, including the [[Wallet|wallet]] data file.

==Default Location==
=== Windows ===

Go to Start -> Run (or press WinKey+R) and run this:

%APPDATA%\Bitcoin

Bitcoin's data folder will open. For most users, this is the following locations:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application data\Bitcoin (XP)

C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin (Vista and 7)

"AppData" and "Application data" are hidden by default.

You can also store Bitcoin data files in any other drive or folder.

If you have already downloaded the data then you will have to move the data to the new folder.
If you want to store them in D:\BitcoinData then click on "Properties" of a shortcut to bitcoin-qt.exe and
add -datadir=D:\BitCoinData at the end as an example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe" -datadir=d:\BitCoinData

Start Bitcoin, now you will see all the files are created in the new data directory.

=== Linux ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/.bitcoin/

You need to do a "ls -a" to see directories that start with a dot.

If that's not it, you can do a search like this:

find / -name wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null

=== Mac ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

==Directory Contents==

===Files===
* .lock
**BDB lock file
* bitcoin.conf [optional]
**Contains [[Running_Bitcoin#Bitcoin.conf_Configuration_File|configuration options]].
* blk''xxxx''.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Contains concatenated raw blocks. Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw.
* blkindex.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Indexing information used with blk''xxxx''.dat
* __db.''xxx''
**Used by BDB
* db.log
* debug.log
**Bitcoin's verbose log file. Automatically trimmed from time to time.
* wallet.dat
**Storage for keys, transactions, metadata, and options. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins.
* addr.dat [Versions prior to v0.7.0]
** Storage for ip addresses to make a reconnect easier
* peers.dat [Versions v0.7.0 and later]
** Storage for peer information to make a reconnect easier. This file uses a bitcoin-specific file format, unrelated to any database system<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=119525.msg1287284#msg1287284 Ultraprune merged in mainline]</ref>.
The data, index and log files are used by Oracle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_DB Berkeley DB], the embedded key/value data store that Bitcoin uses.

===database subdirectory===
Contains BDB journaling files

===testnet3 subdirectory===
Contains testnet versions of these files (if running with -testnet)

===blocks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains blockchain data.

* blk*.dat
** Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw. They are only needed for re-scanning missing transactions in a wallet, reorganizing to a different part of the chain, and serving the block data to other nodes that are synchronizing.

* blocks/index subdirectory
** [v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database that contains metadata about all known blocks, and where to find them on disk. Without this, finding a block would be very slow.

===chainstate subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database with a compact representation of all currently unspent transaction outputs and some metadata about the transactions they are from. The data here is necessary for validating new incoming blocks and transactions. It can theoretically be rebuilt from the block data (see the -reindex command line option), but this takes a rather long time. Without it, you could still theoretically do validation indeed, but it would mean a full scan through the blocks (7 GB as of may 2013) for every output being spent.

===locks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains "undo" data.

* rev*.dat
You can see blocks as 'patches' to the chain state (they consume some unspent outputs, and produce new ones), and see the undo data as reverse patches. They are necessary for rolling back the chainstate, which is necessary in case of reorganizations.

===Bootstrapping the blockchain from a snapshot distributed through BitTorrent===
There is a [https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/ torrent file that gets updated] every few months that enables a much faster download of the blockchain. Once downloaded, the bootstrap.dat file can be placed in the root of the data directory, and bitcoin core 0.7.1 and above will automatically import it <ref>[https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/README.txt README.txt for bootstrap.dat.torrent]</ref>

===Personally identifiable data [v0.8 and above]===
This section may be of use to you if you wish to send a friend the blockchain, avoiding them a hefty download.

*wallet.dat
**Contains addresses and transactions linked to them. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins. You should not transfer this file to any third party or they may be able to access your bitcoins.
*db.log
**May contain information pertaining to your wallet. It may be safely deleted.
*debug.log
**May contain IP addresses and transaction ID's. It may be safely deleted.
*database/ folder
**This should only exist when bitcoin-qt is currently running. It contains information (BDB state) relating to your wallet.
*peers.dat
**Unknown whether this contains personally identifiable data. It may be safely deleted.

Other files and folders (blocks, blocks/index, chainstate) may be safely transferred/archived as they contain information pertaining only to the public blockchain.

==See Also==

* [[Running Bitcoin]]
* [[Securing your wallet]]
* [http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/11108/153 What is the database for?] Question on Bitcoin Stack Exchange

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Technical]]

[[es:Directorio de datos]]

Data directory

2015-01-04T18:56:22Z

Habitmelon: /* Bootstrapping the blockchain from a snapshot distributed through BitTorrent */ add ref for import bootstrap.dat feature

The location where Bitcoin's data files are stored, including the [[Wallet|wallet]] data file.

==Default Location==
=== Windows ===

Go to Start -> Run (or press WinKey+R) and run this:

%APPDATA%\Bitcoin

Bitcoin's data folder will open. For most users, this is the following locations:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application data\Bitcoin (XP)

C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin (Vista and 7)

"AppData" and "Application data" are hidden by default.

You can also store Bitcoin data files in any other drive or folder.

If you have already downloaded the data then you will have to move the data to the new folder.
If you want to store them in D:\BitcoinData then click on "Properties" of a shortcut to bitcoin-qt.exe and
add -datadir=D:\BitCoinData at the end as an example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe" -datadir=d:\BitCoinData

Start Bitcoin, now you will see all the files are created in the new data directory.

=== Linux ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/.bitcoin/

You need to do a "ls -a" to see directories that start with a dot.

If that's not it, you can do a search like this:

find / -name wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null

=== Mac ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

==Directory Contents==

===Files===
* .lock
**BDB lock file
* bitcoin.conf [optional]
**Contains [[Running_Bitcoin#Bitcoin.conf_Configuration_File|configuration options]].
* blk''xxxx''.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Contains concatenated raw blocks. Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw.
* blkindex.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Indexing information used with blk''xxxx''.dat
* __db.''xxx''
**Used by BDB
* db.log
* debug.log
**Bitcoin's verbose log file. Automatically trimmed from time to time.
* wallet.dat
**Storage for keys, transactions, metadata, and options. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins.
* addr.dat [Versions prior to v0.7.0]
** Storage for ip addresses to make a reconnect easier
* peers.dat [Versions v0.7.0 and later]
** Storage for peer information to make a reconnect easier. This file uses a bitcoin-specific file format, unrelated to any database system<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=119525.msg1287284#msg1287284 Ultraprune merged in mainline]</ref>.
The data, index and log files are used by Oracle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_DB Berkeley DB], the embedded key/value data store that Bitcoin uses.

===database subdirectory===
Contains BDB journaling files

===testnet3 subdirectory===
Contains testnet versions of these files (if running with -testnet)

===blocks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains blockchain data.

* blk*.dat
** Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw. They are only needed for re-scanning missing transactions in a wallet, reorganizing to a different part of the chain, and serving the block data to other nodes that are synchronizing.

* blocks/index subdirectory
** [v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database that contains metadata about all known blocks, and where to find them on disk. Without this, finding a block would be very slow.

===chainstate subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database with a compact representation of all currently unspent transaction outputs and some metadata about the transactions they are from. The data here is necessary for validating new incoming blocks and transactions. It can theoretically be rebuilt from the block data (see the -reindex command line option), but this takes a rather long time. Without it, you could still theoretically do validation indeed, but it would mean a full scan through the blocks (7 GB as of may 2013) for every output being spent.

===locks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains "undo" data.

* rev*.dat
You can see blocks as 'patches' to the chain state (they consume some unspent outputs, and produce new ones), and see the undo data as reverse patches. They are necessary for rolling back the chainstate, which is necessary in case of reorganizations.

===Bootstrapping the blockchain from a snapshot distributed through BitTorrent===
There is a [https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/ torrent file that gets updated] every few months that enables a much faster download of the blockchain. Once downloaded, the bootstrap.dat file can be placed in the root of the data directory, and bitcoin core 0.7.1 and above will automatically import it <ref>https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/README.txt</ref>

===Personally identifiable data [v0.8 and above]===
This section may be of use to you if you wish to send a friend the blockchain, avoiding them a hefty download.

*wallet.dat
**Contains addresses and transactions linked to them. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins. You should not transfer this file to any third party or they may be able to access your bitcoins.
*db.log
**May contain information pertaining to your wallet. It may be safely deleted.
*debug.log
**May contain IP addresses and transaction ID's. It may be safely deleted.
*database/ folder
**This should only exist when bitcoin-qt is currently running. It contains information (BDB state) relating to your wallet.
*peers.dat
**Unknown whether this contains personally identifiable data. It may be safely deleted.

Other files and folders (blocks, blocks/index, chainstate) may be safely transferred/archived as they contain information pertaining only to the public blockchain.

==See Also==

* [[Running Bitcoin]]
* [[Securing your wallet]]
* [http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/11108/153 What is the database for?] Question on Bitcoin Stack Exchange

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Technical]]

[[es:Directorio de datos]]

Data directory

2015-01-03T00:06:29Z

Habitmelon: /* Bootstrapping the blockchain from a snapshot distributed through BitTorrent */ change link format

The location where Bitcoin's data files are stored, including the [[Wallet|wallet]] data file.

==Default Location==
=== Windows ===

Go to Start -> Run (or press WinKey+R) and run this:

%APPDATA%\Bitcoin

Bitcoin's data folder will open. For most users, this is the following locations:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application data\Bitcoin (XP)

C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin (Vista and 7)

"AppData" and "Application data" are hidden by default.

You can also store Bitcoin data files in any other drive or folder.

If you have already downloaded the data then you will have to move the data to the new folder.
If you want to store them in D:\BitcoinData then click on "Properties" of a shortcut to bitcoin-qt.exe and
add -datadir=D:\BitCoinData at the end as an example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe" -datadir=d:\BitCoinData

Start Bitcoin, now you will see all the files are created in the new data directory.

=== Linux ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/.bitcoin/

You need to do a "ls -a" to see directories that start with a dot.

If that's not it, you can do a search like this:

find / -name wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null

=== Mac ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

==Directory Contents==

===Files===
* .lock
**BDB lock file
* bitcoin.conf [optional]
**Contains [[Running_Bitcoin#Bitcoin.conf_Configuration_File|configuration options]].
* blk''xxxx''.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Contains concatenated raw blocks. Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw.
* blkindex.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Indexing information used with blk''xxxx''.dat
* __db.''xxx''
**Used by BDB
* db.log
* debug.log
**Bitcoin's verbose log file. Automatically trimmed from time to time.
* wallet.dat
**Storage for keys, transactions, metadata, and options. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins.
* addr.dat [Versions prior to v0.7.0]
** Storage for ip addresses to make a reconnect easier
* peers.dat [Versions v0.7.0 and later]
** Storage for peer information to make a reconnect easier. This file uses a bitcoin-specific file format, unrelated to any database system<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=119525.msg1287284#msg1287284 Ultraprune merged in mainline]</ref>.
The data, index and log files are used by Oracle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_DB Berkeley DB], the embedded key/value data store that Bitcoin uses.

===database subdirectory===
Contains BDB journaling files

===testnet3 subdirectory===
Contains testnet versions of these files (if running with -testnet)

===blocks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains blockchain data.

* blk*.dat
** Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw. They are only needed for re-scanning missing transactions in a wallet, reorganizing to a different part of the chain, and serving the block data to other nodes that are synchronizing.

* blocks/index subdirectory
** [v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database that contains metadata about all known blocks, and where to find them on disk. Without this, finding a block would be very slow.

===chainstate subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database with a compact representation of all currently unspent transaction outputs and some metadata about the transactions they are from. The data here is necessary for validating new incoming blocks and transactions. It can theoretically be rebuilt from the block data (see the -reindex command line option), but this takes a rather long time. Without it, you could still theoretically do validation indeed, but it would mean a full scan through the blocks (7 GB as of may 2013) for every output being spent.

===locks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains "undo" data.

* rev*.dat
You can see blocks as 'patches' to the chain state (they consume some unspent outputs, and produce new ones), and see the undo data as reverse patches. They are necessary for rolling back the chainstate, which is necessary in case of reorganizations.

===Bootstrapping the blockchain from a snapshot distributed through BitTorrent===
There is a [https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/ torrent file that gets updated] every few months that enables a much faster download of the blockchain. Once downloaded, the bootstrap.dat file can be placed in the root of the data directory, and bitcoin core 0.7.1 and above will automatically import it

===Personally identifiable data [v0.8 and above]===
This section may be of use to you if you wish to send a friend the blockchain, avoiding them a hefty download.

*wallet.dat
**Contains addresses and transactions linked to them. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins. You should not transfer this file to any third party or they may be able to access your bitcoins.
*db.log
**May contain information pertaining to your wallet. It may be safely deleted.
*debug.log
**May contain IP addresses and transaction ID's. It may be safely deleted.
*database/ folder
**This should only exist when bitcoin-qt is currently running. It contains information (BDB state) relating to your wallet.
*peers.dat
**Unknown whether this contains personally identifiable data. It may be safely deleted.

Other files and folders (blocks, blocks/index, chainstate) may be safely transferred/archived as they contain information pertaining only to the public blockchain.

==See Also==

* [[Running Bitcoin]]
* [[Securing your wallet]]
* [http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/11108/153 What is the database for?] Question on Bitcoin Stack Exchange

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Technical]]

[[es:Directorio de datos]]

Data directory

2015-01-03T00:05:32Z

Habitmelon: Explain how bootstrap.dat can be used with bitcoin reference implementation.

The location where Bitcoin's data files are stored, including the [[Wallet|wallet]] data file.

==Default Location==
=== Windows ===

Go to Start -> Run (or press WinKey+R) and run this:

%APPDATA%\Bitcoin

Bitcoin's data folder will open. For most users, this is the following locations:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application data\Bitcoin (XP)

C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin (Vista and 7)

"AppData" and "Application data" are hidden by default.

You can also store Bitcoin data files in any other drive or folder.

If you have already downloaded the data then you will have to move the data to the new folder.
If you want to store them in D:\BitcoinData then click on "Properties" of a shortcut to bitcoin-qt.exe and
add -datadir=D:\BitCoinData at the end as an example:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe" -datadir=d:\BitCoinData

Start Bitcoin, now you will see all the files are created in the new data directory.

=== Linux ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/.bitcoin/

You need to do a "ls -a" to see directories that start with a dot.

If that's not it, you can do a search like this:

find / -name wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null

=== Mac ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

==Directory Contents==

===Files===
* .lock
**BDB lock file
* bitcoin.conf [optional]
**Contains [[Running_Bitcoin#Bitcoin.conf_Configuration_File|configuration options]].
* blk''xxxx''.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Contains concatenated raw blocks. Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw.
* blkindex.dat [Versions prior to v0.8.0]
**Indexing information used with blk''xxxx''.dat
* __db.''xxx''
**Used by BDB
* db.log
* debug.log
**Bitcoin's verbose log file. Automatically trimmed from time to time.
* wallet.dat
**Storage for keys, transactions, metadata, and options. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins.
* addr.dat [Versions prior to v0.7.0]
** Storage for ip addresses to make a reconnect easier
* peers.dat [Versions v0.7.0 and later]
** Storage for peer information to make a reconnect easier. This file uses a bitcoin-specific file format, unrelated to any database system<ref>[http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=119525.msg1287284#msg1287284 Ultraprune merged in mainline]</ref>.
The data, index and log files are used by Oracle [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_DB Berkeley DB], the embedded key/value data store that Bitcoin uses.

===database subdirectory===
Contains BDB journaling files

===testnet3 subdirectory===
Contains testnet versions of these files (if running with -testnet)

===blocks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains blockchain data.

* blk*.dat
** Stored are actual Bitcoin blocks, in network format, dumped to disk raw. They are only needed for re-scanning missing transactions in a wallet, reorganizing to a different part of the chain, and serving the block data to other nodes that are synchronizing.

* blocks/index subdirectory
** [v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database that contains metadata about all known blocks, and where to find them on disk. Without this, finding a block would be very slow.

===chainstate subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] A LevelDB database with a compact representation of all currently unspent transaction outputs and some metadata about the transactions they are from. The data here is necessary for validating new incoming blocks and transactions. It can theoretically be rebuilt from the block data (see the -reindex command line option), but this takes a rather long time. Without it, you could still theoretically do validation indeed, but it would mean a full scan through the blocks (7 GB as of may 2013) for every output being spent.

===locks subdirectory===
[v0.8 and above] Contains "undo" data.

* rev*.dat
You can see blocks as 'patches' to the chain state (they consume some unspent outputs, and produce new ones), and see the undo data as reverse patches. They are necessary for rolling back the chainstate, which is necessary in case of reorganizations.

===Bootstrapping the blockchain from a snapshot distributed through BitTorrent===
There is a <a href="https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/">torrent file that gets updated≤/a> every few months that enables a much faster download of the blockchain. Once downloaded, the bootstrap.dat file can be placed in the root of the data directory, and bitcoin core 0.7.1 and above will automatically import it

===Personally identifiable data [v0.8 and above]===
This section may be of use to you if you wish to send a friend the blockchain, avoiding them a hefty download.

*wallet.dat
**Contains addresses and transactions linked to them. Please be sure to make backups of this file. It contains the keys necessary for spending your bitcoins. You should not transfer this file to any third party or they may be able to access your bitcoins.
*db.log
**May contain information pertaining to your wallet. It may be safely deleted.
*debug.log
**May contain IP addresses and transaction ID's. It may be safely deleted.
*database/ folder
**This should only exist when bitcoin-qt is currently running. It contains information (BDB state) relating to your wallet.
*peers.dat
**Unknown whether this contains personally identifiable data. It may be safely deleted.

Other files and folders (blocks, blocks/index, chainstate) may be safely transferred/archived as they contain information pertaining only to the public blockchain.

==See Also==

* [[Running Bitcoin]]
* [[Securing your wallet]]
* [http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/11108/153 What is the database for?] Question on Bitcoin Stack Exchange

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Technical]]

[[es:Directorio de datos]]

User:Habitmelon

2014-11-24T22:28:07Z

Habitmelon: Add summary

By day I work as a Software Developer, by night as a father and husband. During [[imaginary time]] I edit wikis, blog at http://tobilehman.com/, tweet [https://twitter.com/habitmelon @habitmelon] and read.

In the past I got a B.Sc. in Mathematics, it's one of my favorite subjects.

Bonus points to anyone that can figure out what my name means. The hint is: it is an element of the symmetric group on 10 elements.

For bitcoin tips: 15aBJYF7Yv4GyQbvAuktgxN7zMNu3yBNwC

Coin Center

2014-11-24T22:09:04Z

Habitmelon: add goal and citation

Coin Center is a think tank dedicated to public policy issues related to [[Bitcoin]] and other cryptocurrencies<ref>[http://coincenter.org/#Letter]</ref>. It is located in Washington D.C., United States.

One of the major goals of Coin Center is to "help shape the global regulatory debate that could decide the fate of digital currency usage in the US and abroad"<ref>[http://www.coindesk.com/coin-center-bitcoin-advocacy-launch/]</ref>.

== References ==
<references />

Coin Center

2014-11-24T21:54:42Z

Habitmelon: Add references list

Coin Center

2014-11-24T21:54:10Z

Habitmelon: Create Coin Center page

Hal Finney

2014-11-24T21:21:55Z

Habitmelon: Add section about Hal Finney's cryopreservation.

{{infobox person|name=Hal Finney|image=
|names=Hal
|born=May 4, 1956
|died={{death date and age|2014|8|28|1956|5|4}}
|active=Jan-Feb '09, Nov '10-Jul '11
|knownfor=First transaction recipient Early miner
|bitcointalk=[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2436 Hal]}}
'''Hal Finney''' was the recipient of the first bitcoin [[transaction]].

== Cryopreservation ==

Hal Finney was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in August 2009<ref>[http://lesswrong.com/lw/1ab/dying_outside/ Dying Outside]</ref>. Much of his [[Bitcoin]] savings was used on medical bills as his ALS progressed<ref>[http://www.wired.com/2014/08/hal-finney/ WIRED : Bitcoin’s Earliest Adopter Is Cryonically Freezing His Body to See the Future]</ref>. He made arrangements with Alcor Life Extension Foundation to be cryopreserved upon being declared legally dead<ref>[http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2014-August/082585.html (Extropy Mailing List) Hal Finney being cryopreserved now]</ref>.

{{wp|Hal_Finney_(cypherpunk)}}
{{user|Hal}}

== References ==
<references />

Hal Finney

2014-11-24T21:17:01Z

Habitmelon: Add section about Hal Finney's cryopreservation.

{{infobox person|name=Hal Finney|image=
|names=Hal
|born=May 4, 1956
|died={{death date and age|2014|8|28|1956|5|4}}
|active=Jan-Feb '09, Nov '10-Jul '11
|knownfor=First transaction recipient Early miner
|bitcointalk=[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2436 Hal]}}
'''Hal Finney''' was the recipient of the first bitcoin [[transaction]].

== Cryopreservation ==

Hal Finney was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) in August 2009<ref>[http://lesswrong.com/lw/1ab/dying_outside/ Dying Outside]</ref>. Much of his [[Bitcoin]] savings was used on medical bills as his ALS progressed<ref>[http://www.wired.com/2014/08/hal-finney/]. He made arrangements with Alcor Life Extension Foundation to be cryopreserved upon being declared legally dead<ref>[http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/2014-August/082585.html</ref>.

{{wp|Hal_Finney_(cypherpunk)}}
{{user|Hal}}