Data directory

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

Default Location

Windows

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

explorer %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 Bitcoin.exe 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

Subdirectories

• database
  • Contains journaling files for the block database
• testnet3
  • Contains testnet versions of these files (if running with -testnet)

Files

• .lock
  • BDB lock file
• bitcoin.conf [optional]
  • Contains configuration options.
• blkxxxx.dat
  • Contains concatenated raw blocks
• blkindex.dat
  • Indexing information used with blkxxxx.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.

The data, index and log files are used by Oracle Berkeley DB, the embedded key/value data store that Bitcoin uses.

See Also

• Running Bitcoin
• Securing your wallet