SSD

mackey_

Yup! That's my plan, I'll be running Umbrel on an 8GB Raspberry Pi 4 with a 2TB Samsung SSD. Once I get the node set up and synced I plan on setting up the lightning node

proph3tsix

I spent many moons pulling my hair out over this same setup. I use Ledger and wanted to connect to my node over tor. It seemed like every time I tried I'd hit a frustrating roadblock and have to try a new tactic. Then I discovered Umbrel. It runs over tor, and offers lots of awesome integrations, including a personal block explorer, lightning node, etc. Buy a 1TB SSD and go to Umbrel's site to learn how to install. Be sure to install on the 1tb drive cause that's the one that'll get the IBD (initial block download). I had trouble installing on one drive and trying to do the IBD on another. Just use one drive. Let me know if you need help! Happy to assist.

OurNumber4

Spend a little more maybe $200 more get a better processor, 32gb RAM and most importantly 2TB SSD. If you go 2TB you are going to have to prune often. Good news is you can prune while validating these days.

Aussiehash

An extra node doesn't really help the network that much, you're much better running your own "economic" node for looking up your own balances, transactions and broadcasting (Sparrow/Electrum/Specter) For that you'll need a Pi4b with at least 4GB RAM and a SSD

BeYourOwnBankzy

SSD right not HDD? and 1TB but you’ll need to upgrade to 2 TB as the blockchain lengthens

kyyrell_

Good to know thanks! I've setup a raid with tiered storage: a SSD for cache and multiple HDDs for mass storage.

BTCMachineElf

You will need to get an SSD. Syncing the blockchain on a HDD takes ages.

DajngoCat

Just ordered the raspberry Pi based box with 2TB SSD to become a BTC node. Seems there is a lot of blockchain based utilities. Looks v interesting if you have fibre connection.

Giga79

You can run a light node with 0 ETH! It's a really fun hobby (imo) if you like the tech. It's a great thing to learn, too. If you have the hardware give it a shot! You don't need to store the full-state, so you don't need a large SSD or high bandwith like you do running a full node. Pretty soon you'll be able to run a validator/full node using 8 ETH through Rocket Pool, maybe even 1-4 ETH some day too. How-to would be good knowledge to have banked if you ever plan on doing that. Layer 2's need nodes too, and supporting them is probably the quickest way into all their token distributions. There's really no downside, and you would help support decentralization. Be your own RPC!

whitslack

Getting off-topic here, but my experience with hardware RAID versus software RAID is just the opposite of yours. Hardware RAID (i.e., *real* RAID, not just a software RAID implementation rolled up into a proprietary driver) is a black box with only a few sparsely labeled knobs exposed, whereas software RAID is laid all out in the open, source code editable, each drive fully and individually visible to the operating system. As far as I can see, the only real drawback of software RAID is all the redundant data that has to be sent over the PCIe bus. (The additional CPU load is negligible unless you're doing parity striping.) I run both types in my system, and I do appreciate the autonomy of the hardware RAID (like, it will verify an array after a sudden power loss even before the OS kernel has loaded), but I also appreciate the control that Linux mdraid gives me over the individual drives. For instance, if one SSD in a mirror set is out of sync with the others (yes, I have three SSDs in a RAID1 because I still don't trust their durability), then I can "manually" (using a tool I wrote) overwrite only the sectors that differ from the other drives, whereas a hardware RAID controller would blast its bits across the drive's entire address space, ruining the drive's understanding of which blocks contain data. Also, I'm not sure whether hardware RAID controllers correctly implement queued TRIM (or even TRIM at all!), but I know the Linux kernel does.

JandorGr

Still using? I am still on my 2013 computer, but I upgraded some components in 2017 and 2019... RAM, SSD, PSU and some dust filters later on.

koelebobes

I had something else in mind on my free day… Now I’m working on a 10 year old PC without SSD installing windows 10 I just wanted to watch charts and chill :(

HappyGoLacky

a lot to cover here.. but here goes. 1. Blockchain sync is mostly a combo of bandwidth and SSD speed. If you’re using an external SSD make sure is plugged into a USB3 port (blue) rather than usb2. 2. Setting up the LN node is easy. You basically create a wallet for your node, don't forget store tht seed phrase safely :) - Upload funds, then arrange swaps with people. Plebnet is a great telegram channel to watch and learn about lightning. You can apply to take part in swaps (using your fave front end app , I use RTL or Ride the Lightning) and you can apply to join swaps here: [https://lightningnetwork.plus/swaps](https://lightningnetwork.plus/swaps) \- most swaps are 1M sats or more... simply because channels of a few 100K sats are rarely used but they're a good way to learn that swaps are safe. (If you get stuck PM me when your node is up and I'll walk you through your first channel opening) . 3. You can manage your node remotely via tor with phone tools like ZeusLN... this is a pretty cool thing. 4. Here's the bad news. Running a Ledger against your own node right now requires an experimental or beta program called satstack. I never really got it working properly despite trying for a few months and logging bugs, it seems to be maintained by a single person at Ledger, and this was a really important feature for me. Then I started getting the dreaded battery errors, so I ended up switching to a BitBox02 (which has been totally awesome) .. now I just open the desktop app and put the IP (or Tor) address of my node in, and it just works. There's a lot to learn, but the more you learn, the more confidence you will build in the inevitability of BTC.

MiguelLancaster

I use the same old laptop that is my dedicated Bisq machine to run a full node using Umbrel just get a 1TB SSD and literally any machine that's at least as powerful as a RasPi4

Scrapin-Nee

I use a Rasberry pi4 with Umbrel software that I access over wi-fi with my gaming computer. This is one I got because it has passive cooling. And I use a 2 TB Samsung external SSD hard drive. https://www.canakit.com/Common/System/Cart.aspx Other alternatives are just a laptop that meets basic specs that are listed here. https://bitcoin.org/en/full-node#setup-a-full-node As far as alternatives without a computer, I don’t think there are many good ones at the moment.

KAX1107

RAM not an issue. You'll need an external SSD for that

nickdl4

Raspberry PI 4 8gb ram, 2TB SSD, a fan, a case, an SD card -> Flash Umbrel. Boom you got a node!

TechHonie

$800 worth of computer with SSD

Dfranco123

Contemplating whether to buy the new 990 Pro SSD or another monitor. What do you guys think?

Cheesebaron

Considering the rather low performance of a RaspberryPi, especially with an external HDD instead of an SSD I think this is still very easy to process. Especially because every block takes 10 minutes on average to be mined.

Wowfan121231

Do tablets now come with an SSD? If so get that

savinelli_smoker

A common way would be to run it on a little board computer like raspberry pi with free software package like Umbrel. But it cost a bit of money to buy the pi and SSD. Alternatively you can always just download bitcoin core to your computer and run. It’s free but it will take up half a TB of hard drive space and if your computer goes to sleep so will your node.

severance_mortality

I think it's because it's basically random access. Every transaction references arbitrary past data, so it's kinda the worst case for a spinny boi. I'd expect an SSD to be way faster.

MinimalGravitas

It isn't correct, block times went from an average of 13 seconds to a regular 12 seconds. I don't understand how that can be considered 'MUCH faster'. At the same time, it's equally ridiculous to suggest that 'soon anyone would need to rent a whole data-centre'... the new hotness in Ethereum nodes are Rock B single board computers that cost about $500 including the SSD. They are a bit more powerful than a Raspberry Pi, but the same kind of thing. No data-centres required!

TheModernJedi

Super easy to set up a full node and a lightning node on a $35 raspberry pi 4 and Umbrel OS. Most expensive part is the hard drive - I got a small 2 TB SSD because the blockchain is already 500gb

SalahEddie

I have an SSD, as I mentioned my laptop is 2 years old so pretty recent, I waited for more than a week to sync the network but I only got to a block made in 2019, so after I noticed severe heat and slowdowns I decided to pull the plug and uninstall bitcoin core a month ago, I had doubts about the software so I made sure that I downloaded it from the genuine website.. so this eliminates the possibility that I downloaded a malicious bitcoin core that used me as a miner … to this day my laptop is having slowdowns and high temperatures more frequently, I’m deleting all the chrome cookies each week in order to keep things as smooth as possible.. I also merely use my laptop for research and surfing the web … and yet people still downvote, way to go guys 👍🏽

coolestyouthpastor

Then either your laptop has an HDD or something is wrong. Because it only takes a couple of days to sync the entire blockchain with an SSD and a decent CPU.

gowithflow192

Cloud solutions usually highly redundant. Compare that to your laptop SSD or maybe SSD+removable hard drive.

Alfador8

Just get a cheap dedicated device. A refurbished Dell Optiplex and a 2tb SSD are more than enough

BedazzlingBear

Maybe 1 or 2 of these are actually environmentally friendly. For example Chia is not environmentally friendly, it uses a ton of hard drives and SSD to mine. Just because it doesn't use graphics cards, etc doesn't mean it's not wasteful on energy.

Alfador8

If all you're doing is running a node and interfacing with your Coldcard then you don't need a very powerful computer. I'd recommend a refurbished Dell Optiplex and a 2tb SSD. Umbrel works great for your node software since you're new to running one. The only tricky part (if you're not familiar with Linux) may be that you could need to write udev permissions for your Coldcard. It's not hard, just a different process than you're probably used to if you're coming from a different OS experience.

IamAFlaw

I did chia too and my plotting drives didn't die they are at 52% health for a small farm of 60tb I had to replot when pools came out. If I had one plotter that is one dead SSD. It did kill drives. Plotters are better and can use ram now if you have the money for a rig like that.

IamAFlaw

My plotting SSD sitting at 52% health from plotting about 60tb begs the differ.

allegorycave

I've been thinking the same and the 2 options I like are; Install on an old laptop with external SSD, Specter seems to be convinient here as the software comes with bitcoin core out of the box. Second option is buy raspberry pie board + external SSD and install Umbrel for example. Both of these methods shouldn't exceed more than $200 I think. If old laptop could be used, it could be setup to self-host other things like pasword manager, notes app or straight up file manager for backups. Also, the bitcoin node could be turned off when not verifying on-chain tx's. Turn it on and I think it will sync from the last time block it verified to now. Obviously LN node will require the bitcoin node to be constantly on. I havent deeply researched it but it seems it's not expensive to set up nodes, in fact one get's even more incentivized if self-hosting or own cloud is required for other apps.

Chia_Pizza

This knowledge is from an article that didn't check the facts and everyone quoted it since they didn't check the facts either... "journalism" you plot ONCE and then you are done filling that space, now the only activity you have is a few KB of data every so often, very minimal effort and cost once you make that plot, thats the power savings compared to traditional mining. "plot once, farm many" Its not for everyone, but thats okay, only use what spare space you have while your system runs in the background, you were already powering it why not get something for it, but the "kills SSD" myth is officially dead. 2 years, 45 drives, 0 deaths

Ryuzaki_63

Sounds like a quick way to destroy your SSD with heat and writes

Repulsive-Cry2467

I recommend getting a 1TB or 2 TB SSD to store the blockchain. Other than that, your specs are way beyond minimal requirements. You could also run raspiblitz or umbrel on a raspberry pi. But you still need the SSD.

maximovious

That's my second question... actually about BTCPayServer specifically. Is it possible to 'prune' during the initial setup phase, or do you have to get the whole blockchain first, and *then* prune it? If it's the former, you can set up a small, cheaper, SSD. If it's the latter, you need the larger, expensive SSD for a while, and then the technical challenge of "shrinking"* an EBS volume. *you can't really shrink one... you need to pause it, set up a separate, smaller one, transfer everything, and bring the new one online, then delete the old large version.

maximovious

Also wondering about this. I did set up btcpayserver on an SSD on AWS, but it's costing me too much each month so I'd like to see how to reduce that.

Alfador8

Buy a cheap dedicated computer (I recommend a refurbished Dell Optiplex), an SSD drive with sufficient space (2tb if you want to future-proof) and download Bitcoin Core (or Umbrel if you want your hand held).

whitslack

I'm impressed you had the necessary hardware still in good working condition. I still have a 16-year-old CPU (Intel Kentsfield) online 24/7, and while that system's motherboard does have a floppy drive controller, I long ago removed the floppy drive to reuse that drive bay for an SSD. Have you needed to replace the drive belt or regrease the head assembly rails?

Giga79

OP what are you on? Ethereum isn't doing sharding. That was removed from the roadmap years ago, replaced with www.eip4844.com Sharding fragmented liquidity *and security* and there was no way to work around it. Instead of fundamentally fragmenting the blockchain, they're introducing EIP 4844 which is only a new *transaction* type.. A 4844-type transaction can optionally be deleted after validation, to free up space to drastically reduce validator hardware storage requirements - therefore the cost to make a 4844-type transaction is substantially lower. 4844 doesn't shard the chain, fragment liquidity, or impact security. L2's will use 4844 to upload and settle their bulky data, which *can be* purged from L1 validators if they don't choose to store it all indefinitely. Likely the L2 will become their own record-keepers/archival nodes to improve their own UX. Without these new temporary "blob" transactions the *whole* state of the chain would grow multiple TB a year, giving a huge boost to large stakers when a new SSD will eat far less % of their profits than it would a small staker. I do not see a mechanism for larger sets of validators to gain a sort of advantage over a smaller set from EIP 4844 or from the next upgrade, *danksharding* (making *every* tx optional to store) that's eventually coming after it. If you can see the mechanism please explain it clearly. Your whole post is making the assumption everyone already knows what you're saying.

Page_Unusual

If stored on SSD flashdrive what lifespan can I expect?

afternooncrypto

BitBox is a hardware wallet designed and I think manufactured in Switzerland you can find it here https://shiftcrypto.ch or their shop https://shiftcrypto.shop. I have both Trezor and Ledger the other major competitors BitBox is my favourite out of the 3 then Trezor then Ledger mostly because their source code is open and available to *verify* on GitHub for free whereas Ledger is proprietary. https://trezor.io https://ledger.com https://walletscrutiny.com/hardware/ledger.nano.splus/ https://walletscrutiny.com/hardware/ledgerNanoX/ https://walletscrutiny.com/hardware/ledgerNanoS/ https://walletscrutiny.com/hardware/bitBox2/ https://walletscrutiny.com/hardware/trezorOne/ https://walletscrutiny.com/hardware/trezorT/ And Umbrel is an OS software that primarily runs Bitcoin core so you can operate a full node but also a lightning channel, BTCPay, Pi-hole and Snowflake Tor proxy which is pretty cool. You can find that here: https://umbrel.com with hardware requirements you can run it on Ubuntu or use a Raspberry Pi 4 and an SSD. You can connect your own node to Trezor Suite or the BitBox app. https://blog.trezor.io/connecting-your-wallet-to-a-full-node-edf56693b545#bcf3 I would recommend that you do your own research and make decisions based on that.

zqrt

Visit umbrel.com, and scroll down until you see “Install on a Raspberry Pi 4.” All the instructions are there. I’m kind of lazy, so I bought a Raspberry Pi 400 which is a Pi 4 in a keyboard case (computer inside a keyboard), so all I have to do is plug in the power, mouse, display, SSD, and Ethernet and I’m all set.

TechHonie

Yeah moving the folder with all the IO operations to an SSD is the right way.

Dryja

This is probably because of the slow I/O on the external hard drive. During IBD (initial block download) there is a lot of very small reads and writes going on which work great on an SSD but are very slow on a spinning disk. If it's possible to sync on to the laptops SSD, and then move the files off to the hard drive later, that will probably speed it up a lot. Somewhat more involved, as unfortunately there's no UI for this yet: there are 2 main data directories in the bitcoin directory: `blocks` and `chainstate`. `blocks` is the "blockchain" which is about 500GB and why you'd want it on an external drive - but sees very little I/O. `chainstate` is the UTXO set, only about 5GB, and that's where the I/O bottleneck is. If you can move the `chainstate` folder on your laptop's SSD and leave the `blocks` folder on an slow drive, that will speed IBD up a lot. Not sure on mac, but on linux it would be `ln -s ~/.bitcoin/blocks /media/external_drive/bitcoin_blocks` to make a link from one folder to another.

Quiet-Passenger5647

If the drive is SSD or similar you are in trouble. If it is mechanical and you have other similar (exactly same model) you can try to swap some electronic parts but never open the plate "chamber" because even the "invisible" dust would damage it severely. You can even try to run de disk in different positions or soft sake it (just a bit, it is not a maraca) in all possible angles. Since it is mechanical, sometimes by doing this you can have a last chance (but if you are lucky, go fast to your key because you don't know for how long it will keep spinning!). Maybe it is your lucky day, who knows. If nothing of these work, you will have to spend some money. Probably some mechanical or electronic part is broken. But it can be repaired. Luckily just taking the data directly from the plates is enough, but it has to be done in a laboratory by a technician. It costs money but it is not crazy. In case you have to get your data recovered by some company, never reveal that you have btc there. Don't trust anyone. Anyone. So at this point, don't let anyone here to "take a look" on your disk because chances to get scammed are near 100%.

SmoothGoing

It's already downloading blocks from distributed sources. The problem isn't the download, it's verification of blocks. That's where the I/O becomes a bottleneck. Slow external disk and slow CPU would do that. You could try on the best hardware you have with SSD and good CPU, or rent a beefy VPS for a day or 2.

Revlonrevolver

I put embassy on it. Question. It synced 28%fine. From there on it slowed dramatically. Now it's 3 days in total @37% ...I'm getting like 3% a day...at this rate it will take ...a while. My question is if it takes this long, will that increase the likelihood of corruption? And, ive messed with the dbcache and it does nothing. I have 200mn download speeds and the above mentioned pi + 1tb SSD.

JasonB-007

> with a hard drive Without hard drive! Remove the hard drive/SSD and boot from the DVD drive.

BTCPriest

Wow. This is really annoying! But obviously it looks like it's not possible. What about trying to use use a different pc to do the first installation from usb to SSD and then install the prepared SSD into the NUC11. As a "workaround". Or convert the legacy setup into UEFI setup somehow?

Mentally-

I've already tried this. You cannot select legacy boot in the BIOS of NUC 11. The legacy boot is necessary for installing EmbassyOS . I can flash the ISO on to the SSD but it doesn't matter if you can't boot from legacy. See here: [https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057401/intel-nuc.html](https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057401/intel-nuc.html) https://community.start9.com/t/embassyos-launch-error/93

ryanspencer0

No thats not realistic, are you storing your private keys on the router? Are you transmitting your private keys to other devices outside of your network unencrypted? you likely simply uploaded a file or directories that contained your private keys, you stored them online (idk why you would do that), or something similar. Store your private keys in a plaintext file, use gpg, move file onto HDD, SSD, or some usb drive (preferably not old bc failure) and store in a secure physical location. Do this for multiple drives in multiple locations. Even if drives containing privkeys are stolen, they are encrypted and unusable to the thief

JamesBondMI6007

You can run a validator node on a Raspberry Pi 8Gb with a 1TB SSD. The entire setup will cost less than $200 and takes an afternoon to setup if your really tech savvy and a few days if you’re not. There are countless step by step articles to walk even the least computer savvy individual through it. My 70 year old dad was able to do it and I can count on one hand the number of times he’s used a computer in his life. He’s the kind of person who types with two fingers and it takes him 4 minutes to complete a sentence. I sent him a parts list and guide, it took him 3 days to get it setup.

BTCMachineElf

Maybe try Muun. For truly cheap lightning payments, you can run your own lightning node. Otherwise ultimately you're using a service, and will have to pay for it. Parts for a node cost maybe $200 (or use any old computer with a 1tb SSD), but they can serve a whole host of functions.

sweetsimplesauce

>Would that hook up to a traditional HDD Yes but a SSD would be better because it's faster. >What are the selfish benefits of running a node? Running a full node allows you to verify the authenticity of transactions and blocks yourself without trusting a third party.

parkineos

Nope, a Gen3 1tb kingston m.2 is only 45€ and an Intel Alder Lake 16gb mini pc is 250€ on amazon, comes with windows 11 pro and 500gb of storage for the OS and other stuff you might qant to run on it. The current blockchain size is 453GB, a year ago it was 390GB so at this rate it would take 9 years to reach 1TB. You can pay a bit more for a 2TB ssd now or wait 9 years and upgrade to a 4TB SSD for example, which will probably be as cheap as 1TB is now.

metalzip

> He can start on the SSD. Then move to the HDD to finish the last 250GB but still it will be freakishly slow. > > > > I highly doubt the HDD will be able to complete this task this year. What are you talking about about being "freakishly slow"???? Full node synchronization from 0 to full, takes up to like 1 day, maybe 5 days on old PC - yes, on HDD, with around 1 GB of RAM for use of Bitcoin

adigabusymind

OP said he is building a full node with need Sox 500gb. He only has 240GB of SSD. Meaning a full node won’t fit there, so seems like he is doing this in his 1TB HDD. The HDD will bottle neck at around 30% Sync. He can start on the SSD. Then move to the HDD to finish the last 150GB but still it will be freakishly slow. I highly doubt the HDD will be able to complete this task this year.

metalzip

> Curious, did you put your node on the HDD? because if you did. this node will probably be live in 2024. what do you mean? Bitcoin Core full node needs around 5 (lets say 10) GB of disk space, it can be HDD or SSD. You need to set option prune to 1000 MB there. Or more if you have more space. To store entire blockchain now you need around 450-500 GB and this number grows each year.

purpan-

Oh I’m sure it certainly isn’t. I didn’t choose this PC specifically, it was just an insane deal that I couldn’t pass up. Guy told me it was unfixable when all it needed was RAM and a CMOS battery. i7 8700, 16gb RAM, 240gb NVME SSD + 1TB HDD for only $40? Yes please. Also Bitcoin isn’t anywhere near it’s main purpose, I use the machine for loads of other things as a home server.

afternooncrypto

https://umbrel.com * Pi 4 * 4GB * 1TB SSD

Affiele

Currently the blocksize is 500kb Minimum specs are 8Gb RAM, 20 GB HDD (better yet SSD). Any decent CPU will do, I personally run 3 instances of the node at once on 11 year old i7-2600k, and this is along with the Kaspa DNS server and 2 miner instances (1 for the mainnet, 1 for the testnet) on the same PC.

OutrageousSir8047

You can buy a refurbished HP Elitedesk with i7, 6th generation with 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD for less than 210$. I run a node on [this](https://www.amazon.com/HP-EliteDesk-800-G3-64-Multi-Language/dp/B081D5D4GP/ref=sr_1_3?crid=12JLSMFVM91W&keywords=hp+elitedesk+i7&qid=1675910552&refinements=p_36%3A-30000&rnid=2421879011&sprefix=hp+elitedesk+i7%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-3) using Umbrel and it is amazing. My server uptime is 100% in the last 1 month, and the CPU is at least 3-4 times more powerful than a raspberry. If you made a node using raspberry today, it will cost you over 350$. It doesn't make sense to make a node using raspberry even if it costed 100$.

bonsai-walrus

> Is it necessary to do this from a new laptop? Is this just for safety? Yes. Exactly. If the wallet is not encrypted, then the private key, the piece of information that can transfer the bitcoins, is exposed to the internet while the laptop is turned on. To minimise the risk of malware stealing it or it simply accidentally leaking, I would do this on a new laptop. This also guarantees me you're using and SSD and not an HDD, which makes the synchronisation of the bitcoin blockchain much faster. Once you found out if you are able to recover the funds, the turning off the laptop and keeping it shut down until you're ready to transfer to a secure setup (like Casa provides), is for the same reason: keep exposure to the outside world to a minimum.

bonsai-walrus

First, get a brand new laptop with a 1TB SSD (not HDD) built in. Do everything else from this new laptop. Start that new laptop, connect to the Internet and make all updates. Copy that file to a fresh usb-thumb drive, just in case the harddrive fails. Keep that usb-thumb drive disconnected, unless you need it because the harddrive failed. Install bitcoin core from https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/ Start bitcoin core program. Close it again. Open bitcoin core's Data directory. Depending on which operating system you're using, it's in a different location. Look here to how to get there: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory You should see a wallet.dat file in this directory. Maybe in a sub-folder in that directory. Delete it. Copy your backup.dat in it's place. Start bitcoin core again and let it synchronise. This cane take a few days, depending on your internet speed. Once it's finished, you now should see the balance in the bitcoin core window. If you do, shut down the laptop and keep it shut down. Become a customer of Casa https://keys.casa and let them walk you through how to transfer the bitcoins to a new, secure storage.

ginko_bilobaba

I would suggest you to go for a second-hand mini PC. I got mine from a p2p sales website in my country, it's a HP EliteSlice i5 6500T, 8GB RAM and I have bought a 1TB SSD for it(it came with a 256GB one). Looking at the usage, I can say 8GB RAM is overkill, probably 4 will do just fine. Same for the CPU, something with lower performance will do just fine. Of course, assuming that you'll run a linux distro on it. Also, it's worth mentioning that the newer models of HP computers are quite unfriendly with linux kernels, I did not manage to make mine boot from an USB ubuntu server installation media so I ended up installing the OS on the SSD on another machine then plug it into my mini PC. From what I read online, these new HP models made to be compatible with Windows.

cheeky_panduh

Nope, SSD

Bitcoin_Maximalist

or did you use a HDD instead of SSD?

-allomorph-

To store the full blockchain, you do need the 1tb size. SSD is recommended. Current blockchain is over 500 gigs.

fnetma

Get these two off amazon. A mini PC and an larger SSD. Remove the storage the device comes with and install the larger hard drive. Install Ubuntu then install Umbrel... Super easy and a decent price. [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZLF6HP6?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZLF6HP6?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PHJCCY3?psc=1&ref=ppx\_yo2ov\_dt\_b\_product\_details

fainje

Minimum is 1tb. In europe you can get 1tb SSD for 40€. Raspi Pi is about \~80€ (4GB version).

cheeky_panduh

For sure. Actually you could use a mini desktop case and plug your m2 ssd (only SATA, no NVME) into the SSD shield. So you’ll get an all in one device and it looks pretty btw. Check out Michael Klements on YouTube. This guy is a guru when it comes to self made cases. It’s insane :D

cheeky_panduh

It’s never too late. It was pretty straightforward. Just get yourself a RPI, a good case (would recommend Argon cases because they have passive cooling, no noise and decent temperatures ), a simple SD card (16 GB at least) and a proper SSD (1 TB at least or 2 TB if you want something future-proof). Plug the things together and install Umbrel, it’s ridiculously easy to setup everything.

The_Professor_LCDP

Damn, I didn’t realize it was around $250 to do that. That’s not bad at all. Could you use a smaller SSD? I know nothing about mining or nodes or anything lmfao.

hyperinflationUSA

Take the hard drive or SSD and any flashdrives with you. There are three monitors in your photo. Follow the monitor chord to find the computers

Fear_Blind83

Any computer can be a node, just make sure the hard drive has minimum 500GB storage and preferably an SSD for better performance/speed Also ensure you have a good internet connection and allow several days for the IBD (Initial Block Download) which is ~450GB of data. You can run Bitcoin Core on Windows/Linux/Pi

SalteeKibosh

It looks like a decommissioned GPU farm. The first picture: This shows that your uncle had GPU's hanging from the shelf above them (inline with the hanging fans). On each shelf is a motherboard, assuming a CPU/RAM/SSD in the motherboard, and dual-PSU's. Depending on the CPU/MB/RAM, this could be worth a few hundred to a few thousand $$. My guess is that each of those MBs is a B250 with 8GB of DD3 ram (2 sticks of 4GB each) and some type of 1151 socket-type CPU. Maybe ~$200 for each MB/CPU/RAM combo. The fans are probably 1.3A 12v 120MM fans, but they could be up to 3.4A 12v 120MM fans. ~$2-5 each. The PSU's are probably 1500w each which sell for $250+ if they're branded (Corsair, Thermaltake, etc.) The second picture: This looks like his test area. That rack on the bottom-left corner have a bunch of powered risers which are dirt cheap on the secondary market. ~$2/ea maaaaaaybe. The Goldshell miners might sell depending on which model they are, but that market is really tight right now. Looks like the black box under the table is the server for his farm (probably worth selling). Everything else is just misc mining equipment like power/usb cables (most of the cables look like PCIE power cables) and bitmain psu's. Your best bet is to find a local miner that would take everything as one lot. Nothing here is too crazy valuable (the GPU's are gone), which is, I think, what you're trying to gauge. So, find a local miner on craigslist and see if they'd be willing to make an offer on it all.

lourkeur

It's true there's a legitimate debate. A lot of noise but some signal. Curious to see how it goes. That's why I pointed to the weight limit: if it wasn't a safe default, why was it adopted? Regarding chain growth, it comes down to ~210GB/year. It could double the chain size two years from now in the worst case scenario that's true. From my memory, not having an SSD was indeed a pain. Disk space might become the bottleneck for independent nodes at some point, maybe at 1-2TB, but OTOH disks are still improving. OTOH you can prune witness data after some time. That's part of the segwit design. Bitoin Core calls it `assumevalid` and I'm not sure what their process for bumping it is. If we look at it that way, we are growing the vanilla chain by ≤1MB per block as we've done since the very beginning, and there's a constant extra overhead for the fresh witness data that you cant prune. so, maybe we're fine?

Skeptain

Get a separate SSD and build it into your desktop PC. Deactivate all other drives and install a fresh Ubuntu and your wallets and nothing else. After everything is done, enter your bios and switch back on your other drives and switch off the Ubuntu SSD. Never use both at the same time. This is like two different PCs but without any hint from the outside.

712Jefferson

It won't make you any money but if you can save up enough scratch for a Raspberry Pi 400 kit and external SSD (about $200ish USD all in), you can run a Bitcoin node pretty easily and with minimal electricity cost. Something like Umbrella OS Will make it even easier. Fun little side project and you contribute to the network.

savinelli_smoker

Total waste of precious block space. Bticoiners worked so hard to avoid block bloat, Segwit, lightning, then these pieces of shit just fill it all up. Bam, just like that. It’s disgusting to know that I now have these symbols of stupidity on my own node copy. I didn’t buy the SSD to keep this rubbish for eternity, and it’s a spam attack on bitcoin because it’s crowding out thousands of real UTXOs around the world.

chumleyMaximus

make sure you always have access to the network. nothing else matters more than securing your access to network(s). stock up on plenty of off grid electricity. stock up on SSD and other storage for backups build a massive data center to store a copy of the ledger in case you lose network connectivity (currently the ledger is so massive that its impractical for average people to maintain a full copy. if you ever lose network connectivity, you would do better having a full copy of the ledger by running your own node(s)) install convenient parking for those who need to exchange with you if both of you have lost network connectivity if history has a lesson on network connectivity, I would say 'who is ma Bell? hone practical survival skills in case you cant use your coin and need food. Either hunt/trap/gather or barter with someone who has food for trade. ​ or not.

m-nightwalker

Sorry, I wasn't talking about storage capacity but RAM. storage wise I'm going with 1tb SSD.

Snorglepus1856

Hey everybody, check out this guy with the gigabit internet and 1TB SSD! (Took me like 10 days to sync)

cryptogirlHODL

The bitcoin core software is actually doing it's job: downloading the entire +/- 500gb blockchain and verifying each transaction made since 2009. Only when it comes to the end of this verification, will the software be able to 100% know which wallet owns what. It takes a long time, depending on the hardware used. An SSD however GREATLY speeds up the process over a HDD (like 10x as fast)

im_sashimi_negitoro

>I have to download Bitcoin core onto my PC and direct core to store the blockchain on the external SSD (like I want), but what else would be required from there other than running certain command lines for a pruned node? that's pretty much it

Spacesider

>Guess this still has a lot to do with the high cost of operating a node. What high costs do you feel are stopping people from running a node? I've been running Ethereum nodes for a while. First in 2019 (Or possibly 2018). I grabbed an old desktop from 2010, threw an SSD into it, and installed Ubuntu server and Geth. It synced with the network and just like that I had a full node running. The only real cost was an SSD because that old machine didn't have one.

IstDasMeinHamburger

Self custody has its advantages but also disadvantages and in my opinion, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages for most people. Keeping data safe and up to date consistently as well as readily available over a very long time is something even pros struggle with. Sure you can engrave coins or whatever but most would want to secure their keys in a way that can be accessed quickly. Every readily available technology to store data digitally has an expiry date. You can't just use or keep data on a USB stick/SSD or one of those hardware wallets forever, one day that data will be corrupted or gone. Every way to store data has it's expiry date and if we're talking digital there is no technolody that can guarantee data consistenty for ever, even 10 years is playing with fire without replacing it regularly. Loss of data is a real problem in today's world. A cloud doesn't guarantee that your data is safe or even that you'll be able to read or access it after whatever amount of years. In ten years you might find a USB stick that should contain a document with those seeds you forgot to back up or whatever, what if the data is corrupted, gone or the usb stick simply doesn't work anymore? Can we still read the format of said USB stick if we find an adapter that allows us to plug it in in the first place? People don't want to invest a lot of time to learn heaps of things they might not understand and they especially don't want to be responsible if they fuck up and mix up or lose seeds after moving funds or because they didn't understand something fully. There are countries where banks are forced by law to guarantee that the funds people put in can also be taken out. Most people trust their bank but don't trust themselves keep access data to all their funds in a secure way they can access but never lose. After many years in Bitcoin I am pretty sure I've lost access to a seed or two just because of change. Things broke, got lost, were misplaced etc. My own fault? Sure, but heaps of people don't want or can't afford to learn the hard way when it comes to life savings.

jventura1110

Closer to the lower end, \~$800-1000. Just a lower-end processor (i3 or i5), 32gb of RAM, and a decent SSD. Basically, a low-end gaming computer without the graphics card.

maninthecryptosuit

8th gen i5 (that's 4 generations old) with 16 GB RAM can do the job b with a decent SSD. That's it. 20 mbps internet is enough. That's hardly 'serious hardware. Heck there are even people staking on Pi4Bs not that it's recommended. A new NUC11i5, 32 GB RAM and a good 2TB SSD can be had for max $800. If you go used or wait for bargains, half that is possible.

Chgralac73

if its a notebook with SSD drive be informed that after a year your SSD losing all charge and data disappears

igadjeed

> severe global shortage of Pis And the main reason for buying one is the low price, but the shortage has caused the retail price to more than double Yes, you can run Bitcoin Core on a Pi3 with 1GB RAM, but you probably can't run the QT GUI, only the terminal based bitcoind. Core uses 300MB pretty constantly during day-to-day operation. There used to be tutorials for 1GB node operators advising them to reduce dbcache from default (450MB) to 60MB With a Pi3 or only 1GB or 2GB or RAM, you're going to wait weeks for the node to initialize, more weeks for a Pi3 than a Pi4. It is less painful to run the initialization on a desktop PC and then transfer the files Pi3 won't initialize a node which has a HDD connected to its USB2 port, but day-to-day operation is no problem That's the main reason for recommending Pi4 - it has a USB3 port. Also, a node with SSD will initialize faster than a HDD. And also again, for day-to-day operation, a HDD is perfect. Ignore anybody who tells you a SSD is essential for a Bitcoin node But remember an external HDD connected through USB2 will fail to complete the node initialization, on any computer, Pi3 or desktop or server Alternative to Raspberry Pi https://www.hardkernel.com/shop/odroid-hc4/ These are well-priced, cheaper than current Pi prices. Also, the HC-4 has a native SATA port (other odroids have a USB-SATA bridge on the board). This eliminates the USB slowdown which causes the problem mentioned above Probably not suitable for Linux noobs, but most of the "run a node on a Pi" tutorials would fit an odroid, after you've got Linux installed first

armantheparman

I can't be absolutely sure, but I wonder if your chainstate is corrupted, or the drive. Do you use an SSD drive (best), or a regular HDD? The regular drives, eventually, you'll run into problems. I always have two nodes running, so if I have issues with one and need to resync, I've got a backup while waiting. This can also happen if you get a blackout or brownout, I suggest a UPS to protect yourself.

sonastyinc

I had a raspberry pi 4 with a 1 TB SSD running Umbrel node, works great. But I'm gonna set up a new node on Proxmox on my new mini server PC. It's a MiniPC with a N5100 CPU (5 watts TDP), 16gb ram and 1 TB HDD. Gonna give the node 750 gb, and 4 GB of ram. 750 gb should do fine for another 3 to 5 years

diradder

> Recommended system specification for participation nodes is: > > 8 vCPU > 16 GB RAM > 100 GB NVMe SSD or equivalent > 1 Gbps connection with low latency > $500 is not "cheap" for most of the world, and you also conveniently neglect the volume of data transferred. Furthermore, since you keep dancing around it, despite it being my initial point, relay nodes... without which your "participation" node (do they give a participation trophy with it too?) is perfectly USELESS are much more expensive to run and maintain: > Recommended system specification for relay nodes is: > > 16 vCPU > 32 GB RAM > 3 TB NVMe SSD or equivalent > 30 TB/month egress > 1 Gbps connection with very low latency

iciEric

I see. I understand. I wanna feel comfortable while learning. It's better to do things properly and extend my budget. Will be good to know more about your SSD 100USD. What does IBD stand for?

marblemorning

I heard it took some people weeks to sync up initially, instead of a day or two with SSD. Seems pretty slow to me :)

doyounodegay

Hey buddy, i got a node running on my everyday windows pc. the pc is off for about 16h a day, and the node syncing is done in a few minutes after starting my pc. I have an SSD for the storage. The first sync for the node did take me 2 days, with maybe 20h of actual pc run / internet connection time. hope this helps with your use case. good luck