<blockquote>
<p>where is the actual data stored?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Each full node on the network will download and validate the blockchain history, it will request and receive this data from other full node peers. Each node does not necessarily have to keep that data after validating it though, it can choose to 'prune' data that is not relevant to the user's wallet.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For e.g. bitcoin as of today is ~270GB, meaning that every node requires this much amount of storage. But the problem here is that the data is an ever increasing entity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By running a pruned node, you needn't keep the entire blockchain history on file, though you will still need to download and validate it in the first place. So while the blockchain will continue to increase in size, it is through careful engineering that we can hope to limit the rate of increase, hopefully such that technological capacity will increase at a comparable rate (ie, faster and cheaper CPUs for validation, faster and cheaper storage, etc). This is important, because the health of the network depends on there being a sufficiently large number of nodes online.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Many links on google say that blockchain is not an ideal solution for large data, but then any solution will eventually produce an ever increasing amount of data.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The key point with this is that not all types of data usage are equal. It is preferable to get the most utility you can per byte of data stored. Compressing a ton of economic happenings into a bitcoin transaction (eg the opening/closing of a lightning network channel) represents a ton of utility per byte. Storing your favourite funny-cat-video on a blockchain is the opposite, and there already exist far more efficient ways to store and transmit that sort of data.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-29T08:02:23.177Z
2020-07-29T08:02:23.177Z
chytrik
<p>I know that the blockchain stores the transnational data and it is immutable but where is the actual data stored? If there is a use case to replace a centralized data center solution with a blockchain solution, where will the data be stored in blockchain? Data centers usually have petabytes of raw data, hence I am assuming that a decentralized solution like blockchain won't be able to accommodate large amounts of data.</p>
<p>For e.g. bitcoin as of today is ~270GB, meaning that every node requires this much amount of storage. But the problem here is that the data is an ever increasing entity. How does blockchain try to solve this problem ?</p>
<p>Note: Many links on google say that blockchain is not an ideal solution for large data, but then any solution will eventually produce an ever increasing amount of data.</p>
<p>I have referenced the following question on the forum but it does not answer by doubts:
<a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/85222/where-is-the-data-stored-in-bitcoin?newreg=758b36dea93e4dc4b41a765b9e13d27d">Where is the data stored in Bitcoin?</a></p>

<blockchain><raw-data><storage><blockchain-data-storage>
Where is the actual data stored in blockchain?
lokesharo
# Where is the actual data stored in blockchain?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-29)

I know that the blockchain stores the transnational data and it is immutable but where is the actual data stored? If there is a use case to replace a centralized data center solution with a blockchain solution, where will the data be stored in blockchain? Data centers usually have petabytes of raw data, hence I am assuming that a decentralized solution like blockchain won't be able to accommodate large amounts of data.

For e.g. bitcoin as of today is ~270GB, meaning that every node requires this much amount of storage. But the problem here is that the data is an ever increasing entity. How does blockchain try to solve this problem ?

Note: Many links on google say that blockchain is not an ideal solution for large data, but then any solution will eventually produce an ever increasing amount of data.

I have referenced the following question on the forum but it does not answer by doubts:
[Where is the data stored in Bitcoin?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/85222/where-is-the-data-stored-in-bitcoin?newreg=758b36dea93e4dc4b41a765b9e13d27d)

**Tags:** blockchain, raw-data, storage, blockchain-data-storage


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-07-29. Score: 1

> where is the actual data stored?

Each full node on the network will download and validate the blockchain history, it will request and receive this data from other full node peers. Each node does not necessarily have to keep that data after validating it though, it can choose to 'prune' data that is not relevant to the user's wallet.

> For e.g. bitcoin as of today is ~270GB, meaning that every node requires this much amount of storage. But the problem here is that the data is an ever increasing entity.

By running a pruned node, you needn't keep the entire blockchain history on file, though you will still need to download and validate it in the first place. So while the blockchain will continue to increase in size, it is through careful engineering that we can hope to limit the rate of increase, hopefully such that technological capacity will increase at a comparable rate (ie, faster and cheaper CPUs for validation, faster and cheaper storage, etc). This is important, because the health of the network depends on there being a sufficiently large number of nodes online.

> Many links on google say that blockchain is not an ideal solution for large data, but then any solution will eventually produce an ever increasing amount of data.

The key point with this is that not all types of data usage are equal. It is preferable to get the most utility you can per byte of data stored. Compressing a ton of economic happenings into a bitcoin transaction (eg the opening/closing of a lightning network channel) represents a ton of utility per byte. Storing your favourite funny-cat-video on a blockchain is the opposite, and there already exist far more efficient ways to store and transmit that sort of data.


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