<p>You can safely set prune either on the command  line or in you conf file and Bitcoin Core will handle it automatically. Note that for pruning to operate automatically you need to set it to a number greater than 550 in MB. Pruned mode works automatically when the client is started with pruned mode set.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-04-04T01:22:08.510Z
question is "downloading entire block chain"
nerkn
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-01T10:04:05.213Z
@nerkn thanks updated answer with new comment.
Willtech
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-02-28T11:28:53.083Z
2020-05-01T10:03:38.523Z
2020-05-01T10:03:38.523Z
Willtech
<p>Pruning saves disk space, but you still need to download the whole blockchain, <code>prune</code> mode works on the fly, once your node has downloaded the block data and validated the blocks/transactions in it, it throws away the old data that it no longer needs, but in order to revalidate all old blocks</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-28T15:13:48.130Z
Is there a way to avoid downloading the entire blockchain? Its 100gb+ and my laptop doesnt have such free space for this. This is a common problem.
Patoshi パトシ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-01-30T09:09:58.287Z
@Patoshiパトシ you dont have to have more than 5GiB with pruning mode activated. So no worries on lack of storage space on your laptop. But you have to download +100GiB in order to get synced with the blockchain.
behkod
CC BY-SA 3.0
2018-02-28T03:43:20.000Z
2018-02-28T03:43:20.000Z
Roman Kiselenko
<p>I've read that you need to download the entire bitcoin blockchain before you can set it to bitcoin core pruned mode to reduce space. But what if I don't have 100gb+ free on my hard drive? Is there a "pruned" blockchain file I can just download so I can skip needing to downloading the entire blockchain?</p>

<bitcoin-core><blockchain><pruning>
Do you have to download the entire bitcoin blockchain for bitcoin core pruned mode to take effect?
Patoshi パトシ
# Do you have to download the entire bitcoin blockchain for bitcoin core pruned mode to take effect?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-02-28)

I've read that you need to download the entire bitcoin blockchain before you can set it to bitcoin core pruned mode to reduce space. But what if I don't have 100gb+ free on my hard drive? Is there a "pruned" blockchain file I can just download so I can skip needing to downloading the entire blockchain?

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, blockchain, pruning


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2018-02-28. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

Pruning saves disk space, but you still need to download the whole blockchain, `prune` mode works on the fly, once your node has downloaded the block data and validated the blocks/transactions in it, it throws away the old data that it no longer needs, but in order to revalidate all old blocks

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Is there a way to avoid downloading the entire blockchain? Its 100gb+ and my laptop doesnt have such free space for this. This is a common problem.  
> **username_4**: @username_0 you dont have to have more than 5GiB with pruning mode activated. So no worries on lack of storage space on your laptop. But you have to download +100GiB in order to get synced with the blockchain.  

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### Answer by username_1 on 2018-02-28. Score: 1

You can safely set prune either on the command line or in you conf file and Bitcoin Core will handle it automatically. Note that for pruning to operate automatically you need to set it to a number greater than 550 in MB. Pruned mode works automatically when the client is started with pruned mode set.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: question is "downloading entire block chain"  
> **username_1**: @username_2 thanks updated answer with new comment.  

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