<p>The synchronization process will not only download the blockchain, but also verify each block. Besides the computational effort, this generates a lot of disk accesses, so if you have a slow HDD, an encrypted disk, or are doing a lot of other i/o at the same time that might be your bottleneck.</p>

<p>See also here: <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/9277/how-to-increase-the-speed-of-synchronisation">How to increase the speed of synchronisation?</a></p>

<p>Edit: One might also want to check if <em>bitcoind</em> is up-to-date, the repositories of popular distributions can be lagging somewhat behind on fast developing projects.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-11T16:16:05.027Z
But is the low number I am having seeing realistic, even for an encrypted hard drive?
Konstantin Schubert
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-11T18:29:28.717Z
I have no personal experience with the amount of slow down it would cause, but I've read about it so often that I think it must be significant. See for example [Stephen Gornick's answer on Why is downloading blocks taking longer and longer?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/4463/5406)
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-17T04:38:21.160Z
Apparently I was also running a very outdated version of bitcoind which I had installed from the ubuntu precise repo.
Konstantin Schubert
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-10T18:42:28.217Z
2013-09-17T15:19:00.390Z
2017-04-13T12:47:36.707Z
Murch
<blockquote>
  <p>"version" : 32400</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Oh my goodness. That is a very old version.</p>

<p>New versions dramatically improve chain synchronization times. Update from your current version of 0.3.24 to 0.8.5.</p>

<p><a href="https://bitcoin.org" rel="nofollow">https://bitcoin.org</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-18T02:56:21.357Z
Thank you, that's the right answer. I had installed from Ubuntu LTS sources and apparently they are horribly outdated.
Konstantin Schubert
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-09-17T22:50:44.290Z
2013-09-17T23:51:32.643Z
2013-09-17T23:51:32.643Z
Olhovsky
<p>I am running bitcoind and the blockchain download is very slow at 200 blocks per hour. </p>

<p>I am  at 225146 and at the current speed, it would take bitcoind a month to catch up.</p>

<p>Here is my output from bitcoind getinfo</p>

<pre><code>{
"version" : 32400,
"balance" : 0.00000000,
"blocks" : 225305,
"connections" : 5,
"proxy" : "",
"generate" : false,
"genproclimit" : -1,
"difficulty" : 4367876.00084220,
"hashespersec" : 0,
"testnet" : false,
"keypoololdest" : 1378312057,
"paytxfee" : 0.00000000,
"errors" : ""
}
</code></pre>

<p>CPU usage is at 10 Percent and I am using 50% of memory.</p>

<p>Any ideas why the download is so slow?</p>

<bitcoind><synchronization>
Blockchain download extremely slow at 200 blocks per hour
Konstantin Schubert
# Blockchain download extremely slow at 200 blocks per hour

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-09-10)

I am running bitcoind and the blockchain download is very slow at 200 blocks per hour.

I am at 225146 and at the current speed, it would take bitcoind a month to catch up.

Here is my output from bitcoind getinfo

```
{
"version" : 32400,
"balance" : 0.00000000,
"blocks" : 225305,
"connections" : 5,
"proxy" : "",
"generate" : false,
"genproclimit" : -1,
"difficulty" : 4367876.00084220,
"hashespersec" : 0,
"testnet" : false,
"keypoololdest" : 1378312057,
"paytxfee" : 0.00000000,
"errors" : ""
}

```

CPU usage is at 10 Percent and I am using 50% of memory.

Any ideas why the download is so slow?

**Tags:** bitcoind, synchronization


---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-09-17. Score: 4 | Accepted answer

> "version" : 32400

Oh my goodness. That is a very old version.

New versions dramatically improve chain synchronization times. Update from your current version of 0.3.24 to 0.8.5.

<https://bitcoin.org>

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you, that's the right answer. I had installed from Ubuntu LTS sources and apparently they are horribly outdated.  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2013-09-10. Score: 2

The synchronization process will not only download the blockchain, but also verify each block. Besides the computational effort, this generates a lot of disk accesses, so if you have a slow HDD, an encrypted disk, or are doing a lot of other i/o at the same time that might be your bottleneck.

See also here: [How to increase the speed of synchronisation?](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/9277/how-to-increase-the-speed-of-synchronisation)

Edit: One might also want to check if *bitcoind* is up-to-date, the repositories of popular distributions can be lagging somewhat behind on fast developing projects.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: But is the low number I am having seeing realistic, even for an encrypted hard drive?  
> **username_1**: I have no personal experience with the amount of slow down it would cause, but I've read about it so often that I think it must be significant. See for example [Stephen Gornick's answer on Why is downloading blocks taking longer and longer?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/4463/5406)  
> **username_0**: Apparently I was also running a very outdated version of bitcoind which I had installed from the ubuntu precise repo.  

---

