<p>I'm using an M1 Mac Mini, 8GB memory, 256 GB internal SSD, 2TB Toshiba SSD (which is where the blocks are being stored). Google fiber internet.</p>
<p>I've been syncing now for 2 weeks, I'm at 60%. This seems incredibly slow. I'm using Bitcoin Core.</p>
<p>Any suggestions for improving sync time.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-18T11:02:08.460Z
Have you set a higher `-dbcache`? See https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/22367/5406
Murch
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-18T11:51:12.453Z
I did I upped the dbcache to 4096
neils4fun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-18T12:02:04.390Z
Is that an external SSD or an internal SSD? How is it connected to the computer?
Murch
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-19T12:24:07.313Z
External connected via USB/C. Which I would be suspicious as being the culprit here, but looking at network activity, it's very sporadic. Big gaps of time with no activity, and then spikes. Bitcoin Core Network Traffic says that I've received 159GB of data I believe since Apr 9 (so 10 days). I really don't understand the Peers tab, for example at this moment it shows NO peers.
neils4fun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-19T12:25:18.640Z
I know that sync'ing can be slow, but this seems crazy. It's been running for over 2 weeks now and I'm at 61% and only up to Jan 2021 blocks!
neils4fun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-19T13:00:21.303Z
I would still suspect that the culprit is the slow read/write due to the drive being external. Which version are you running?
Murch
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-25T12:59:36.480Z
hi sorry for delay, I'm running client version v26.1.0
neils4fun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-25T13:00:52.713Z
One other thing I noticed, I was away for a few days but left everything running, but when I got back there was little to know process and when I woke up computer Core said connecting to peers. Peers window showed no connections.
neils4fun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-04-25T13:01:46.360Z
I did see a suggestion online that sync'ing is improved if one adds explicit peer connections. Was going to try that via config. Does anyone have thoughts on that as a solution.
neils4fun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-14T17:53:25.270Z
I thought I'd try moving to a direct internet connection. Speed test with move bumps me from about 100Mbs to 500Mbs. So far not noticing any speed improvement with node initialization. I'm now about 6 weeks into this and still only at 85%.
neils4fun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-05-14T17:55:11.270Z
To move the machine I did a graceful shutdown of core and restart so I have a good accounting of the startup logging. I don't see anything suspicious in there but if anyone out there is good at reading this log and could spot something lmk. Not sure how to publish it here though, it's pretty large and also not sure if it contains anything that could jeopardize my security?
neils4fun
CC BY-SA 4.0
2024-06-11T21:24:20.147Z
Hi I wanted to update status on this. I do believe my issue was I was using a very slow external SSD. I did however end up also getting off the M1 Mini and instead used an older MacBook I had (had a bad battery but replaced it). I used the same SSD drive and just waited it out. It finally completed yesterday and now all is good. I enabled connections to it and it's now humming along the millions of other nodes out there and doing it's part to keep BTC secure.
neils4fun
<bitcoin-core>
Very slow sync using bitcoin core on Mac mini m1
neils4fun
# Very slow sync using bitcoin core on Mac mini m1

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-04-17)

I'm using an M1 Mac Mini, 8GB memory, 256 GB internal SSD, 2TB Toshiba SSD (which is where the blocks are being stored). Google fiber internet.

I've been syncing now for 2 weeks, I'm at 60%. This seems incredibly slow. I'm using Bitcoin Core.

Any suggestions for improving sync time.

**Tags:** bitcoin-core

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Have you set a higher `-dbcache`? See https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/22367/5406  
> **username_0**: I did I upped the dbcache to 4096  
> **username_1**: Is that an external SSD or an internal SSD? How is it connected to the computer?  
> **username_0**: External connected via USB/C. Which I would be suspicious as being the culprit here, but looking at network activity, it's very sporadic. Big gaps of time with no activity, and then spikes. Bitcoin Core Network Traffic says that I've received 159GB of data I believe since Apr 9 (so 10 days). I really don't understand the Peers tab, for example at this moment it shows NO peers.  
> **username_0**: I know that sync'ing can be slow, but this seems crazy. It's been running for over 2 weeks now and I'm at 61% and only up to Jan 2021 blocks!  
> **username_1**: I would still suspect that the culprit is the slow read/write due to the drive being external. Which version are you running?  
> **username_0**: hi sorry for delay, I'm running client version v26.1.0  
> **username_0**: One other thing I noticed, I was away for a few days but left everything running, but when I got back there was little to know process and when I woke up computer Core said connecting to peers. Peers window showed no connections.  
> **username_0**: I did see a suggestion online that sync'ing is improved if one adds explicit peer connections. Was going to try that via config. Does anyone have thoughts on that as a solution.  
> **username_0**: I thought I'd try moving to a direct internet connection. Speed test with move bumps me from about 100Mbs to 500Mbs. So far not noticing any speed improvement with node initialization. I'm now about 6 weeks into this and still only at 85%.  
> **username_0**: To move the machine I did a graceful shutdown of core and restart so I have a good accounting of the startup logging. I don't see anything suspicious in there but if anyone out there is good at reading this log and could spot something lmk. Not sure how to publish it here though, it's pretty large and also not sure if it contains anything that could jeopardize my security?  
> **username_0**: Hi I wanted to update status on this. I do believe my issue was I was using a very slow external SSD. I did however end up also getting off the M1 Mini and instead used an older MacBook I had (had a bad battery but replaced it). I used the same SSD drive and just waited it out. It finally completed yesterday and now all is good. I enabled connections to it and it's now humming along the millions of other nodes out there and doing it's part to keep BTC secure.  

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## 0 answers

