After wondering why my bitcoin client was taking literally weeks to download the blockchain, I found out that it was going so ultra slow because I was storing the data directory on an external hard drive. After using a symlink to put the database data on my SSD and keep the blockchain stored on my external HD (via the symlink), my blockchain validation sped up by at least 6 fold. Details here: #10647 .
Anyways, because this can be so important for a non-frustrating experience for users who don’t have enough SSD space, I’m requesting that bitcoin core store the database data on the same drive as the program executables, and give the user the option of only where to put the blockchain data (what is currently the blocks
directory within the data directory). Alternatively, we could give the user separate options for where to store the blockchain and where to store everything else, with some info about why the storage location is important.
If I’d wanted to buy something with bitcoins in the last month, I simply wouldn’t have been able to because my client was taking forfuckingever to sync up. Its really important to make these kinds of performance improvements idiot-proof so users with less technical savvy can use bitcoin core without rage quitting.