QT Core wallet crash on external hard drive unplug #12440

1. 
   rbndg commented at 7:09 am on February 15, 2018: none

   Hello everyone.

   I was syncing with the btc blockchain, i’m running the wallet in an external hard drive connected to my Macbook Pro (running latest Mac Os)

   The external drive accidentally got unplugged and it seems like my copy of the blockchain is now corrupted and now I have to to start syncing with the blockchain from scratch.

   is it possible to prevent this behaviour from happening? Since the blockchain is becoming bigger, i’m sure many people will put it in an external drive. Can QT Core just continue at the last verified block?

2. 
   ghost commented at 11:38 am on February 15, 2018: none

   It is really not recommended to run it on an external hard drive to begin with. This had happened to me in the past as well.
3. 
   rbndg commented at 1:39 pm on February 15, 2018: none

   To me It’s seems counter productive. It’s perfect reasonable to allow people to put the blockchain on an external hard drive. On Thu, 15 Feb 2018 at 10:39 pm, D. Lauda notifications@github.com wrote:

   It is really not recommended to run it on an external hard drive to begin with. This had happened to me in the past as well.

   — You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/12440#issuecomment-365902010, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AE4kkS6_EuuG_F7pssENkzbvr77uEIosks5tVBdlgaJpZM4SGa2P .

4. fanquake deleted a comment on Feb 16, 2018
5. 
   randolf commented at 2:34 am on February 16, 2018: contributor

   To be fair, a lot of databases will exhibit problems if the drive they reside on is unexpectedly disconnected.

   While it’s true that there are strategies that can be used to mitigate these types of problems, the trade-off can include slower performance, and even then there are still risks of data integrity problems being the ultimate result.

6. 
   ghost commented at 11:13 am on February 16, 2018: none

   @rbndg Nobody said that wasn’t allowed. If you disconnect your hardware in the middle of a process, then that is a issue caused by the user not the software.
7. 
   jonasschnelli commented at 10:52 am on February 17, 2018: contributor

   DB corruptions are unfortunate… see also #8037 as a proposal to make them less worse.

   AFAIK, most people use an external drive because the block data take up to much space. Consider using -prune or symlink out your block file.

   I think a configuration option that would allow to specify a block storage directory would be handy (instead of sym-linking)

8. jonasschnelli added the label UTXO Db and Indexes on Feb 17, 2018
9. jonasschnelli added the label Data corruption on Feb 17, 2018
10. 
    rbndg commented at 10:35 pm on February 18, 2018: none

    I agree. I think the initial UX of running Btc Core can be improved.

    he initial setup phase should be a wizard where the user can choose to run prune or not and the difference is explained. Then they can choose the block storage directory. it’s also flexible as it’s possible to add more steps in the future.

    However, i think initially just a warning will suffice.

11. 
    rbndg commented at 10:54 pm on February 18, 2018: none

    @laudaa I’m not saying it’s a software issue, i think it’s user experience issue. If we want to encourage more people to run Bitcoin Core then UX should be forgiving or at least a bit more clear.

    Also sometimes it’s not the user’s fault. If you run your external hard drive from a USB hub and the user has a power outage then they have to start again from scratch.

12. 
    Willtech commented at 11:49 am on February 20, 2018: contributor

    @rbndg If the user has a power outage they sometimes have to start again from scratch, even without a USB hub.

    In general, all of the mitigation strategies that I have ever heard of or seen implemented decrease performance measurably.

13. 
    rbndg commented at 12:16 pm on February 20, 2018: none

    If they are using a laptop, they will be unaffected On Tue, 20 Feb 2018 at 10:50 pm, Willtech notifications@github.com wrote:

    @rbndg https://github.com/rbndg If the user has a power outage they sometimes have to start again from scratch, even without a USB hub.

    — You are receiving this because you were mentioned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/12440#issuecomment-366953428, or mute the thread https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AE4kkZuv1ZPS3WAphHXeoyyeDJzZjwXJks5tWrF0gaJpZM4SGa2P .

14. 
    eklitzke commented at 7:23 am on March 10, 2018: contributor

    Did you actually have to sync from scratch after seeing this error? Generally you should be able to proceed using -reindex. Did you try that?
15. 
    jnewbery commented at 9:10 pm on April 2, 2018: member

    @rbndg - are you able to answer @eklitzke’s question? Did you try a -reindex?
16. 
    rbndg commented at 12:20 pm on April 3, 2018: none

    It did not work. i’m downloading it again.
17. rbndg closed this on Apr 3, 2018

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18. MarcoFalke locked this on Sep 8, 2021

Contributors
rbndg ghost randolf jonasschnelli Willtech eklitzke jnewbery

Labels
UTXO Db and Indexes Data corruption