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This is my first question (on any StackExchange), so sorry if it's 'stupid' or already answered somewhere else.

I've just downloaded the beta GUI wallet (MacOS) and it is now 'sychronizing blocks' (with a progress bar in the bottom left corner) but it seems to be doing so incredibly slowly. How long would you expect this to take (HDD, 8GB RAM)?

Is it downloading the entire blockchain? If so, does that have to be done? I'm comparing it to Electrum for bitcoin which works without having to download the entire blockchain.

I'm happy to download the blockchain if that's required, I guess I just want to know if its necessary and whether my slow synchronizing is betraying a different problem.

Thanks!

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  • I have the same problem my monero gui wallet will take 24 hours to finish synchronizing then when im done on the computer and shut it down the next time i open my monero gui wallet it has synchronize all over again. So thats normal? Every time you open your my monero gui wallet it has to re-download the blockchain every single time you open the wallet? Thats crazy! Is there a better desktop monero wallet that is more like electrum or exodus? Please someone let me know?!
    – Jason
    Aug 25, 2017 at 18:38
  • I purchased Monero around 3 years ago,a decent amount of money i might add.I made a big mistake not transferring it to my ledger back then,it would now be on it and i would not have to go through the hassle i am now.Its sitting on my exchange wallet,however my exchange only supports sending,which is what i have been trying to do ever since i came to this site.Ledger live does not support it anymore,stupid me.I have set up the wallet in my ledger,finally however however i am stuck on the Daemon thing.I have an SSD however i live in the country and have to hotspot,thats where i have come unstuck
    – sinjen1
    Nov 28, 2020 at 6:20
  • @sinjen1 - Have you already tried connecting to a remote node?
    – dEBRUYNE ♦
    Nov 29, 2020 at 20:12
  • you don't need the entire blockchain just for sending and receiving monero. The GUI can just scan for transactions specific to the wallet and only store those locally, depending on how it's configured.
    – Nicholas Saunders
    May 22 at 21:30

1 Answer 1

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It is significantly slower with an HDD compared to an SSD. Bandwith is also a significant factor.

Yes, if you clicked on the defaults, then you are downloading the entire blockchain. See this exchange for details on the necessity, and this one for light clients (like Electrum).

A very vague approximation would be 24h ( ~80% margin of error :) ). Currently, the blockchain size is ~10GB.

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