I have an Umbrel Home on the way.
I’ve been using a Raspberry Pi4 with MyNode for BTC & Lightening. I like Lightening but I’m getting tired of keeping the channels balanced. I’ll use Umbrel’s app for Lightening.
Couple of questions:
- After migrating over can I get rid of MyNode and use Umbrel’s Bitcoin Core?
- Is it possible to set up Bitcoin Core on a USB 2tb hdd via Umbrel’s USB port?
I don’t mind downloading the blockchain if it’s possible to set it up an attached hardrive.
Thanks
that’s cool. i’ve enjoyed the hardware umbrel makes. so far so good, minus 1 defect out of 4 nodes.
If you load your choice of the 2 apps from the app store, you could most likely stop them, follow a guide, and scp or rsync over the data from your existing node so you don’t need to suck it all down again. I haven’t done it, but i’d assume there are many many guides on how to move from mynode to knots, for example.
I did a quick check and see the following. Do note the file locations/names are not precise and you’ll need to do a bit of homework. I’ve posted on this forum where to find the proper config .json files. Not vouching for this info, so take it with minimal weight.
Part 1: Moving Blockchain Data from Hardware 1 (MyNode) to Hardware 2 (Umbrel OS)
- Backup Critical Data:
- On Hardware 1, back up your MyNode seed phrase, wallet files, and any Lightning Network data (e.g., channel backups) to a secure offline location.
- Ensure you have access to the blockchain data directory, typically located at ~/.bitcoin/ on MyNode.
- Locate Blockchain Data:
- On Hardware 1, find the blockchain data folders: blocks, chainstate, and optionally indexes (if present). These are usually in ~/.bitcoin/ (e.g., /home/user/.bitcoin/).
- Verify the size of these folders (expect ~600 GB for the blockchain as of May 2025) to ensure you have enough space on Hardware 2.
- Prepare External Storage:
- Use an external SSD or USB drive with at least 1 TB capacity to copy the blockchain data.
- Format the drive as ext4 (preferred for Linux compatibility) or exFAT (if cross-platform access is needed).
- Copy the blocks, chainstate, and indexes folders from Hardware 1’s ~/.bitcoin/ to the external drive. Ensure permissions are preserved (use sudo cp -r on Linux).
- Connect External Drive to Hardware 2:
- Plug the external drive into Hardware 2 (running Umbrel OS 1.4.1).
- Mount the drive on Umbrel OS. In a terminal, use lsblk to identify the drive (e.g., /dev/sdb1), then mount it (e.g., sudo mkdir /mnt/usb && sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/usb).
- Copy Blockchain Data to Umbrel:
- On Hardware 2, navigate to the Umbrel Bitcoin data directory: ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/bitcoin/.
- Copy the blocks, chainstate, and indexes folders from the external drive to this directory (e.g., sudo cp -r /mnt/usb/blocks /mnt/usb/chainstate /mnt/usb/indexes ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/bitcoin/).
- Set permissions: sudo chown -R umbrel:umbrel ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/bitcoin.
Part 2: Setting Up Bitcoin Knots on Hardware 2 (Umbrel OS)
- Install Bitcoin Knots:
- Open the Umbrel App Store on Hardware 2’s dashboard (accessible via browser at umbrel.local or the device’s IP).
- Search for and install the Bitcoin Knots app. This will create a new data directory for Knots (e.g., ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin-knots/data/).
- Stop Bitcoin Knots:
- After installation, stop the Bitcoin Knots app via the Umbrel dashboard to prevent it from starting a new blockchain sync.
- Move Blockchain Data to Knots:
- Bitcoin Knots can use the same blockchain data as Bitcoin Core (used by MyNode) since it’s a compatible fork.
- On Hardware 2, go to the Umbrel file manager (or terminal) and navigate to ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data/.
- Move or copy the data folder (containing blocks, chainstate, etc.) to ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin-knots/ (e.g., sudo mv ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin/data ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin-knots/ or drag-and-drop via Umbrel’s file manager).
- Alternatively, if Knots prompts a “replace” option for the data folder during setup (specific to Umbrel OS 1.4.1 beta 1), confirm to use the existing data.
- Edit Bitcoin Configuration:
- Open the bitcoin.conf file in ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin-knots/data/bitcoin/ (use a text editor like nano or Umbrel’s file manager).
- Add the line reindex=1 under the #indexes section to trigger a reindex of the blockchain data. This ensures Knots verifies the copied data.
- Save the file and restart Bitcoin Knots via the Umbrel dashboard.
- Wait for Reindexing:
- Reindexing typically takes 3-6 hours, depending on hardware (e.g., Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB RAM or better). Monitor progress in the Umbrel dashboard until it shows 100% synchronized and “Active.”
- After reindexing, edit bitcoin.conf again to comment out the reindex line (e.g., change reindex=1 to #reindex=1) to prevent reindexing on future restarts.
- Verify Knots Operation:
- Confirm Bitcoin Knots is running correctly by checking the Umbrel dashboard for sync status and wallet activity.
- Connect compatible wallets (e.g., Sparrow Wallet) to your Knots node to verify functionality.
Additional Notes
- Storage Consideration:
- Ensure Hardware 2’s SSD has at least 1 TB capacity (2 TB recommended) to accommodate the blockchain (~600 GB) and future growth, plus other Umbrel apps.
- Lightning Network:
- MyNode’s Lightning data (e.g., LND) is not directly compatible with Umbrel’s Lightning setup. You’ll need to close existing channels on MyNode, back up channel data, and set up new channels on Umbrel after Knots is operational.
- Troubleshooting:
- If Knots starts syncing from scratch, stop the app, verify the data folder is correctly placed in ~/umbrel/app-data/bitcoin-knots/, and ensure reindex=1 is set.
- Check Umbrel logs (~/umbrel/scripts/debug --upload) for errors and seek help on the Umbrel Community forum or Discord.
- Community Guidance:
- Recent posts on X confirm that switching to Knots on Umbrel can reuse Core’s blockchain data by moving the data folder, often taking less than 15 minutes for the swap, with reindexing being the longest step.
This process leverages the compatibility between Bitcoin Core (used by MyNode) and Bitcoin Knots, allowing you to avoid a full blockchain re-download. Always double-check file paths and permissions to prevent data corruption.
Thank you, it is a great help!
I am ‘just’ switching from Core to Knots.
After copying the ‘data’ folder and re-indexing, how do I point the other apps to Knots (LN Node, Mempool, AlbyHub)? Thanks
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Hiya,
I haven’t tried, but give this a try. After you swap apps, click on your mempool, for example, and select the new dependent app from the list. I suspect that will do it.
Feel so stupid! That was so easy. Thank yo so much for your help!
I am running Knots now!
