This is a tool that creates a snapshot of the Gridcoin Blockchain. The software works as follows:
- It will first close the wallet properly to prevent corruption.
- It will launch 7zip and compress the txleveldb and the blk0001.dat file
- Optionally, create MD5, SHA256 and/or SHA512 checksums
- Optionally, upload the snapshot to Google Drive (see Google Drive Integration below)
- Once the compression is finished, it will launch the wallet again.
Beware of 3rd-party snapshot backups. This tool is meant to be used as personal snapshot tool. If you are unsure if a snapshot is legitimate, please ask in the #gridcoin IRC channel in the Freenode server.
You can specify the amount of hours to wait between snapshots. It will use the specified filename with the date and time appended to it at the end.
The filename format is as follows:
Your Specified Name - Year-Month-Day Hour-Minutes-Seconds AM/PM.7z
The software can generate checksums for the Snapshot using MD5, SHA256 and SHA512. You can create all 3 checksums or just the one you specify. Simply select the Create Checksum checkbox and the desired hash types to use
The software can upload the snapshots and the checksums to Google Drive. Before using it, you must have a file called client_secret.json in the same location where this software is located. To get the client_secret.json file, go to https://cloud.google.com/console and make a Google Drive API key. For more information on how to create the Google Drive API key as well as downloading the client_secret.json file, please go here: https://developers.google.com/drive/v3/web/quickstart/dotnet and follow Step 1.
You must have 7-zip installed in the C:\Program Files\7-zip folder. This software launches the 7z.exe command line software to compress the blockchain.
*I get an error about 7zip.
-The software most likely is not installed in C:\Program Files\7-zip. Please install it to that directory
*I get the message "GridcoinResearch.exe could not be found. Please launch the wallet manually"
-The wallet is not installed in either "C:\Program Files (x86)\GridcoinResearch" or "C:\Program Files\GridcoinResearch". The software looks for these 2 paths to launch the wallet once the compression finishes.