<p>No, when turning on pruning for a node with a full copy of the blockchain, it simply discards the oldest part of the blockchain down to the specified limit of what's to be kept.</p>
<p>You only need to download from scratch, if you turn off pruning or when you need to rescan or resync.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-03-18T11:33:06.450Z
2023-03-18T16:01:47.000Z
2023-03-18T16:01:47.000Z
Murch
<p>I have been running full node without specifying the pruning settings in bitcoin.conf.</p>
<p>I was wondering if I need to re-download the entire blockchain if I restart my node after <strong>turning on</strong> pruning settings?</p>

<bitcoin-core><full-node><pruning>
Consequences of turning on pruning setting in Bitcoin core after initial block download
mia_mhm
# Consequences of turning on pruning setting in Bitcoin core after initial block download

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-03-18)

I have been running full node without specifying the pruning settings in bitcoin.conf.

I was wondering if I need to re-download the entire blockchain if I restart my node after **turning on** pruning settings?

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, full-node, pruning


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-03-18. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

No, when turning on pruning for a node with a full copy of the blockchain, it simply discards the oldest part of the blockchain down to the specified limit of what's to be kept.

You only need to download from scratch, if you turn off pruning or when you need to rescan or resync.


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