🧠 Logbook of an Umbrel Node: from Full Node to Purposeful Prune🧠 Logbook of an Umbrel Node: from Full Node to Purposeful Prune

About a month ago, my Bitcoin Core node running on Umbrel stopped syncing. I had the full blockchain (yes, over 500 GB!), and although I wasn’t exactly sure what caused the stall — maybe an update, network issue, disk space, who knows — it started to worry me.

My server runs on a 1 TB disk, and it was reaching its limit. I tried to ease the load: removed apps, cleared space, delayed projects… all to prioritize the growth of the chain.

But today, I made a decision.

I started over with a new approach: I enabled prune mode, limiting my node to 100 GB of blockchain data. That gave me back over 400 GB of free space, and something even more valuable: peace of mind.

Now my Umbrel breathes better, and I have room to deepen my theoretical and practical studies of the Lightning Network, test new apps, and keep learning with a live, healthy node.

For now, I just have to wait patiently as it syncs again — block by block, step by step.

🧰 What is all this?🧰 What is all this?

• Umbrel: An operating system that lets you run your own personal Bitcoin server — easily installed on a Raspberry Pi or a PC.
• Bitcoin Core: The official Bitcoin software. It can run as a full node or in pruned mode.
• Prune Mode: Saves disk space by keeping only the most recent blocks of the chain. Perfect for those who don’t need the full historical record.

🔁 Sometimes, starting again with a bit less is just what we need to move forward with more freedom.

Has anyone else migrated from a full node to a pruned one?