Quote from: PatrickMacH on December 17, 2015, 02:52:18 AM

Sorry, but I can not confirm this; at least not if you have access to a very fast internet connection.

The difference is probably negligible if you have a fast connection.

Quote from: PatrickMacH on December 17, 2015, 02:52:18 AM

I've just downloaded the latest block chain (bootstrap.dat: 2015-12-10) from Flo's Press 4u: https://flo.sh/bitcoin-qt-bootstrap-dat/
uncompressed the zipfile to my ~/.bitcoin application directory and restartet a brand new Bitcoin-Qt v0.11.2.

Bitcoin-Qt imported the bootstrap file within minutes. So I'm ready to go (download and unpacking of the bootstrap zip file included) within less than two hours using recent equipment! Cool

Just starting the plain Bitcoin-Qt client would have taken many hours if not days to complete the same task Tongue

Nevertheless downloading a bootstrap file may be counterproductive using a slow internet access technology.

That is not the actual official bootstrap.dat. That is the file produced by a third party and has also been compressed from 50+ Gb to around 35+. The smaller size makes it faster to download (duh). I was referring to the official bootstrap.dat which is now obsolete and is still the full size of the blockchain, not compressed.