Quote from: Houdini on June 15, 2011, 05:59:16 AM

Quote from: Stephen Gornick on June 15, 2011, 02:34:38 AM

As far as why your download was taking a long time, make sure to use the newly released version of the Bitcoin client, v0.3.23. If has improvements specifically to help with the problem you are describing:
- http://www.bitcoinnews.com/post/6521309281

To be sure, close the client and make a backup first. But then you can install the latest version and continue where you left off -- it will use the partially-complete blockchain.

Quote from: NothinG on June 15, 2011, 01:19:37 AM

Does a wallet have to be "online" (that is the client related to that wallet being connected to the bitcoin network) to receive money

That may seem confusing but that is because bitcoin only emulates our real-world concept of sending money. What is actually happening when you spend a bitcoin is that a signed transaction is getting sent out to the network. Once that transaction is included in a block, it then gets replicated on each node of the network. So your wallet doesn't need to be connected to the network to "receive" a payment.

Quote from: NothinG on June 15, 2011, 01:19:37 AM

Anyway I wish it gave some info on it's space requirements and allowed you to set the path for the database files.

You can specify -datadir= to tell bitcoin to use a different data directory.
- http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Running_Bitcoin

[Edit - quoting fixed]