Sync – How to prevent initial block downloads from restarting after a Bitcoin reboot

Initial block download (IBD) was successfully completed with bitcoind, which took approximately 2 weeks. However, after quitting and restarting bitcoind, the IBD process seems to have started again.

However, my disk usage remains the same after the initial download is complete, so it appears that the synced blockchain data is still there.

So is there a way to restart Bitcoin without running IBD again?

The message that appears when you start Bitcoin now is:

kevinyin999@instance-1:~/bitcoin-25.0$ bitcoind
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Bitcoin Core version v25.0.0 (release build)
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -upnp=0
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -natpmp=0
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -discover=0
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -listenonion=0
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z InitParameterInteraction: parameter interaction: -listen=0 -> setting -i2pacceptincoming=0
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using the 'sse4(1way),sse41(4way),avx2(8way)' SHA256 implementation
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using RdSeed as an additional entropy source
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using RdRand as an additional entropy source
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Default data directory /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using data directory /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Config file: /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Config file arg: listen="0"
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Config file arg: prune="1500"
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Config file arg: rpcpassword=****
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Config file arg: rpcuser=****
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Config file arg: server="1"
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using at most 125 automatic connections (1024 file descriptors available)
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using 16 MiB out of 16 MiB requested for signature cache, able to store 524288 elements
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using 16 MiB out of 16 MiB requested for script execution cache, able to store 524288 elements
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Script verification uses 1 additional threads
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Binding RPC on address ::1 port 8332
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Binding RPC on address 127.0.0.1 port 8332
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z (http) creating work queue of depth 16
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Config options rpcuser and rpcpassword will soon be deprecated. Locally-run instances may remove rpcuser to use cookie-based auth, or may be replaced with rpcauth. Please see share/rpcauth for rpcauth auth generation.
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z (http) starting 4 worker threads
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using wallet directory /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin/wallets
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z init message: Verifying wallet(s)…
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using /16 prefix for IP bucketing
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z init message: Loading P2P addresses…
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z scheduler thread start
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Loaded 14169 addresses from peers.dat  240ms
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z init message: Loading banlist…
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z SetNetworkActive: true
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Cache configuration:
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z * Using 2.0 MiB for block index database
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z * Using 8.0 MiB for chain state database
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z * Using 440.0 MiB for in-memory UTXO set (plus up to 286.1 MiB of unused mempool space)
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z init message: Loading block index…
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Assuming ancestors of block 000000000000000000035c3f0d31e71a5ee24c5aaf3354689f65bd7b07dee632 have valid signatures.
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Setting nMinimumChainWork=000000000000000000000000000000000000000044a50fe819c39ad624021859
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Prune configured to target 1500 MiB on disk for block and undo files.
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Opening LevelDB in /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin/blocks/index
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Opened LevelDB successfully
2023-12-16T03:40:41Z Using obfuscation key for /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin/blocks/index: 0000000000000000
2023-12-16T03:40:59Z LoadBlockIndexDB: last block file = 16
2023-12-16T03:40:59Z LoadBlockIndexDB: last block file info: CBlockFileInfo(blocks=364, size=33243734, heights=188499...189565, time=2012-07-11...2012-07-17)
2023-12-16T03:40:59Z Checking all blk files are present...
2023-12-16T03:40:59Z LoadBlockIndexDB(): Block files have previously been pruned
2023-12-16T03:41:01Z Initializing chainstate Chainstate (ibd) @ height -1 (null)
2023-12-16T03:41:01Z Opening LevelDB in /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin/chainstate
2023-12-16T03:41:01Z Opened LevelDB successfully
2023-12-16T03:41:01Z Using obfuscation key for /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin/chainstate: ad10f701078a773b
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Loaded best chain: hashBestChain=00000000000008377f41ce101ad93cb1127fb1214d1245ae411bd128f054d77c height=189565 date=2012-07-17T22:19:52Z progress=0.005590
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z (snapshot) allocating all cache to the IBD chainstate
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Opening LevelDB in /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin/chainstate
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Opened LevelDB successfully
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Using obfuscation key for /home/kevinyin999/.bitcoin/chainstate: ad10f701078a773b
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z (Chainstate (ibd) @ height 189565 (00000000000008377f41ce101ad93cb1127fb1214d1245ae411bd128f054d77c)) resized coinsdb cache to 8.0 MiB
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z (Chainstate (ibd) @ height 189565 (00000000000008377f41ce101ad93cb1127fb1214d1245ae411bd128f054d77c)) resized coinstip cache to 440.0 MiB
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z init message: Verifying blocks…
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verifying last 6 blocks at level 3
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verification progress: 0%
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verification progress: 16%
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verification progress: 33%
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verification progress: 50%
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verification progress: 66%
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verification progress: 83%
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verification progress: 99%
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Verification: No coin database inconsistencies in last 6 blocks (733 transactions)
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z  block index           20456ms
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z init message: Pruning blockstore…
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z block tree size = 821413
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z nBestHeight = 189565
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Loaded 1 addresses from "anchors.dat"
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z 1 block-relay-only anchors will be tried for connections.
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z init message: Starting network threads…
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z init message: Done loading
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z opencon thread start
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z addcon thread start
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z dnsseed thread start
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Waiting 300 seconds before querying DNS seeds.
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z net thread start
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z loadblk thread start
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z Imported mempool transactions from disk: 0 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 expired, 0 already there, 0 waiting for initial broadcast
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z loadblk thread exit
2023-12-16T03:41:02Z msghand thread start
2023-12-16T03:41:03Z New outbound peer connected: version: 70016, blocks=821412, peer=0 (block-relay-only)
2023-12-16T03:41:03Z Synchronizing blockheaders, height: 821412 (~100.00%)
2023-12-16T03:41:04Z New outbound peer connected: version: 70016, blocks=821412, peer=1 (outbound-full-relay)
2023-12-16T03:41:04Z UpdateTip: new best=0000000000000480ee69328a782cd0704769ef3083bd25d81797eada918750c3 height=189566 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408060 tx=5041352 date="2012-07-17T23:49:55Z" progress=0.005590 cache=0.2MiB(1753txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:04Z UpdateTip: new best=00000000000002aae360888eed0aa5fc004dce3649a68f151284930a863db1f0 height=189567 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408090 tx=5041362 date="2012-07-17T23:55:21Z" progress=0.005590 cache=0.2MiB(1786txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:05Z UpdateTip: new best=000000000000047aa4415078aab034eb487b817646a306ad5b41d717f74257be height=189568 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408119 tx=5041906 date="2012-07-17T23:58:27Z" progress=0.005591 cache=0.4MiB(2678txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:05Z UpdateTip: new best=00000000000003efa36ee7a37e7e99ad6d3a4974d474831ab84da5eedf44af30 height=189569 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408149 tx=5042031 date="2012-07-18T00:00:14Z" progress=0.005591 cache=0.4MiB(2974txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:05Z UpdateTip: new best=000000000000019e0a17258a841ee4795613fd93847fc406813ccade9b50068c height=189570 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408178 tx=5042151 date="2012-07-18T00:02:40Z" progress=0.005591 cache=0.4MiB(3218txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:05Z UpdateTip: new best=000000000000076401fe817ce8a56524fb67b1ddea4cd178a8ef6fa719373eec height=189571 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408208 tx=5042272 date="2012-07-18T00:19:34Z" progress=0.005591 cache=0.5MiB(3583txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:05Z UpdateTip: new best=00000000000001a665974ba9c3b5f9d49a05e85108fd888d5035699d25c7d21c height=189572 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408237 tx=5042784 date="2012-07-18T00:23:28Z" progress=0.005592 cache=0.6MiB(4945txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:05Z UpdateTip: new best=00000000000001f2c2f5f14ffb1561cb29a19dbcfd2123ee9ee282e8ccb91f79 height=189573 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408267 tx=5042929 date="2012-07-18T00:29:04Z" progress=0.005592 cache=0.7MiB(5107txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:05Z UpdateTip: new best=000000000000023e38b03da4d541da9920425464bc6b69d0417b6600b67a6547 height=189574 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408296 tx=5043209 date="2012-07-18T00:38:47Z" progress=0.005592 cache=0.8MiB(5602txo)
2023-12-16T03:41:05Z UpdateTip: new best=000000000000043f07afa44db8c459b3d81f229171438387c3308a667046863f height=189575 version=0x00000001 log2_work=68.408326 tx=5043217 date="2012-07-18T00:56:24Z" progress=0.005592 cache=0.8MiB(5631txo)

Thank you for any insight or guidance on this issue.