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+# Bootstrap.dat
+
+
+**bootstrap.dat** allows a new BitcoinZ client (not synced) to rapidly import the initial blocks from a local file instead of slowly downloading blocks from random peers. This significantly reduces the time it takes to get a client synced with the current blockchain.
+
+Simply having bootstrap.dat in BitcoinZ's expected data directory will make your initial block sync much faster. The import process can be even faster if you use the -dbcache=1000 command line parameter which uses an additional 1GB of RAM for the database index cache. BitcoinZ v2.0.10+ with ZHash PoW validation can make import even faster if you have SSD drives.
+
+## Overview
+Regardless of your operating system use the following steps to make use of the bootstrap.dat file:
+
+1. Download bootstrap.dat.7z from github.
+2. Verify the integrity of bootstrap.dat.7z with the checksums.
+3. Decompress to obtain bootstrap.dat.
+4. Put it into the BitcoinZ datadir.  This is the same folder that contains wallet.dat and the blocks folder.
+5. Delete bootstrap.dat.old if you want to recover some storage space.
+
+## Download bootstrap.dat
+You can download bootstrap.dat from the following location:
+
+**github:**
+[bootstrap.dat.7z.001](https://github.com/btcz/bootstrap/releases/download/2024-09-04/bootstrap.dat.7z.001)
+[bootstrap.dat.7z.002](https://github.com/btcz/bootstrap/releases/download/2024-09-04/bootstrap.dat.7z.002)
+[bootstrap.dat.7z.003](https://github.com/btcz/bootstrap/releases/download/2024-09-04/bootstrap.dat.7z.003)
+[bootstrap.dat.7z.004](https://github.com/btcz/bootstrap/releases/download/2024-09-04/bootstrap.dat.7z.004)
+
+## Verify integrity (SHA256)
+- 7ccef0dd7d3090fd3424bad0cc368901a92217ad190eb81817686fae1bf6943f  bootstrap.dat.7z.001
+- 4d04d24b02af9bec30f072bb845f21b1dc165387e0d365a76982104e61f89376  bootstrap.dat.7z.002
+- 0db5bed761b9aa5f7c36f564395dcbc50d6dc6c839f367efc182d8f93df2e5a0  bootstrap.dat.7z.003
+- 7c1d70908fbb063df2cc909e487cec2bba9b5eb9c767c92d2427abd897fd5bb5  bootstrap.dat.7z.004
+
+## Extract bootstrap.dat
+**Linux**: ```7z e bootstrap.dat.7z.001```
+
+**Mac**: You can obtain xz from MacPorts or [http://macpkg.sourceforge.net/](http://macpkg.sourceforge.net/).
+
+**Windows**: [7Zip](http://www.7-zip.org/) is a free utility that can decompress .7z files. The latest version of [WinRAR](http://www.rarlabs.com/download.htm) also supports .7z files.
+
+## Copy bootstrap.dat to data directory
+Copy **bootstrap.dat** to your data directory. After BitcoinZ has used bootstrap.dat, the file will be renamed to bootstrap.dat.old; at this point you can choose to delete it or keep it.
+
+**Linux**: BitcoinZ's data directory is located in ```~/.bitcoinz/``` by default. You can run ```ls -a``` to see directories that start with a dot.
+You can also search for the directory with the following command: ```find / -name wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null```
+
+**Mac**: BitcoinZ's data directory should be located in ```~/Library/Application Support/BitcoinZ/```.
+
+**Windows**: Go to ```Start>Run``` (or press ```WinKey+R```) and run: ```explorer %APPDATA%\BitcoinZ```
+BitcoinZ's data directory will open. "AppData" and "Application Data" are hidden by default in Windows.
+
+## Data directory location
+Operating system | Default data directory location | Typical path to configuration file
+-----------------|---------------------------------|-----------------------------------
+Linux | $HOME/.bitcoinz/ | /home/\<username\>/.bitcoinz/bitcoinz.conf
+Mac | $HOME/Library/Application Support/BitcoinZ/ | /Users/\<username\>/Library/Application Support/BitcoinZ/bitcoinz.conf
+Windows | %APPDATA%\\BitcoinZ\\ | C:\\Users\\\<username\>\\AppData\\Roaming\\BitcoinZ\\bitcoinz.conf