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I read different sourcing claiming the size of the blockchain for bitcoin.

Some says it's 8GB, some a 100GB and some 800GB.

Now I'm wondering do all the miners computers (nodes) have to store it all ? In case it's a TB it seems like a lot. Even though it's not it's still growing everyday, so is the blockchain really entierely stored on each nodes ?

Note : I used to mine a few years back I don't remember having my storage taken up by the blockchain.

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Yes. The blockchain is stored completely on a full node (unless running in pruned mode) , there are mechanisms to prune and only keep relevant data, however pruning also requires you first get the complete blockchain. The size is approx 120 GB as of now. The blockchain is growing every day (rather every 10 mins).

Miners most probably have custom solutions to compute next block , so each pool node may or may not require the full chain.

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    You're a bit inconsistent... if there are methods to prune, then obviously full nodes don't need to store the whole chain.
    – Pieter Wuille
    Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 17:14
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    @PieterWuille : Correct , updated the answer to clarify.
    – Bobo
    Commented Jul 3, 2017 at 21:51
  • So bottom line they're able to shrunken it (by how much). But that means that a mining machine needs a strong GPU and decent storage right ? (I'll give you that nowadays 120 GB isn't too much hehe)
    – Sebastien FERRAND
    Commented Jul 4, 2017 at 7:37
  • I've not run a full node , so can't comment. It is almost impossible to be a solo miner at the moment , you will need to join a pool. If you were an early miner and have some bitcoins around, you can start the party ;)
    – Bobo
    Commented Jul 5, 2017 at 10:23
  • What is the storage mechanism? A database? Which? Just on the filesystem?
    – tristantzara
    Commented Aug 6, 2019 at 11:50

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