user129222: I've kept the same config file and internal hard drive for my Bitcoin Core datadir for many years. I've updated to numerous new versions.
The other day, I reinstalled Windows on the system drive again. And thus reinstalled Bitcoin Core (v22.0.0) again. When it started up, I pointed it to the datadir on the other disk as usual.
Now I realize that it has deleted all of the blockchain data for the first time ever, leaving only 2 GB. It prunes by default to 2 GB now. And apparently, my config needed to have an explicit rule to tell it to not prune... which it of course didn't.
While I'm glad that I don't have to store all that stupid data anymore, it does make me question why they would enable this by default and actually delete existing data. Has pruning now reached such a level of stability that it's completely "safe" and there is no need to save the full blockchain anymore?
Or am I now running Bitcoin Core in "crippled mode"? Even though I did not actively set it to prune?

user-1: This is a known issue and happened with me once: https://github.com/bitcoin-core/gui/issues/245
Pieter Wuille's last comment summarizes the issue:

The "first run" dialog, when selecting a filesystem with less than a certain threshold available space, will suggest have pruning enabled by default. If you then click continue without turning it off, that becomes the saved GUI setting for Bitcoin-Qt.

It would be resolved by a pull request in which settings for bitcoind and bitcoin-qt are unified. It can be helpful if you review, test and comment in the pull request as its lacking review and open since 2019.

129222: <p>I've kept the same config file and internal hard drive for my Bitcoin Core datadir for many years. I've updated to numerous new versions.</p>
<p>The other day, I reinstalled Windows on the system drive again. And thus reinstalled Bitcoin Core (v22.0.0) again. When it started up, I pointed it to the datadir on the other disk as usual.</p>
<p>Now I realize that it has deleted all of the blockchain data for the first time ever, leaving only 2 GB. It prunes by default to 2 GB now. And apparently, my config needed to have an explicit rule to tell it to not prune... which it of course didn't.</p>
<p>While I'm glad that I don't have to store all that stupid data anymore, it does make me question why they would enable this by default and actually <em>delete</em> existing data. Has pruning now reached such a level of stability that it's completely &quot;safe&quot; and there is no need to save the full blockchain anymore?</p>
<p>Or am I now running Bitcoin Core in &quot;crippled mode&quot;? Even though I did not actively set it to prune?</p>
 -1: <p>This is a known issue and happened with me once: <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin-core/gui/issues/245" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/bitcoin-core/gui/issues/245</a></p>
<p>Pieter Wuille's last comment summarizes the issue:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The &quot;first run&quot; dialog, when selecting a filesystem with less than a certain threshold available space, will suggest have pruning enabled by default. If you then click continue without turning it off, that becomes the saved GUI setting for Bitcoin-Qt.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It would be resolved by a <a href="https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/15936" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pull request</a> in which settings for <code>bitcoind</code> and <code>bitcoin-qt</code> are unified. It can be helpful if you review, test and comment in the pull request as its lacking review and open since 2019.</p>
