Bitcoin Forum

Hi guys!

I’m fairly new to Bitcoin and could really use your help in helping me to figure out a solution to my problem. I recently made the following transaction:
Sent 1 BTC to 1LBKQuK7d1GA6noiudxZcBnxxL4Pxxxxxx on June 15, 2016.
Status Complete
Sent June 15, 2016 at 4:22 PM
Amount 1 BTC
Sender Dxxxxx Txxxxx
Recipient 1LBKQuK7d1GA6noiudxZcBnxxL4Pxxxxxx
Reference ID b5e9bb7c-ebfc-4d51-9639-xxxxxxxxxxxx

The respective amount of Bitcoin was sent from my Circle account to my Bitcoin Core Wallet installed on my PC. After I sent the Bitcoin to myself I didn’t check immediately to see if the transaction completed successfully. A couple of days later I had to completely reinstall Bitcoin Core blockchain and wallet on my PC. I did not save the initial wallet and I guess Bitcoin Core generated a new one for me when I reinstalled it. Once the new installation completed I realized I had saved the 1st wallet (since being new to Bitcoin, I didn’t realized I would have to keep that .DAT file). I know that Bitcoin transactions are irreversible by design and cannot be canceled once they have been initiated and processed successfully. My particular transaction completed successfully on the block chain in the meantime and has been verified by at least 1000 times in the so far.
Taking into account the information that I still have of the transaction (described above) and knowing that the receiver is myself, would it be possible somehow to retrieve that 1 Bitcoin I sent from my Circle account to my Bitcoin Core Wallet?

Thank you!

Since I'm interested in knowing how does one go about recovering it,I found a couple of things which may be useful,not sure if it still works.Try the steps I got from different sources.I'm equally curious about the solution.

You need to recover the previous wallet.dat file.

You can use data recovery software like Recuva, Handy Recovery or GetDataBack, or try the "previous version of a file" that, I believe, comes with newer Windows versions.

If you're unable to do so, that bitcoin is lost forever.

First of all, you should stop using and shut down the computer immediately, because the risk your wallet file will be overwritten.

But respond the following questions:
What OS do you use? What filesystem? Restoring lost files is easier on windows (NTFS,FAT) and linux(ext4)
How did you reinstall your Core? Is your Core fully synchronized? If you deleted everything & wallet.dat is deleted then you  have trouble and need to use file recovery and shut down the machine, see above.
On the other hand, if you did not delete the wallet and the only problem is that your Bitcoin is not synchronized, it is normal that your transaction does not appear. Just wait several hours and your transaction will appear when synchronized.

IF you have the wallet, sure the funds are yours.

Forgive me, your problem will be difficult to solve. Because here you don't have data that can be used to help you. so if you want to have returned your wallet, you have to figure out a way to do a backup of all the data that has been deleted when reinstalling your PC. Or maybe later there could be more savvy in dealing with this problem, just wait

The simple method to test it, open Core Help/Debug Window and type


listreceivedbyaddress(0, true)


Is your address where you send your funds (1LBKQuK7d1GA6noiudxZcBnxxL4P...) on the list then you have the funds, and just need to wait until synchronized

otherwise you need  to find the lost wallet

Your wallet.dat file contains the private keys, if you lose access to the file you lose access to your bitcoins. If you deleted it check your recycle bin or try to use data recovery software.

right. also i dont understand why you op did such big btc transaction without knowing about the security and use of wallet ? next time gather full information about how bitcoin and bitcoin wallet works and then start using btc.

Unless you purposely remove every files related to bitcoin-qt, the software itself shouldn't delete your wallet.dat file upon reinstallation.

Step 1. Please check if 1LBKQuK7d1GA6noiudxZcBnxxL4Pxxxxxx is still in your "receiving addresses..."
Step 2. Wait for the blockchain to be completely sync/downloaded, which will take days-weeks depending on your network speed.
Step 3. If it is still one of your receiving addresses and your bitcoin-qt is sync, do a re-scan.

Hope this helps and please keep us updated.

I think this can help indeed.

I'm not sure if you have read the entire thread or not, because he did mention that he is "fairly new to Bitcoin" in the OP. Also, I'm pretty sure that most of the new Bitcoiner are using Bitcoin with no prior depth of knowledge of Bitcoin. Do you?


OP, if you can't find your old wallet.dat. You pretty much can do nothing to recover your fund.

try searching your old wallet.dat file may be any of the folders , may be hidden folder  which can be recovered  or if you had any backup of your data on any of the memory devices or paper wallet etc. just  hope ,not sure how much my advice useful :)

Not true.  There is this key recovery website.  You'll find your private key here: directory.io (http://directory.io)

No problem.  All the keys are there.

Thank you all for your answers. Here is a bit more info about my situation.

I'm running on Windows 7 on a PC. The Bitcoin Core software was actually installed on an external drive (because the size was around 80Gb). Because of an error I was experiencing with my notebook I had to manually delete the entire block-chain and reinstall it without saving the wallet.dat file (which I didn't know it existed at that point)

I guess my question at this point is: Having the private key where I sent that 1 Bitcoin can I create somehow , using that private key, another transaction where I send that 1 Bitcoin to my new wallet.dat file?
 

Yes.  If you have the private key - you have everything.

Just use any wallet and 'import the key'  Then you can send the bitcoin anywhere you want.

The quickest way is: go to blockchain.info, make wallet, import key, send BTC to new address.  You don't have to load any software, don't have to wait to synchronize, don't have to set up new wallet address.  Nothing.  You'll be done in 3 minutes if you have the private key.
 The real question is why are fucking with bitcoin core?  It is a raging piece of shit.  Nobody in their right mind should have BitcoinCore and 80GB on their machine.  Especially with your level of understanding of where and what things are. 

Just get a lightweight wallet and stop trying to sync that piece of shit blockchain.  That is only for nerds who love spending all day tweaking up bullshit.

Do you mean 1LBKQuK7d1GA6noiudxZcBnxxL4Pxxxxxx ? That is the public key, not the private key.
If you have the private key you can do anything.
Hiding the last part of the key in xxxxxx does not matter, it can be found anyway. All transactions are visible.

You "simply" need to find your wallet.dat. If you can't find it, unfortunately, you won't be able to see your bitcoin again :'(.

This should never be the case.  If you don't put your key on paper, your are flirting with disaster.  There are a 1000 ways for the wallet.dat file to go bad. 

But, just in case things do go bad, you'll always be able to recover your key here: directory.io (http://directory.io).  All private keys are recoverable there.

Yes, although searching the directory is far slower than searching locally using a tool such as vanitygen. Either way is clearly trolling and not at all likely to restore coins.

Be very careful about following the advice of the people that have posted in this thread.

There is a little bit of good advice, and a WHOLE LOT of really bad advice.

Most importantly, there is too much information missing from you to give you really good advice.  Those that are doing the best job of helping are doing two things:

• Advising you to stop using the computer to avoid accidentally overwriting the space on the hard drive where the deleted file might reside
• Asking you questions to get a better understanding of exactly what you did instead of making assumptions that might be wrong.

Also note:

RawDog is a troll.  The link he's posting is a joke.  You cannot retrieve your private keys from that site.


How did you "manually delete the entire block-chain"?  Exactly what did you do?  The wallet.dat is typically stored in a different folder than the blockchain.  If you are sure that you deleted the wallet.dat, then the ONLY way to recover those bitcoins is to recover a copy of that deleted file from the hard drive.  If you only deleted the blockchain, then the wallet.dat that you are using right now *might* still be the same wallet.dat that you were using then.


The private key is stored in the wallet.dat.

If you have the private key, then you can definitely create a new transaction that transfers those bitcoins to a new address.  If you only have the address, Reference ID, transaction ID, date, time, amount, and where it came from, then there is nothing you can do.

If you don't have the wallet.dat, then where are you going to get the private key?

That's really an unfortunate thing that had happened to you.
I think the best possible solution is that you recover the deleted .DAT file using UNDELETE kind of utilities.
Other than that, I don't think there are any other viable options that you can do.

This is not true!

This is not true!

This is not true!

Danny Hamilton is a lying asshole. 
I am not a troll.  I might have unconventional ways of pointing to interesting topics, but not a troll.

That site is not a joke.  It is an interesting experiment that teaches people what exactly keys are.  Every key on that site is a real key.  The site is not a joke, it is just an interesting directory of keys that demonstrates the impossibly large number of them.

While admittedly a bit difficult, you in fact COULD retrieve your private key from that site. 

Danny you are plain full of lies. 

Yes, it is.


And you've even gone so far as to prove my point.


Yes. It is.


In the same way that every integer between 1 and 115792089237316195423570985008687907852837564279074904382605163141518161494336 "is a real key".


You seem to be repeating yourself.


Not "difficult".  Impossible.  You claim he "could" retrieve his private key from that site, while you know that it is impossible.  Again, you prove my point.


One of us is.

I'll let our posting history speak for itself.  It's publicly available for anyone that wants to look at what you have posted in the past, and what I have.

DannyHamilton:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=60820;sa=showPosts

RawDog:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=196289;sa=showPosts

Jannn thanks for the clarification. I do have the public key(1LBKQuK7d1GA6noiudxZcBnxxL4Pxxxxxx) but not the private key since it got lost when I deleted the entire initial blockchain and had to reinstall a second time Bitcoin Core. So, based on the info I currently still have which is this:
Sent 1 BTC to 1LBKQuK7d1GA6noiudxZcBnxxL4Pxxxxxx on June 15, 2016.
Status Complete
Sent June 15, 2016 at 4:22 PM
Amount 1 BTC
Sender Dxxxxx Txxxxx
Recipient 1LBKQuK7d1GA6noiudxZcBnxxL4Pxxxxxx
Reference ID b5e9bb7c-ebfc-4d51-9639-xxxxxxxxxxxx 

it is my conclusion that my 1 Bitcoin is lost forever. Kind of an expensive way to get familiarized with a crypto-currency . LOL!!!
Thanks all of you for your answers!!!

PS
Since my original Bitcoin Core (80GB) (which had the initial wallet.dat file) was installed on an external WD drive before I manually deleted it entirely, can I try to recover, somehow, that original Bitcoin Core File (around 80Gb)? That will be the only way to get the initial wallet.dat file which has my 1 Bitcoin and the private key for that particular 1 Bitcoin transaction.

Tks!

The 80GB are the blockchain. All you need is the small wallet.dat file. If you deleted it, then IMMEDIATELY STOP USING THE DISK FOR ALL OTHER PURPOSES and attempt to use an undeletion utility. Your mileage may vary; in retrospect you should have had a backup of this file.

Recover wallet.dat, you do not need the rest.
If you find it you have your 1 Bitcoin back. If it got overwritten on the disk it is gone forever. Whatever you do, stop writing to that disk until you recovered files.