Bitcoin Forum

As tittle says, my friend does have a broken laptop with 200 btc in the offline wallet, it was since 2014

so I need help on how I can take the hardware out and get access to the wallet from another computer by inserting the hardware inside the other computer

Remove the hdd and plug it in a different computer. You could then use recuva to look for wallet.dat. But since this is such a large amount, I'd suggest taking it to a professional recovery service. They will ask for a decent amount of money, but there's a decent probability that you'll be able to recover the wallet. Good luck.

Did he use windows, linux, something else?
Did he use Bitcoin QT or something else?

I guess that the data you need is in a file on the HDD (or SSD?) of that laptop.
And getting the disk out and putting it in another laptop may give a chance to recover the files.

Of course, you didn't say how is it "broken", but in most cases most files can be recovered. If you answer to my questions we can try to find out what file names to look for too.
First call would be: wallet.dat

well the specialist tomorrow will come and help take out the hardware and plug it in other computer to recover

As long as the hdd isn't broken, you don't need a specialist.
All you need to do is take out the hdd put it in another pc or use an external hdd case, browse the hdd and find wallet.dat in roaming/bitcoin.

you better watch that specialist. don't let him take those bitcoins and tell you it's not possible to recover.

You'd better get some trustworthy people around while this specialist has a look.  The fact that they're dealing with over $1,000,000 might tempt them to try and steal the coins.  You need to make sure you have them overpowered and that you're watching them throughout every second of the process.
It shouldn't be too hard, provided that the hard drive isn't broken.  You just need to look for the wallet.dat file.  That said, I can see why you're getting someone else to look at it, considering how devastating it would be if you lost that money.

How did you get so much money in the first place?  Even in 2014 it would have been shitloads of money.

Yeah you should watch him whole time as it's ALOT of money, was that wallet encrypted and does your friend remember the key?
Good luck dude, wish i had something like this forgotten somewhere.  ::)

Well that is not a issue, But your post is really incomplete and lack information. If your Friend's laptop is broken not a issue if the Hard Disk Drive is save in it, You can pull out Laptop's HDD and you can plug that hard drive in any PC and you can find the wallet file and you are good to go your a rich man. \
something you can hope for.

- HDD Is working
- Wallet is not encrypted with extra layer of security.
- Also you should hope that it really have 200 btc not 0.002 :v

Everytime when i see posts about that.
thinking about to create some backup cause my laptop not so good . i have question - i need to copy only wallet.dat to a new laptop ? Or there is some other ways to create backup to be safe.

Backing up wallet.dat is enough to be safe.

@OP:
What exactly is broken? If your hard drive is damaged you should be carefully.
Don't try to boot from this HDD anymore and dont access this HDD directly.
First you should clone the HDD and only work on the cloned, mounted copy. Additionally i would recommend to only
connect to the hard drive via Write-blocker (to make sure your OS does not write on the hard drive; this could lead to a loss of "deleted" files since they are marked
as available space). Write blocker cost about 50$. But when trying to access 200BTC i would rather spend those 50$ and not have my funds stolen by any
non-trustworthy it-repair-man or have wallet.dat corrupted..

Or better yet, write down the seed onto a sheet of paper. That way you don't rely on storage devices that can fail, and it can be memorized. I've had my laptop's HDD fail requiring a replacement, and that might have caused all my BTC to be lost if I did not have a backup. This is assuming you are using a wallet that generates keys from seeds. You could also copy the wallet.dat onto a USB stick or something and store that safely so you don't lose your coins from losing your laptop.

When you remove a hard drive from a laptop there's a low risk that static electricity from your body could damage it. Using a wrist band like this one from ebay can eliminate that risk. You wrap the strap around your wrist and clip it to a grounded source (like a copper water pipe).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Anti-Static-Wrist-Strap-Band-Computer-Repair-Prevention-Electrostatic-Discharge/262513894065?hash=item3d1f0c22b1:g:09sAAOSwvg9XfgyX

The OP could put his old laptop's hard drive into an enclosure like this one from ebay to test if it still works.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ORICO-2-5-USB3-0-2139U3-Transparent-5Gbps-Sata-HDD-Case-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/201906720816?epid=812912928&hash=item2f02941030:g:GhEAAOSw3ZRZAIgG

i have ledger nano s ... by what i see here this means i cant access my coins again if my hdd get broken or i get something wrong?

If you store coins or tokens in a hardware wallet, they are stored in the hardware wallet and not in the device you use to access it.

Take out the hard Disk and put it in another laptop or pc. 200 bitcoins are a lot of money because I would not wait long

The coins are not even stored in the hardware wallet... They're stored in the blockchain.

In a lot of cases, not even the private keys are stored on the hardware wallet...

It is the SEED which is used to generate the private keys which is stored on the hardware wallet.

This seed is then used to recreate private keys etc when you unlock the hardware wallet for use.

Your backup for your hardware wallet is your 24 words that you've carefully written down and stored safely... Which you did... right? ;)

You can still possibly recover those bitcoin of your friend. The laptop might be broken but the HDD is still fine then high chances on recovering it would really be there. 200 BTC is not a joke amount.Just unplug the hdd of that laptop and plug in on another to see on the files being saved on there but i bet it is just there as long it didnt get wet or do passed out by some calamities.You can still recover those bitcoin. Good luck buddy on recovering those coins.

Some pointers:
1. Make sure the other computer is not connected to the internet
2. Make a backup as soon as possible
3. Make another backup, then just make another one!
4. Think about a plan what to do with the 1 million euro once it's recovered. Considering the fact your only copy now is a broken laptop, you should come up with a safer plan.

Recovering something is kind of fun and challenging, however if your dealing with a million dollar , you should follow what others recommendation, make extra precaution when with your friend broken laptop.

One wrong move and everything will turn into dust. You should bring it to well known professional, don't do it by yourself.

Your offline wallet is stuck inside a broken laptop called as (laptop 1), offline wallet is usually mounted on the drive: c (system), I have a good solution for you, and it proved successful.
Let the hdd mounted on the laptop (laptop 1) is broken.
Search and use another laptop referred to as laptop 2 which is still normal, (preferably laptop of the same type), Os (operating system) must be equated with a broken laptop 1, if not please do reinstall on laptop 2 which is still normal, after do reinstall, shutdown your laptop 2 then unplug its hdd, please replace it with hdd from laptop 1 damaged, after that restart your laptop 2, wait process of loading run to finish usually a little longer because there is process of synchronization between laptop 2 and laptop 1 hdd, if you have finished please (restart) your laptop 2, after the process (restart), your laptop 2 will flame and can be used as usual.
Then please search your offline wallet containing 200 btc.
> computer> local disk (c:)> program files> your wallet .........
"GOOD LUCK"

The main question here is how much broken the computer is.
See if the hard disk already crashed i donot think there is any way you can recover the wallet at all.
Though there are some hardware engg that can even recover that broken sdd.It may cost you way more than a normal fix.
I am just assuming you are the once who sleeps through 2014-2017 era ,and now when you see bitcoin is booming you suddenly realize you have big amounts.Good luck to your recovery.   

Op,  make sure this guy is legit.  If he's not,  he will run with your 200 btc which is a lot!

And he didn't gone online after he  replied about the specialist. I just hope that OP can successfully recover it. If he just somehow took the time to go online and read the trusted members' reply then he can just have had fixed it by himself. The only person you can trust the most is yourself.

Assuming it is a HDD, the first thing to try is to attach it as the 2nd HDD in another computer. Don't let the guy reformat it or otherwise modify the contents, not one byte.

Attach as 2nd drive can be done just with cables, to some laptops and many desktop computers.

This is how you start.

Posts here that say things like "put it in another computer" are wrong. In general this kind of thing is routine for those that do it all day. Just tell the guy there are important family pictures and other things that you can't lose, they are priceless.

You need an expert's help, but you can't leave him alone with this machine. That's not a problem, he will just assume likely you don't want him to find your porn stash. :)

definitely, more info needed how bad damage on HDD is it SSD?
if physically not total broken %99 percent you take back.
there are a lot expensive (not consumer grade i m talking about 20k+) software even ditch those broken HDD and recover data.
the trick in here never say 200 btc
1.28m is a serious amount of dollar that will put you even in danger. Never let them work alone have someone with you has knowlodge that you can trust.
and yes "i have some porn in it also thats why i cannot allow you work alone on it sir" is a good way.
but now he might look only for images and videos and completely disregards system files you have to tell him that you need system files also.
if you mention BTC then say only little that he will not get the suspicious amount.
like if you say .002 and his cost is $500 make no sense right.
if it was mine ill keep eye on that hdd 24h lol  :D

Remove the hard disk to your lop top and find another desk top computer then make a connection. put hard drive  in 3 slot sata in the mother board after that start up the desk top go to My Computer and open your hard drive using the system of desk top and make copy all your file come from your hard drive if locate copy past to your own back up USB or Blank disc as your personal copy then you can decide what will be your next step to keep it safe but try to check it of all your data all ready transfer it. if not find technician to help you to transfer your file into another disk to recover your file.

You guys continue to give OP advice even though he never returned back again. I assume all went well, hiring the specialist, otherwise he would have come back complaining.

So I guess this is a happy ending story and this post can be closed already.

peace

Can you tell me which wallet your friend is using. Do he remember the seed words and the password of the wallet. If he has the seed words then its very easy to restore your wallet.Just tell your friend to download the wallet in another pc and and while installing use the option "restore wallet" . Then it will ask the seed words. Just enter it and create a new password. Thats it. Your wallet will be ready.

oh thats great bitcoins limitation will autmatically lead to people worldwide to sooner or later simply forget it.

lol ;D

Firstly is to ensure that the hard disk is carefully removed and kept in a safe place, purchase a hard disk adaptor and slot it in then connect it to a working computer system, it will be detected automatically  an external hard drive will appear were you can access the details of the wallet, ensure that a paper and a pen is use to write out all the details.

Scan your harddisk for wallet.dat if you used BitCoin QT, or scan for *.dat in roaming folder for electrum wallet etc. If you send your computer to fix to any computer repair store, maybe they are in bigger store now with your BitCoins.

What kind or hard drive you have? Test about "engineer hillstart" give it power on short perioids if refuse on run.

try to use HDD on another computer or laptop, if u using the offline wallet u should to make back up very often just my suggestions, it will useful on the future when u have problem like this.

You should remove the hdd and plug it in a different computer and then use recuva to look for wallet.dat. On the other hand,As this is such a large amount, I'd suggest taking it to a professional recovery service.Probably they will ask for a decent amount of money, but there's a decent probability that you'll be able to recover the wallet.