Bitcoin Forum

Sorry to anyone that reads this, and feels like they wasted their time.

To preface:  I am not super tech savvy, but I am not tech illiterate.  Let me also say this--I was in college at the time of all of this, and let's just say, some of my memory is hazy.

In 2009, I learned about Bitcoin.  I remember taking the time to look up how to mine Bitcoin, and found it interesting.  I took the time to download, and install, and begin to run the mining software.  At the time, I had very little clue what was going on.  I remember going through the steps to set everything up. I even vaguely remember watching it work (numbers and stuff).  I had no idea what any of it meant, but know that I ran the software for some time---how much, I'm not sure, could be 1 hour, could be a few days or a month. 

I have always remembered doing this, and it has even come up in conversation with some buddies of mine from the time period. 

Now, within a year of downloading, installing, and running the software, I bought a new computer.  Something happened with the one I had the software on, and the warranty was out, so I just upgraded computers.  I still have the HDD though.

Now, I guess my question has a couple of parts:

1.  Is it possible that I set everything up, ran the software, and somehow mined any bitcoin? (If no, then ignore the rest, and sorry for wasting your time)
2.  Is it possible that I have it still on that HDD from that computer in a wallet?
3.  Is there a way to retrieve it?

I know this all seems a little nuts--just know that I have kept this in mind since 2009, which is why I still have the computer and the HDD--I have destroyed computers and HDDs since, but have held onto this one.  Perhaps I'm crazy, but before I went and wasted a bunch of time, I wanted to get some outsiders thoughts that may know more than me.

Sorry for the long post, and don't know if any of it makes sense. 

Thanks

If you still have the original HDD then why not plug it in?  Then search it for a wallet.dat file.

If you find a wallet.dat file then you can very carefully back it up, multiple times.

Once backed up in its saved state you can then try to import it.  If you did not encrypt it (you may not have at that time),  then you should actually be able to look at it and see what is going on.

If you ran for only an hour you probably did not get any Bitcoins but on the other hand in 2009 there is a chance you did.  If you were solo mining we are talking 50 BTC if you managed to mine one block - that is a boatload of money now so you should definitely check into it.

I happen to be in the storage industry (disk drive engineer/architect for almost 30 years) so let me know if I can help in any way - especially if your disk drive does not appear to work.  Since it is an older drive it may be repairable.

Where are you located?  I am in Colorado and have an extensive set of tools for dealing with old/broken drives.

Good luck!

Sounds like a plan.  I am not located too far from Colorado to the Southeast of you. 

Like I said.  I do not remember how long I left the program running, or if I did everything that I needed to do to mine.  Is there anything that would have happened at the time for me to know if I mined any?  Or would I have had to go search for it in the wallet.dat file?

Anyway, off track.  In 2009, I didn't think much of it, and didn't think it would be worth anything--especially the price it is today, so I didn't pay attention.  I just know i went through the process of reading, learning, and trying to mine--whether or not I did it right, who knows.

I guess I need to 1. plug it in, 2. hopefully the HDD is in working order, 3.  search for the wallet.dat file, 4. carefully back up, 5. begin to try to import into a new wallet.

If I get to the wallet.dat file -- will I know if there is anything in it? Or will I need to import to a new wallet to find out?


Thanks!