Bitcoin Forum

Hello everyone I found my old laptop and I turned it on and saw that there was a bitcoin folder all dated back from 2011 . And what I did next is to see if there an application on the laptop for bitcoin. I found it great!
but the thing is it prompted me to install a new bitcoin qt wallet software . I thought it would just open up but anyway Installed  it And it says zero balance.  ???   Went back to check the wallet.dat file and the date has been changed to present day .
Does this mean I have overwritten it?
I did not save the wallet.dat file before installing the bitcoin core wallet again.
What must I do? Will system restore put the old back on file for that dated file?

It might have some  BTC in there . Any help will be greatly appreciated with BTCBTCBTC Thanks.

afaik, installing a new bitcoin wallet version will not overwrite wallet.dat
file date (modified date) changes usually as a result of wallet file has been updated
check that wallet.dat's properties, if its creation date is recent date then it's a new file :-X
do you see old transactions in your wallet? is it fully synced yet?

I don’t see any old transactions in the wallet . But on the database there are logs . Not sure if those were transactions. . It doesn’t say anywhere out of sync . All I did was redownload and the date changed from 2011 to 2018 wallet.dat just this one changed .

First: create a backup of your wallet.dat! Then, create another backup.

Let's proceed from there :P

Backed it up already.

Is that the date created or the date modified? what does it say at the top of that menu?

Try right clicking>properties>details/attributes and see if the date created is listed as 2011 as LoyceV said.

Is the date on the backup 2018 or 2011. Did you back it up before the reinstall - if so, there's nothing to worry about (there probably isn't anything to worry about anyway.

---

The 0 balance is probably due to your wallet not syncing yet, how far is it behind?

1. If you click File>receiving addresses is there an address listed there (should begin with a 1 in the table) - just as a test for whether the wallet file is corrupted or not.

2. In the bottom right of the screen is there a closed padlock?

Date created is 2011.

I did not back it up  coz I saw the app was still there .
I opened and I ended up reinstalling it.

The only date thing  that change is the date on wallet.dat file which says 2018
Every other folder says 2011 . I didn’t open or try to modify the wallet.dat file

 Hi go here try read https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/67934/how-can-i-make-my-old-wallet-dat-work-in-a-newer-client?rq=1

I have the bitcoin version 0.3.22-beta
 This does not apply on my version . It does not have the debug window

@OP

Did you manage to access your bitcoin / private keys ?

If not and if you have the assumption your old wallet has been overwritten, you might stop using your computer and try to restore the overwritten file (but back your current wallet.dat up on a different storage device).
There are quite a few user friendly recovery tools available on the internet.

Did you let core sync before looking at the transaction history ?
Or did you check the addresses for transactions in a block explorer?

Contact me
mrb.rc08@gmail.com
https://t.me/mrb_0

(dear moderators, this is public information please don't delete)

Why would they delete it?
Do you still have the old wallet app, as it will not sync with the new blockchain due to a copule of forks (there was one at 0.8.5 fore example that will make it impossible for your old version of bitcoin core to sync).
Does your wallet folder have a debug.log in it, could you post that in its entirety?

Finding the debug.log file:
1. If your folder with your bitcoin app has a blocks and chainstate folder then your debug.log will be in the same directory as your bitcoin wallet.
2. If not, go to C:\users\<username>\appdata\local\bitcoin or c:\users\<username>\appdata\roaming\bitcoin and the debug.log should be in one of these.

Can you tell us that you do at least remember if your wallet is holding any Bitcoin when you have left it stored away in your "old laptop"? Because I am not following your story as you seemed to be surprised on finding out that your laptop has a old wallet.dat file in a folder dated 2011. With how the way you explained your story it seems to me that you might just be retrieving something in your wallet that you don't know if it exist or not, you don't even know if you have transactions with your old wallet.

Tried sending some btc on receiving address . It has been confirmed ..but did not show up on the wallet.
Do I have to be connected online?

@bob123 no I did not get the private keys
On the bottom it says 0 connections 143450 blocks 0 transactions nothing else no padlock sign or anything

My question is will system restore put the last wallet.dat file back again with correct date?
Because I am concerned the old wallet .dat file has been overwritten. I don’t know..

@jack no there is no padlock sign on software version I have.
There’s 2 address in there both starts at 1
Date created is 2011

@theb I cannot say for sure but back in the day I used to trade on forums , get some btc from faucets and trade
It . I’m just not sure if there is any left . I stopped doing it coz I have started other online business. No I am not surprised coz I know I have downloaded the wallet when it actually first came out.

I wouldn’t want to waste anybody’s time with this ,so please unfollow if you think there is no
Btc in the wallet.

Your client has to be fully synced to show your recent transactions.
Currently you are at block 143450. The latest block is 530552.

You won't see any transactions which were included in a block after the latest block of your local blockchain/chainstate (in your case: each block after 143450).

To see your coins/transaction you have to wait until core if fully synced (which can take quite some time), or you can export your private keys and import them into a lightweigt wallet if you don't want to wait.




You are talking about the in-built restoring functionality in windows, aren't you?
It might work, but unfortunately it doesn't in most of the cases.

In case you have overwritten your wallet file, a better approach would be to not touch your computer anymore and make an image of your hard drive (e.g. with linux dd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix))).
And then run a recovery software on this image to find any *.dat files (e.g. with recuva (https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva)).

Yes. Obviously, the balance can't be updated without internet connection.
Are you still using the old version of Bitcoin Core? I don't think it's still compatible with the latest blocks, and you'll need to download 185 GB (the full blockchain) before your new transaction will become visible.

you're using core, you need to download the whole blockchain to get the correct balance on your address
currently, the full bockchain size is around ~170GB? are you sure you want to sync up your core?

it's not fully synced, so your wallet will not show related txs past block 143450
current block is 530550, your wallet's latest block of 143450 is dated 2011-09-01

are you sure only those two addresses that you ever used before?
can you tell us those addresses, so we can check on explorer and give you advice
or you can do it yourself, open any web blockchain explorer and check your addresses' balance there
try these: btc.com (http://btc.com) or blockchain.com (http://blockchain.com/en/explorer)

edit: I just noticed 2 replies when I'm about to post :-X, sorry for any redundant info

System restore wouldn’t work . The one and only checkpoint for restore is july5
If I needed to restore , it has to be June 30. Wallet has btc .
If you want to help , please list it step by step like I’m a 10yr old kid.  :D
Note: Laptop is old , battery sucks and Hard drive is full . I’m in a process of deleting files to accommodate
The file needed to be downloaded.

I have already mentioned how the general approach does work. More detailed information can be found on the internet.


Every information you need can be found on the internet.
For tutorials on how to create images with dd, look here (https://lmgtfy.com/?iie=1&q=How+to+make+an+image+with+DD). And for a guide on how to use recuva, look here (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=recuva+guide).

You'll need to do a better job explaining what exactly you need. Just dumping screenshots won't help you.

I downloaded the bitcoin core wallet and it has overwritten all the old file including my old wallet address and the wallet.dat has been modified after redownloading.
On old bitcoin software there is no option to just back up wallet when you click on file on top left.
On the pic. All those have changed and been modified to this date when I downloaded the bitcoin core

read the last part of my last post
to save your time and energy, first check your balance's addresses on block explorer
or just tell us the two addresses you believe you have used in 2011
you'd better make sure your addresses have balance before trying to recover them :P

I’m sorry if I’m not explaining it correctly.
Why do you keep asking me to check the bitcoin addresss?
I posted here that when I redownloaded the old bitcoin software it overwrite the wallet.dat and changed my address as well .

Can I just transfer that wallet.dat file alone into usb drive?
And then apply it into a different computer with the most recent bitcoin qt software?

Because if the address(es) are "empty"... then there is no point attempting to recover anything and you'd be better off just setting up a new wallet from scratch. ;)


There is a very important distinction between:

"Overwrote the wallet.dat and changed my address as well"
and
"updated the wallet.dat and generated a new address as well"

This is why people are wanting to know the "file created" AND "file modified" dates. If "file created" = 2018, then your old wallet could have been wiped. :-\ However, if "file created" is 2011 and only "file modified" = 2018 then there is a good chance that your original wallet.dat is still "intact" and has simply been "updated"... as opposed to completely overwritten.

As for the address being changed, wallets can hold multiple address... so there is a chance that the software has simply shown you a new receiving address and still contains the previous addresses. You'd need to use a debug console command like "listaddressgroupings" to get a list of ALL the addresses currently contained in the wallet.


The short answer, is yes. I'd also recommend that you actually make multiple copies of the wallet.dat prior to attempting to use it... and preferably work on the copies as opposed to the original file.