Great, thanks for the confirmation Danny!

I just messed around on Brainwallet.org as per Ian's recommendation (great site, thanks Ian!) and was just about to post this same information (Uncompressed=5  /  Compressed=K or L) for posterity's sake.

Thanks again Danny, I really appreciate the lesson in private keys and all the help with this in general.  

I'd love to know the results of your "compressed private key importation" testing sometime if you get the chance and it would make a great addition to the thread.

Cheers!

Hmmm, mine starts with a "K"..?

I'm an idiot but I am a Mac user and being new to BTC I ran into this problem as well after buying a new MBP this past weekend.

First, are you looking in your user folder and not the system Library folder?   <Your User Account/Login>/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

Which OS version are you using because I learned that by default Lion and Mountain Lion hide the user Library folder.

If you're using 10.7 or up, check this out and then try to find your Bitcoin directory.

Hope this helps if it is in fact the snag you're facing.

Cheers!

Danny and Ian, many thanks to you both for your time and advice.

I'll assume the address and compressed private key pair is sufficient as a paper wallet in the event I ever need it.

Naturally I guess the general rule is to never have to need something like this to retrieve one's coins though eh?   

Thanks again very, very much and hopefully this thread can be helpful to other n00bs in the future.

Cheers lads!

Thanks so much for going to the trouble of writing all that Danny!!

I have not yet sent any Bitcoins so that's all good.

I did what you described and I got a key in the same format as the public key (some upper case letters, some lower case, some numbers, etc.).

Whereas the public key I received my Bitcoins with, and used for the dumpprivkey console command is 34 characters, the private key(?) the console spat out is 52 characters.  Is this in fact the private key I'm looking for?

Thanks again!

 

Oh thanks you two!

So what you're saying is I can't access private keys using Bitcoin-Qt or accessing files in my Bitcoin directory and am left having to make sure I don't lose my wallet.dat.  

Is there any way I can get access to my private keys without getting too complicated at this point?

Big thanks to you both for the help!  A few more pieces of the puzzle in better understanding BTC.

Just to be clear DannyHamilton, the keys I would need to write down to create the "paper wallet" are the ones shown in the "Receive Coins" tab of the client corresponding with the Bitcoins I receive correct?  In other words, the addresses I create in the client and give to VirtEx in exchange for my purchased Bitcoins?

Thanks again guys, much appreciated!

Sorry if this question has essentially been covered before indirectly throughout other posts, I'm really finding it a bit hard to get my old mind around the subtleties and mechanics of BTC.  This site is a tremendous resource so thanks for being here, I would have given-up on this long ago if it weren't for all of you.

I bought my first Bitcoins today and I'm happy I've gotten this far.  I may buy some more during the next couple of weeks but that will be it.  I have no intention on transacting with them, I want to put them away safely for another day.

*For my purposes, please keep in mind that I am buying Bitcoins as a speculative investment, something to sit on as savings.*  Please forgive me if "hoarding"/saving Bitcoins conflicts with your principles, I've been a saver all my life and I can't stop now. 

I currently have Bitcoin-Qt installed on two machines with up to date blockchain data and my wallet.dat.  Both installs show my correct balance and transactions.  I have it on two machines because one is old and I have trouble trusting it now, I've done this for back-up purposes while I get up and running but would like to keep both installs if I can (see below).

My encrypted wallet.dat file (encrypted in the client) is currently backed-up to a TrueCrypt volume copied in a number of locations (both machines in two places a piece, two external HDs, one USB drive) so far.

My question is this:

Can I simply delete the wallet.dat files in both installs now and run the clients every once in a while to update the blockchain data, etc. (and creating new blank wallet.dat files in the process??) to keep my installs current yet with no Bitcoins in the wallets?  Basically installs with zero balance in each?

If/when I want to redeem, spend or otherwise use my Bitcoins can I simply bring my loaded wallet.dat file out of "cold storage" and copy it into one or both install folders (replacing the "dummy" wallet.dat files) for use at that time?  Then simply run the client and use my bitcoin as if I'd never removed the wallet.dat file in the first place?

Is this a simple and sensible way for one to basically keep two installs up to date for another day (with empty wallets) yet with my real Bitcoin wallet stored safely away? 

I not only hope my intentions and this post make sense to you out there but hopefully I can be graced with some of your expert advice and suggestions on this matter.  Thanks very much if you can spare a moment or two to help a glowing green n00b out with this.

Cheers all!

You can also just make your Library folder visible too if you want.

I just got a new MBP this weekend too, congrats on the new 'puter!

I'm predicting I have no idea...

Seriously though, I saw a cool quote today on a coffee shop's sandwich board which could apply as a relevant comment in this case perhaps.

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

I just bought my first BTCs today so naturally I'm hopeful they will increase in purchasing power going forward.

Cheers!

A remarkably similar "tone" as from those who've been slagging gold since the low triple digits...

Maybe BTC will go to zero but IMHO it's worth taking a chance on and learning about at the very least.  I'm hopefully buying my inaugural humble little "tranche" tomorrow.

Oh and by the way, I mentioned BTC to two guys I work with.  Both are pretty sharp, have run and are running small home-based businesses on the side, one is quite a savvy "market" trader.  After discussing it over breaks and their research on their smart phones for a couple of hours, one is signing-up with VirtEx and "buying in", while the other is really interested in taking a different approach and investing in mining rigs.  They both see something significant in the whole concept virtually at first glance.  Just thought I'd throw that in there as I was quite surprised at the opposite reaction (compared to some referenced in the Reddit link) from a couple of people that are not daft by any stretch.  Or maybe they're just as nuts as the rest of us, beats me...  

 

This looks like a fairly comprehensive tutorial I found during one of my searches.  As is said there could be issues with Lion and Mountain Lion but for somewhat older Macs it could be worth a try.  I'm thinking of buynig a new MBP right now and if I do I may just give this a try on my present machine running Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

It appears to me in looking around that rEFIt is crucial for dual-booting Linux on many Macs unless one is comfortable with all kinds of other software emulators and/or can work all kinds of magic from the command line?

This is still all complete voodoo to me...

Yes, thanks, these are the very instruction I followed numerous times and it does not work, as is the case for quite a few others apparently.  One person on another thread I started on this "problem" suggested using this but I'm a little leary after reading some comments that people that have tried it on some computers couldn't boot into any OS (including the one on their hard drive) after installing it. 

The instructions on Ubuntu's site don't work, period.  all I ended-up with was a converted Ubuntu image on my USB drive that my MBP couldn't recognize at all.

Hence my comment you quoted in the first place.

I'd love to be able to do this but I'm not about to play Doctor Software Frankenstein with my only computer just to be able to boot into Linux from a USB drive.

I might try to burn it to DVD this weekend and see if that makes any difference but there are obviously omissions and inadequacies with this process on at least some Macs. 

Yeah, whatever you say... Now I'm supposed to take anything else you say seriously?


No wireless keyboard on bluetooth.  USB stick plugged directly into the side of the laptop.


Plugged into the external power adapter continually throughout hours of failure attempting a procedure that obviously does not work and I'm not the only one who's been SOL trying by far apparently. 


Well thanks for playing then...

@doctortime:  Thanks a lot for the suggestion but as someone who's not computer savvy, I've sworn-off all the Ubuntu bootable USB stick, multiple installations of software I don't understand, command line, auxilliary encryption malarkey, etc.  If someone wants to hack my personal network, install a keylogger on my machine or in any way go to the trouble of stealing a bitcoin or two from me then frankly they can have it.  If all this is necessary to be able to securely and easily retain and transact in bitcoin then it sure as hell isn't for me at this time.  Thanks again.

@Kazimir:  These are the exact instructions I followed numerous times and once again, it does not work through no fault of my own.  Thank-you though for the suggestion.

Would it be sufficient and secure enough to install version 1.0 of Electrum rather than go with ver. 1.2? 

Install Homebrew.
Install dependencies brew install qt pyqt.
Install Electrum-1.2.zip
execute 'python electrum'

There is nothing on Homebrew's site to download and when I try and execute the command line in Terminal (brew install qt pyqt) nothing happens.  Not that this is any surprise to me now... 

Sorry, I meant Armory and not Electrum.

I am absolutely not sure of that but I just read something to that effect somewhere this morning.  Given my success in learning how to use Bitcoin and that I can't remember where I read this I'm not even sure that I don't get transported cognitively through a worm hole into another dimension every time I read about Bitcoin actually...

You undoubtedly know much more about this than I do Danny, so am I to understand that Electrum is a standalone client and perhaps something an idiot like me could try with some success?

Thanks.

Hi Gabi,

I am brand new to Bitcoin and not very computer savvy.  All I want to do is be able to put a client on my laptop, buy some bitcoins for savings in the meantime and perhaps someday execute a transaction or two.  I'm finding that thus far Bitcoin is a ridiculously complicated concept and have yet to put a client on my machine that a dummy like me can use.  I recently installed Bitcoin-Qt on my Macbook and after a day and a half of trying to download the blockchain I stripped the POS from my system so that rules-out use of Electrum in my case.

Personally I can't understand how Bitcoin can even be called a currency at this point as it's certainly not usable for the average person.  Maybe it should be called Crypto-Voodoo-Digital-Coin until anyone but computer geeks can use it confidently? 

If you're on a Mac and not a software engineer, forget about creating a bootable USB drive using Ubuntu.

Apparently, the concensus and my personal experience is, it doesn't work.

How about someone update this tutorial to save more newbies from spending hours and hours pointlessly trying to create a bootable Ubuntu USB drive on OS X?  Beuller... Beuller...

Somewhat of a contradiction as one needs the standard client to use Armory apparently?

I installed Bitcoin-QT (being a rank newbie) and after a day and a half closed it and stripped it off my computer because it had still not downloaded the blockchain and due to memory usage I imagine, had rendered my computer crippled at that point.

As one who has spent tens of hours trying to get started with Bitcoin and have still not gotten to the point of getting a usable bloody client on my machine, let alone taking the plunge and buying a few bitcoin, I'm finding quite a lot of bad advice and inaccurate information about Bitcoin.  Bitcoin is still more virtual digital voodoo than a usable currency for the average person.