Hi All
I have to move away from bitcoin core.  I don't actively participate anymore in mining etc, but got some wallet.dat backups I'd like to do something with.
I've been trying since the summer to get 11.x to sync, this sub isn't the place to go into that except it's crash crash crash, reindex, crash crash crash then no block source available.

So I have to move to a different thinner client.  Please understand I can't do this by transferring coin elsewhere, because I cannot get a full-node install to sync. So unless I'm mistaken, my only option is to export wallet.dat over to another solution.

I don't really understand how bitcoin works under the skin, private keys public keys etc, so talk to me like I'm 5 please.  But it seemed like getting a --dumpwallet out of pywallet was essential to help me move forward.  But I can't figure which clients will accept this.  With a lot of trial and error I have two outputs from pywallet, one with passphrase provided, one without. 

Question:  What difference does providing the passphrase to pywallet make in this context? The output looks largely identical, with all private keys of type encrypted_privkey in both copies.

Question:  When trying to import that into stuff, which copy should I use?

Question:  Now with --dumpwallet output, which alternative client can I use this output with please for a painless transition?

Essentially, I have the most precious thing - wallet.dat, and now a pywallet dump, I just don't know how to move either over to something else.

Many thanks

Hey all
I've moved my bitcoin client to another machine and at the same time used the opportunity to upgrade to v0.9.3.0-g40d2041-beta (64-bit)
Wasn't worried about redownloading the blockchain, got decent broadband speeds and never been a problem before.

My wallet backup is safe so started with a fresh install and intend to copy my wallet back over when it's synced.

But for the life in me I cannot get it to sync.
First attempt after 3 days hung at 14 weeks. Client status was "no block source available".
I saw in another thread to add a bunch of addnodes in the debug console, I added about 10.
Left it for a few hours, nothing changed, still stalled.
I tried launching the client with a -reindex, this time it stalled at 27 weeks (been stuck there for 24 hours). Status is still "Synchronizing with network" but it cannot get past block 297402.

I'm not very experienced with configuring the client or more advanced console commands and am at the limit of my know-how.  I'm not using VPN or TOR or anything weird.

Any tips and ideas would be really welcome!