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Author Topic: Sorry for my vey newbie question  (Read 551 times)
blackstar (OP)
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February 13, 2013, 05:00:39 PM
 #1

I downloaded wallet from offcial web site.
When it will be synthronized i will take a wallet adress?
If I will save my wallet.dat, I can restore wallet or I should also save some more data?
DannyHamilton
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February 13, 2013, 05:14:37 PM
 #2

The Bitcoin-Qt wallet from bitcoin.org isn't usually the best choice for a newbie.  You might want to take a look at the first two-and-a-half minutes of this video to learn how to set up a web hosted wallet at https://blockchain.info/wallet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSmxbtFQlmg

You also might want to look into Electrum or Multibit if you prefer not to use a web hosted wallet.

If you choose to stay with the reference client (Bitcoin-Qt), assuming you have enough hard drive space it should eventually finish synchronizing. Depending on your computer it could take as little as a few hours or as much as a few weeks.

You should already have a wallet address under the "Receive Coins" tab.  You can create more addresses there if you like.  Any coins that are sent to those addresses won't show up in the wallet until it finishes synchronizing.

Yes, if you save wallet.dat, you can restore the wallet.  The wallet.dat gets updated with new addresses every time you create a new address in the "Receive coins" tab. It also creates a new hidden address that it doesn't show you every time you send bitcoins anywhere. You need to make sure that you have a recent backup of wallet.dat to restore.  If the backup is too old, it won't have the new addresses.
UncleGravy
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February 13, 2013, 08:06:26 PM
 #3

When it will be synthronized i will take a wallet adress?
Usually over night, I think mine took a day...

If I will save my wallet.dat, I can restore wallet or I should also save some more data?
all you need is the wallet.dat
Gabi
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February 13, 2013, 08:15:32 PM
 #4

You already have an address.

This said, as danny suggested, the bitcoin-qt client is not exactly fine for newbies and for daily use. Takes age to download the whole blockchain (6GB yay), takes minutes to start, will have to download some blocks every day, has a not exactly easy interface etc. It is perfect if you want to run a full node for the sake of it, but for daily use no.

So please use Multibit or Electrum. Someone will suggest you a webwallet like blockchain.info, but i won't.

This said, yes, saving wallet.dat is ok. Nothing else is required.

DannyHamilton
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February 13, 2013, 09:46:55 PM
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. . . Someone will suggest you a webwallet like blockchain.info, but i won't . . .

As long as you maintain a regular schedule of backups I see no reason not to suggest https://blockchain.info/wallet

This said, yes, saving wallet.dat is ok. Nothing else is required.

More specifically, a regular schedule of backups.  One backup isn't enough.  You have to have a recent backup.  With the Bitcoin-Qt wallet, the backups become stale and no longer useful after a while.
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