Lost bitcoin?

[ycd518]

Hey,
So I downloaded bitcoin core a few months ago when bitcoin was rather cheap and bought .15 btc and sent it to the address on the core, without realizing it wasn't synchronized with the network. I have all the files downloaded onto my computer but not enough space to download the entire core onto my laptop. Is there anything I can do to recover the files?
Thanks.

Edit: I have all the files still, I just don't have it synchornized to the network to have received the coins in the first place. So I own the wallet, but the coins are stuck in limbo waiting to go into it.

[HI-TEC99]

Do you know which address you sent the coins to? If you know which address you used then try the instructions below starting from the point where "extracting the private keys" is explained.

If you don't know which address you used then try the instructions below, but starting from the beginning of them.

Search for all the Bitcoin addresses that Bitcoin-QT shows on this website. That site will tell you if an address contains Bitcoins.

http://blockchain.info/

To view the addresses in Bitcoin-QT click "file" in the menu, then click "receiving addresses" in the drop down list that appears.



If blockchain.info shows an address contains coins you can either wait for up to a week for Bitcoin-QT to sync, or use a different wallet to spend them immediately.

If you want fast access to your Bitcoins you need to extract their private keys from Bitcoin-QT, then import those private keys into alternative wallet software like electrum.

To extract the private keys click "help" in the Bitcoin-QT menu, then click "debug window" in the drop down list that appears.



Click the tab labelled "console" in the debug window that appears.



Type dumpprivkey, then a space, then your Bitcoin address in the text box at the bottom of the console window. This is an example.

dumpprivkey 1Cgu5PQyTYrZn4VtAs2T1FHf1ayXVYHNDt



Afterwards press your enter key to view the private key for your Bitcoin address. There's an example private key (L4RY4tv1Qpr4FVxtSLnr7vJiUCvk7A7C2Cd6M7QSU2BkRtj9vhnd) shown in the screenshot.



Copy the private key, then download and install the electrum wallet from here.

https://electrum.org/#download

Use your private key(s) in electrum using these instructions.

http://docs.electrum.org/en/latest/faq.html#can-i-sweep-private-keys-from-other-bitcoin-clients

Those instructions send your Bitcoins to your new electrum wallet. After the transaction has six confirmations you can send your Bitcoins from electrum to wherever you like.

[HCP]

Simplest solution if you can't get Bitcoin Core to sync due to lack of available space is to run in "pruned" mode.

Just use the "-prune=<n>" commandline argument, where <n> = Amount of Megabytes you want to store on the harddrive... minimum is 550. So you can use: \path\to\bitcoin\bitcoin-qt -prune=550

This method won't expose your private keys, but will take time as it still needs to sync the whole blockchain.


Otherwise, it you just want your coins "now" and don't mind exposing private keys:

1. Download and install Electrum
2. Create a new Electrum wallet (make sure you back up the 12 word seed some place nice and safe offline)
3. Export the private key out of Bitcoin Core for the address that you sent the coins to (Help -> Debug Window -> Console. Use the "dumpprivkey" command)
4. Sweep the private key to Electrum

Electrum is an SPV (aka lightweight) wallet, so will "sync" in a matter of seconds.

You can also create a non-HD wallet in Electrum at step 2. if you use the option "use public or private keys". You can then enter your private key and have direct access to your coins, but you lose the advantages of having an HD wallet.