Need help to not lose bitcoins

[supersonic3974]

Hi there!

I use to mine bitcoins for a while with EclipseMC and I had about 37 BTC stored in my account there.  Well I was going to cash them out, but accidentally hit the cash out button sooner than I meant to and they were sent to my address.

Well it has been a very long time since I used my bitcoin wallet and so the blockchain it has is very outdated.  I currently have it updating the blockchain, but it has been running for 24 hours and still has about 10,000 blocks to go.  And it's getting slower the closer it gets.  I'm only getting about 8-9 connections and the version I'm using is 0.3.23-beta.  I know I need to update the version, but I'm worried that I'll lose my address and the transaction that's in progress.  Btw, I've already backed up my wallet.dat, but I don't think it will do much good since my bitcoins have not arrived yet.

Is there any way to speed up the updating of the blockchain?  (I did the port-forwarding for the firewall, but I'm not exactly sure if I did it correctly.)

[1713567205]

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[1713567205]

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[Revalin]

The coins don't have to arrive in your wallet.dat.  They just need to get listed in the public blockchain.

As long as you have a backup of your wallet.dat, you're fine.  Go ahead and update to the latest.

You can also download a recent blockchain here:  http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/blockchain/

However, make sure you run with -rescan the first time so it'll find your coins.

Edit: fixed URL

[DeathAndTaxes]

If you have a backup of your wallet.dat which contains the address you sent them to there is absolutely no risk of losing coins.  It will take a very long time to download the blockchain but that is to be expected.  0.3.23 is ancient any particularly reason you are still using that? worst case scenario you can export the private key from your wallet.dat and import it into another wallet.  

As Revalin indicated coins don't go to your client.  The go the blockchain (alll 20,000+ nodes all around the planet).  Your wallet.dat simply contains the keys which let you (and only you) spend/transfer coins you have received.   You don't need to be online, or have a client up to date, or even have a computer to receive bitcoins.

[supersonic3974]

How do I run the updated Wallet with -rescan?  I'm using windows and I'll be installing "bitcoin-0.6.2-win32-setup.exe".

[Revalin]

After installing it, start a cmd window and run "c:\path\to\bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe -rescan".

[supersonic3974]

If you have a backup of your wallet.dat which contains the address you sent them to there is absolutely no risk of losing coins.  It will take a very long time to download the blockchain but that is to be expected.  0.3.23 is ancient any particularly reason you are still using that? worst case scenario you can export the private key from your wallet.dat and import it into another wallet. 

As Revalin indicated coins don't go to your client.  The go the blockchain (alll 20,000+ nodes all around the planet).  Your wallet.dat simply contains the keys which let you spend/transfer coins you have received.   You don't need to be online, or have a client up to date, or even have a computer to receive bitcoins.

Yeah, the reason I'm still using it is simply that I haven't used my wallet in forever.  In hindsight, I should have just sent my coins from the EclipseMC account straight to an account on MtGox or something.

[supersonic3974]

After installing it, start a cmd window and run "c:\path\to\bitcoin\bitcoin-qt.exe -rescan".

I'm guessing that before I run the updated wallet I need to download the latest blockchain and put both it and my wallet.dat file somewhere.  Where do I need to put these?

[Revalin]

Actually, the sourceforge blockchain is only to block 170k.  If you're already within 10k blocks of finished then there's no point in downloading it again.

All you have to do is exit, update to 0.6.2, then fire it up again.  It will pick up where it left off.

[supersonic3974]

Actually, the sourceforge blockchain is only to block 170k.  If you're already within 10k blocks of finished then there's no point in downloading it again.

All you have to do is exit, update to 0.6.2, then fire it up again.  It will pick up where it left off.

But I will need to put my wallet.dat file somewhere after installing 0.6.2, correct?

Where does it need to go?

[Revalin]

%APPDATA%\Bitcoin

On Windows 7, that means C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin

But you shouldn't have to do anything manually.  Upgrading won't delete the wallet.dat, so it'll already be there when you start it up again.

[FreeMoney]

Actually, the sourceforge blockchain is only to block 170k.  If you're already within 10k blocks of finished then there's no point in downloading it again.

All you have to do is exit, update to 0.6.2, then fire it up again.  It will pick up where it left off.

But I will need to put my wallet.dat file somewhere after installing 0.6.2, correct?

Where does it need to go?

You don't need to move it at all. But back it up just in case.

On an old version you'll need to go to C:\Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin it might be hidden.

[supersonic3974]

Ok, I have the updated wallet up and running and everything looks good.  The only problem now is that I'm only getting 10 connections.  Is there any way to speed up the blockchain update?

[Revalin]

10 is plenty.  The update is usually limited by the speed of your CPU and disk, not the number of connections.

0.6.2 should update faster than 0.3.23.  Just give it a bit.

[supersonic3974]

Ok, thanks Revalin.  One last question though.  How can I check the blockchain to see the transaction I sent?

[Revalin]

http://blockchain.info/ or http://blockexplorer.com/

Just enter your address in the search box.

[supersonic3974]

Ok cool.  I was trying to use blockexplorer.com earlier, but for some reason it kept timing out.  But blockchain.info worked just fine.

Thanks again Revalin, what address should I use to send you a tip once my blockchain finishes?

[Revalin]

Yeah, I've seen that on blockexplorer sometimes.  I suspect it happens occasionally when it's busy.

<-  My address is right over there. 

And no problem, always glad to help.

[supersonic3974]

I'm confused about the space in the middle of your address.

[Revalin]

It's just so that it wraps into the available width.  Delete the space.  

Edit: 165YUuQUWhBz3d27iXKxRiazQnjEtJNG9g

[supersonic3974]

Haha, I see.  It looked funny on my widescreen monitor.