How can I take my bitcoins onto a new hard drive?

[SlickMoTwoToe]

My hard drive is failing and will need to be replaced. I'll probably end up installing the OS Windows 8 or 8.1 from scratch. I have bitcoins in BTC core that I want to still have after the wallet software is deleted/gone. What's the best way to do this?

[altcoinhosting]

AFAIK, you only need the wallet.dat file, just copy it to your new HD and you can continue like nothing happened

[Hexcoin]

AFAIK, you only need the wallet.dat file, just copy it to your new HD and you can continue like nothing happened

This is the best answer and aside from that, you can copy the private keys manually then export it in your new wallet

[Muhammed Zakir]

AFAIK, you only need the wallet.dat file, just copy it to your new HD and you can continue like nothing happened

This is the best answer and aside from that, you can copy the private keys manually then export it in your new wallet

And if you are going to continue using Bitcoin Core, then it's better to copy default directory so that you don't want to download blocks from the start.

You can find wallet.dat in default data directory. See https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory.

[Flanagan]

AFAIK, you only need the wallet.dat file, just copy it to your new HD and you can continue like nothing happened

This is the best answer and aside from that, you can copy the private keys manually then export it in your new wallet

And if you are going to continue using Bitcoin Core, then it's better to copy default directory so that you don't want to download blocks from the start.

You can find wallet.dat in default data directory. See https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory.

One thing, so if I manage to download the whole blockchain with bitcoin core as I am in fact doing, if later I take that wallet.dat file from bitcoin core, could I use this file in another lighweight client (electrum) to check my coins? What if I have several wallets in bitcoin core, will there be one wallet.dat per wallet to copy or just the one ? thanks

[shorena]

AFAIK, you only need the wallet.dat file, just copy it to your new HD and you can continue like nothing happened

This is the best answer and aside from that, you can copy the private keys manually then export it in your new wallet

And if you are going to continue using Bitcoin Core, then it's better to copy default directory so that you don't want to download blocks from the start.

You can find wallet.dat in default data directory. See https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory.

One thing, so if I manage to download the whole blockchain with bitcoin core as I am in fact doing, if later I take that wallet.dat file from bitcoin core, could I use this file in another lighweight client (electrum) to check my coins?

No, especially electrum allows you to restore its addresses via a mnemonic called seed. You could import the private keys and addresses from your old bitcoin core wallet into electrum, but it would defeat the purpose of the seed. The imported keys are not covered by the backup via seed. If you use a different wallet the most safe to do so is to transfer all coins from your old wallet into the new one. If you cant get bitcoin core to work for some reason for this, ask someone you trust to do it for you or import the private keys into a temp wallet.

What if I have several wallets in bitcoin core, will there be one wallet.dat per wallet to copy or just the one ? thanks

A wallet is not the same as an address, by default bitcoin core only manages a single wallet file the wallet.dat. You can rename the file to e.g. wallet1.dat and bitcoin core would create a new wallet with a new file and new addresses for you, but there is no way to manager several wallets within a single wallet file in bitcoin core. You would have to close bitcoin core and rename the files every time.

[cryptotipz]

you can try to dump the privkey through console and import into blockchain.info wallet... then export from blockchain.info & import to new HDD later

[philipma1957]

My hard drive is failing and will need to be replaced. I'll probably end up installing the OS Windows 8 or 8.1 from scratch. I have bitcoins in BTC core that I want to still have after the wallet software is deleted/gone. What's the best way to do this?

give me the coins let me hold them until you have new wallet on a new drive.

Now you may say WTF. I get you don't want to hand your coins over to anyone else.

But having all your coins in one wallet on a failing hdd is a good chance of coins getting destroyed. It is more likely you would lose your coins to  a bad hdd  then lose them to a trusted person to hold them.

BTW OgNasty comes to mind to hold your coins.


 I would say you need multiple wallets on multiple pc's .  I
But having all your coins in one wallet on a failing hdd is a good chance of coins getting destroyed.

I have 5 hot wallets with blockchain info.  I have a wallet account with  coinbase.

I have 2 bitcoin qts in my home.

you could buy this cloner.



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MHNSQH2/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687442&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B003WV5DLA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0R8F6FXC8TYXQAQZHVBK

just in case. clone the bad hdd to a good one. but be careful when you do it.

[Flanagan]

AFAIK, you only need the wallet.dat file, just copy it to your new HD and you can continue like nothing happened

This is the best answer and aside from that, you can copy the private keys manually then export it in your new wallet

And if you are going to continue using Bitcoin Core, then it's better to copy default directory so that you don't want to download blocks from the start.

You can find wallet.dat in default data directory. See https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory.

One thing, so if I manage to download the whole blockchain with bitcoin core as I am in fact doing, if later I take that wallet.dat file from bitcoin core, could I use this file in another lighweight client (electrum) to check my coins?

No, especially electrum allows you to restore its addresses via a mnemonic called seed. You could import the private keys and addresses from your old bitcoin core wallet into electrum, but it would defeat the purpose of the seed. The imported keys are not covered by the backup via seed. If you use a different wallet the most safe to do so is to transfer all coins from your old wallet into the new one. If you cant get bitcoin core to work for some reason for this, ask someone you trust to do it for you or import the private keys into a temp wallet.

What if I have several wallets in bitcoin core, will there be one wallet.dat per wallet to copy or just the one ? thanks

A wallet is not the same as an address, by default bitcoin core only manages a single wallet file the wallet.dat. You can rename the file to e.g. wallet1.dat and bitcoin core would create a new wallet with a new file and new addresses for you, but there is no way to manager several wallets within a single wallet file in bitcoin core. You would have to close bitcoin core and rename the files every time.

Thanks, got mixed up. Bitcoin  core only manages one single wallet file at a time, noted. (It's with armory where I have more than one).