Restored Wallet.dat No Balance

[BitQuestr (BitCoinWorldMarket)]

So I had just transferred all my bitcoin out of MtGox and I wanted to back up my wallet.dat

I mistakenly moved instead of copied the wallet.dat file while the bitcoin client was running. I then made several backups of the file, deleted the old bitcoin software 0.3.21 (mac), reinstalled and overwrote the wallet.dat file with the backup.

It shows all my transactions and everything in the address book but my transactions are all 0/unconfirmed and my balance is still at 0.00

The blocks are all scanned, do I just need to wait a few more hours for the network to confirm the transactions and the balance will be restored or did I do some damage to the file when i moved it while the client was running?


Thanks for any help.

[1715252457]

1715252457

[swusc2]

Err. Yeah I think you might have. If you have an older wallet file try that.

[NielDLR]

So I had just transferred all my bitcoin out of MtGox and I wanted to back up my wallet.dat

I mistakenly moved instead of copied the wallet.dat file while the bitcoin client was running. I then made several backups of the file, deleted the old bitcoin software 0.3.21 (mac), reinstalled and overwrote the wallet.dat file with the backup.

It shows all my transactions and everything in the address book but my transactions are all 0/unconfirmed and my balance is still at 0.00

The blocks are all scanned, do I just need to wait a few more hours for the network to confirm the transactions and the balance will be restored or did I do some damage to the file when i moved it while the client was running?


Thanks for any help.

I've seen some other forum members suggesting running bitcoin.exe with -rescan. So "bitcoin.exe -rescan" which rescans the blocks. This usually solves the problem. Do at own risk though. Backup backup backup and then some more backup!

[BitQuestr (BitCoinWorldMarket)]

I don't have an older copy.
I am running a mac so i don't have an exe file
How do i run a -rescan on a mac version?

Any other ideas?

If my transaction data is there shouldn't I still be able to recover it?

[kokjo]

I don't have an older copy.
I am running a mac so i don't have an exe file
How do i run a -rescan on a mac version?

Any other ideas?

If my transaction data is there shouldn't I still be able to recover it?

open  terminal(or the some thing like that)
cd the directory with bitcoin in it.
run bitcoin -rescan.
wait.

[SomeoneWeird]

I don't have an older copy.
I am running a mac so i don't have an exe file
How do i run a -rescan on a mac version?

Any other ideas?

If my transaction data is there shouldn't I still be able to recover it?

get to 50 posts (will take a while) then you can talk to someone with knowledge.

You don't need todo -rescan. It's been
implemented automatically into the newer clients.
Just wait for the entire blockchain to finish downloading,
if you don't have any (or very little) connections try adding some Fallback Nodes.

[BitQuestr (BitCoinWorldMarket)]

So i actually did find a wallet.dat file in my auto backups god bless time machine.

I checked my drop box and the timestamp is before i moved the file but after the the money showed up in my wallet. I am 90% sure i have an uncorrupted wallet.dat that has my transactions as well as was not moved before it got backed up.

I restored the file again just by copying it back in and the same thing is apparent. I have all the transactions and addresses listed.

As I am typing this one of my transactions is coming in confirmed as more blocks are being scanned. Hopefully the next ones will come as well.

Seriously, that seems like such a simple error to almost lose all of my money over. Move a file out of the client and all of my money gone.

I am so lucky my auto backup had the file.

The client really needs an auto backup in it. Bitcoin will not gain any acceptance by the general public if it is so easy to lose all of your bitcoin.

Here is crossing my fingers that my final transaction of all my BTC being deposited gets confirmed.

[BitQuestr (BitCoinWorldMarket)]

Just to report in the balance was restored.

4 backups later and a hell of a lot wiser I realize how fragile my wallet is and the need for good backups is apparent.

I am very computer literate but I have to admit the process to do backups and then learn to use trucrypt was quite the undertaking.

I think it should be emphasized even more that the bitcoin client needs to be shutdown completely before backing up. I can see someone not realizing it is still running in their task bar and having problems.

Perhaps in my earlier attempts not al of the blocks had downloaded and I would have received the balance regardless and this is actually not as big of an issue as I thought.

I think the next step is making a how to video on backups for the average joe. One for just securing from loss, and then a second for securing from theft.

[SomeoneWeird]

Just to report in the balance was restored.

4 backups later and a hell of a lot wiser I realize how fragile my wallet is and the need for good backups is apparent.

I am very computer literate but I have to admit the process to do backups and then learn to use trucrypt was quite the undertaking.

I think it should be emphasized even more that the bitcoin client needs to be shutdown completely before backing up. I can see someone not realizing it is still running in their task bar and having problems.

Perhaps in my earlier attempts not al of the blocks had downloaded and I would have received the balance regardless and this is actually not as big of an issue as I thought.

I think the next step is making a how to video on backups for the average joe. One for just securing from loss, and then a second for securing from theft.

Yeah, I might add auto backup + encryption to BitMiner later on down the track. Bitcoin should probably lock the file, so you can't even read it while the client is open.