[support] Corrupted bitcoin core wallet

[sachalamp]

I had a laptop with windows 8.1 for about, the OS started bugging out, wouldn't load windows after login screen (black desktop, no apps, no explorer). After several restarts it usually managed to start ok.

I was prompted to run checkdisck, which I did, it discovered a serious error and asked for restart. It tried repairing itself there but was unable to and wouldn't start at all after. I had the option to Refresh and i proceeded, without thinking about losing my bitcoin wallet. Biggest mistake is that i defragged the hdd two times after.

After refresh, i installed bitcoin core client and it prompted me with 0 balance and 3 years to catch back on blockchain (latter is normal i guess). I then panicked and stoped it, thinking i should ask first how to proceed.

It was a modest sum, of about 0.4 btc if i remember correctly, but i would like to know if i can do something to have it back.

I've used Undelete to recover data, i've found a wallet.
Digging further, i've used DeepScan feature to search again and found another entry for wallet, this time in windows.old...appdata\roaming\bitcoin so it appears the file was originally backed up but then deleted (i'm 100% positive i've haven't deleted it). That feature also uncovered many 'wallet' files, but i imagine some are windows related? walletframe.cpp or .h , walletmodel, walletstack etc.

Now i have two wallets, both same size ~152kb, none work when copy-pasted in Bitcoin folder (by replacing the new, empty wallet). I get ”wallet.dat corrupt, salvage failed”

I also tried drag and drop of wallet on blockchain site, nothing happens, not even an error.

I had more addresses on my bitcoin core wallet, the first one being 1UHe24UGtoL6xrzG9YAX3e4zoCu1C9Uca , created on 11 or 12 november 2013, but this is not the address I had the 0.4 btc on. I can't find that one yet but i'm trying to. The address i suspect had the coins I lost is 1KoeNAmguGAc1AgtDqCchwN6wZP8Mg8Xza

Can you please tell me what should I do?

I saw there are some recovery services but I don't know who to trust.

Thank you and have a nice day.

edit: i think I posted in a wrong subtopic. Should I delete this and create a new one or does a mod move it?

[mombay]

You can use Recova, i always use it when i lost files in my usb or hdd.

[sachalamp]

I have recovered the wallet.dat file. The problem is it's corrupted and I'm trying ways to open it. Currently trying pywallet but i can't get it to work.

[mombay]

I have recovered the wallet.dat file. The problem is it's corrupted and I'm trying ways to open it. Currently trying pywallet but i can't get it to work.

Compare your wallet.dat to a working one, open them with any text editor and see if you can do something.

[achow101]

Start Bitcoin Core with the -salvagewallet option. See https://achow101.com/2016/07/Bitcoin-Core-Troubleshooting#option-startup for help with doing that.