usernamesareprettyha (OP)
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January 06, 2017, 01:48:54 AM |
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Hey guys,
I've been sitting on some BTC for a few years which I had stored in an offline Armory wallet running on a Debian desktop. I also have a paper backup of the wallet and the passphrase written down somewhere (I hope the ink hasn't faded).
I've neglected the Debian desktop completely and it hasn't been turned on for around 2 years. At the current size I'm guessing the blockchain will take me days or weeks to sync. What's going to happen when I power it back on? I've also been reading about the dev team at Armory changing and some possible forks - will this impact me? Is Armory still a good choice for cold storage for smaller amounts of BTC.
With BTC rising again I suppose there will be a few people in my situation.
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achow101
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January 06, 2017, 01:55:07 AM |
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What's going to happen when I power it back on?
First, you should update all of your software. Install the latest Bitcoin Core and the latest Armory. Then you need to start Bitcoin Core and let it sync. You MUST sync Bitcoin Core otherwise Armory will not work. This will download the entire blockchain which is ~100 GB right now. It syncs automatically so all you need to do is make sure your computer has enough disk space and then just start the software. I've also been reading about the dev team at Armory changing and some possible forks - will this impact me?
No. The current dev team consists of the same person who worked on previous versions of Armory and a few community members (including myself) and other former employees of ATI (the previous developers). Is Armory still a good choice for cold storage for smaller amounts of BTC.
Armory is still a good choice for cold storage of any amounts. |
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usernamesareprettyha (OP)
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January 06, 2017, 02:05:06 AM |
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Thanks.
Just wondering if there's a way around syncing the entire block chain (although this sounds the safest way to restore).
What information is on the Armory paper backup? Is it possible to restore this using a sweep function into a different wallet that may not require the entire blockchain?
Just wondering what the worst case scenario would be if the entire Armory dev team disappeared and I could't get hold of the software for example.
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achow101
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January 06, 2017, 02:08:37 AM |
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Thanks.
Just wondering if there's a way around syncing the entire block chain (although this sounds the safest way to restore).
Unfortunately there is not. Armory requires the entire blockchain. What information is on the Armory paper backup? Is it possible to restore this using a sweep function into a different wallet that may not require the entire blockchain?
The Armory paper backup contains a root private key which is used to derive all of your addresses. Unfortunately this root key is not the same as BIP 32 master private keys nor is the derivation algorithm the same. You would have to import your wallet into Armory and then export all of the private keys to be imported into another wallet. Just wondering what the worst case scenario would be if the entire Armory dev team disappeared and I could't get hold of the software for example.
The source code is forked by multiple people and publicly available on github. So you can still compile Armory from source AND binaries are currently hosted on Github as well so you can get those there too. |
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usernamesareprettyha (OP)
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January 06, 2017, 02:19:16 AM |
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Thanks again, I think I understand the process now.
Just a few more questions about the paper backups.
Is there a limit to the compatibility of the paper backups? For example, will my paper backup from 2 years ago successfully restore into the latest Armory version? Is this backup likely to still be valid in another 2 years? Will a paper backup from the official Armory wallet restore into one of the community forked versions?
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achow101
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January 06, 2017, 02:25:59 AM |
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Is there a limit to the compatibility of the paper backups? For example, will my paper backup from 2 years ago successfully restore into the latest Armory version?
AFAIK, yes, it will still be compatible. I don't think this has changed in a long time. Is this backup likely to still be valid in another 2 years?
Maybe. We are planning on moving to BIP 32 which will thus deprecate the currently used stuff. However the legacy wallet systems will likely still be kept for backwards compatibility. Will a paper backup from the official Armory wallet restore into one of the community forked versions?
Most likely. It depends on what has been changed by the people that forked it. |
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runeks
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January 07, 2017, 05:03:23 AM |
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I'm in exactly the same situation. Bitcore Core is done syncing, and has left me with 100GB of blockchain data, but when I start Armory, it starts building its database which fills up my SSD. Questions: - What's the size of Armory's database?
- Is there a way to just not save this database to disk, but only save the information relevant to deducing my wallet's balance?
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Holliday
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January 07, 2017, 05:09:07 AM |
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I'm in exactly the same situation. Bitcore Core is done syncing, and has left me with 100GB of blockchain data, but when I start Armory, it starts building its database which fills up my SSD. Questions: - What's the size of Armory's database?
- Is there a way to just not save this database to disk, but only save the information relevant to deducing my wallet's balance?
Which version of Armory are you using? The new releases don't replicate the entire block chain like the old versions. The database is relatively small, measured in MB, not GB. |
If you aren't the sole controller of your private keys, you don't have any bitcoins.
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runeks
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January 09, 2017, 07:26:52 AM
Last edit: January 09, 2017, 07:39:08 AM by runeks |
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^ I'm running 0.93.3. 0.95.1 won't start for me on OSX (not sure how to debug this, as I'm used to Linux), so I just got 0.93.3. EDIT: With 0.95.1, if I do this open /Applications/Armory.app in a terminal, the Armory icon appears very briefly in the dock, then disappears, and nothing is printed to the console. EDIT2: Found 0.95 on the GitHub repo's Releases page, and it works. It's scanning now... |
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droark
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January 09, 2017, 04:07:30 PM |
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^ I'm running 0.93.3. 0.95.1 won't start for me on OSX (not sure how to debug this, as I'm used to Linux), so I just got 0.93.3. EDIT: With 0.95.1, if I do this open /Applications/Armory.app in a terminal, the Armory icon appears very briefly in the dock, then disappears, and nothing is printed to the console. EDIT2: Found 0.95 on the GitHub repo's Releases page, and it works. It's scanning now... . (It'll be rolled into 0.96.) That should allow 0.95.1 to launch. |
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Rampion
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January 09, 2017, 04:59:05 PM |
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^ I'm running 0.93.3. 0.95.1 won't start for me on OSX (not sure how to debug this, as I'm used to Linux), so I just got 0.93.3. EDIT: With 0.95.1, if I do this open /Applications/Armory.app in a terminal, the Armory icon appears very briefly in the dock, then disappears, and nothing is printed to the console. EDIT2: Found 0.95 on the GitHub repo's Releases page, and it works. It's scanning now... . (It'll be rolled into 0.96.) That should allow 0.95.1 to launch. That fix worked for me. But you will need to remember move Armory.app to your Application folder for it to work. |
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droark
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January 09, 2017, 07:53:01 PM |
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That fix worked for me. But you will need to remember move Armory.app to your Application folder for it to work.
This isn't exactly true. The code can be anywhere. However, my post assumed that it was under /Applications. The path will need to be adjusted if the code is elsewhere. Otherwise, everything should be fine.  |
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jammers
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January 11, 2017, 08:45:19 PM |
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It'll take a day or so to get Core up to date, then an hour or two to get armory up and running if you have the wallets already loaded, a bit longer if you don't
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usernamesareprettyha (OP)
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November 29, 2017, 11:45:26 AM |
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Hi again, I never actually managed to complete the full sync due to internet limitation where I was back then. I have some follow up questions before I attempt any of these restores:
Could someone please clarify this statement from above? "We are planning on moving to BIP 32 which will thus deprecate the currently used stuff. However the legacy wallet systems will likely still be kept for backwards compatibility."
Does this mean that at some point the older paper backups will not be restorable into the newer clients? Has this happened yet?
I also have some questions of compatibility around bitcoin core and Armory.
Currently, I have Bitcoin core 15.1 installed and finishing the sync of the blockchain. My main reason for updating was to take advantage of the big initial sync performance improvements. I'm now not 100% sure which versions of Armory support this.
For example, 96.0 says it supports 14.0+, does this mean 14.x only or does it include 15.x?
I'm running OSX and have Armory 95.1 installed, it seems 96.1 is the latest that has OSX support, is that correct?
Lastly, is there any danger in restoring into a slightly older version of Armory. E.g, if I restore into 95.1, is this ok? To clarify my original post title was slightly off. My paper backup was actually from the start of 2014, so it's now closer to 4 years.
I really appreciate all the help on here, thanks!
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achow101
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November 29, 2017, 07:30:00 PM |
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Could someone please clarify this statement from above? "We are planning on moving to BIP 32 which will thus deprecate the currently used stuff. However the legacy wallet systems will likely still be kept for backwards compatibility."
Does this mean that at some point the older paper backups will not be restorable into the newer clients?
Yes. Has this happened yet?
No. We have not moved to BIP 32 yet. Once we do, it will still be a few versions before the legacy wallets are phased out entirely. I also have some questions of compatibility around bitcoin core and Armory.
Currently, I have Bitcoin core 15.1 installed and finishing the sync of the blockchain. My main reason for updating was to take advantage of the big initial sync performance improvements. I'm now not 100% sure which versions of Armory support this.
For example, 96.0 says it supports 14.0+, does this mean 14.x only or does it include 15.x?
0.15.x is greater than 0.14, so it is supported. However you should use the latest version of Armory anyways, 0.96.3 or 0.96.4 RC1. I'm running OSX and have Armory 95.1 installed, it seems 96.1 is the latest that has OSX support, is that correct?
0.96.3 has OSX binaries that I forgot to list on the website. You can get them from here: https://github.com/goatpig/BitcoinArmory/releases/tag/v0.96.3. You could also use 0.96.4 RC 1 which has a few bug fixes, available from here: https://github.com/goatpig/BitcoinArmory/releases/tag/v0.96.3.99Lastly, is there any danger in restoring into a slightly older version of Armory. E.g, if I restore into 95.1, is this ok?
It should be fine, but the older versions have a variety of bugs and performance issues that were fixed in the new versions. |
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