Update with out synced wallet?

[Mineral Miner]

Qt 4.8.3
I haven't opened it in a few years. The last time I did I gave up on syncing after a few weeks. So, I start it up a few days ago and right now I have 62,450 blocks remaining. Minutes go by faster than the blocks. Every thing I have read says you need to sync before upgrading but this will take 6 months plus.  My questions are, can I backup my wallet.dat, update and not loose my coins without syncing? Or, can I save my wallet.dat, download another wallet on a different PC and put my wallet.dat into that wallet? Any advice or links would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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[Foxpup]

Every thing I have read says you need to sync before upgrading but this will take 6 months plus.

I don't know where you read that, but it is false. It makes no difference when upgrading whether you are fully synced, not synced at all (as would be the case with a fresh installation), or anything in between. The new version should pick up where the old version left off and, since many optimizations have been made in recent versions, it will finish synchronizing much faster.

My questions are, can I backup my wallet.dat, update and not loose my coins without syncing?

Yes. You should in any case back up your wallet.dat whether you plan to upgrade or not.

Or, can I save my wallet.dat, download another wallet on a different PC and put my wallet.dat into that wallet?

If by "another wallet", you mean "something other than Bitcoin Core", then no, at least not easily. Bitcoin-Qt/Core wallet files are generally not compatible with other programs.

[Decoded]

For all Bitcoin versions, you can update without having fully synced. The older updates have a different block structure, so when you update they will even require a full resync.

But make sure to make a backup of your wallet.dat.

[Mineral Miner]

Thanks Foxpup and Decoded.

I am backed up, just need to upgrade now. What I meant by another wallet was put a new Bitcoin/Qt wallet on a different computer and the put the wallet file into that.

[achow101]

Thanks Foxpup and Decoded.

I am backed up, just need to upgrade now. What I meant by another wallet was put a new Bitcoin/Qt wallet on a different computer and the put the wallet file into that.

Yes, you can transfer the wallet.dat files between computers and they will work with other installations of Bitcoin Core that are the same version or greater than the Bitcoin Core installed on the original machine. However if you move it to a newer version of Bitcoin Core, you may not be able to move that wallet back to the old version as changes to the wallet can make downgrades impossible.