Can't get new Core client to recognize old wallet

[firetreeactual]

I lost my Ubuntu 16.04LTS hard drive a couple of days ago, but was able to get all the data without any issues. New SSD system drive, new clean install of 16.04LTS; but I find I'm installing my Bitcoin Core from the Software Center via Snap. No problem. It installed and synced...but does not recognize my wallet.dat file (from my backup), has its own wallet file called Documents.dat, but still shows nothing in transactions (there's two years of records in there).

Anyway...I'm sure someone's run into this and I would really like to not have to reinvent the wheel.

FWIW...I'm running a Phenom 8-core with 16GB of RAM, tons of storage space. The current version I just installed is defined as "v0.15.1.0-7b57bc9-dirty (64-bit)" in the Help menu. The previous client (and wallet) were under v0.13.2.

I'm thinking I may have to do some moving around in the terminal, but I'm inclined to ask for help first. There wasn't a lot in the wallet in terms of value, but a whole lotta tx info I'd like to keep.

Thanks in advance.

[1715668048]

1715668048

[1715668048]

1715668048

[1715668048]

1715668048

[achow101]

It installed and synced...but does not recognize my wallet.dat file (from my backup), has its own wallet file called Documents.dat

What do you mean "has its own wallet file called Documents.dat"? Bitcoin Core does not create a file called Documents.dat. The only way that would be created is if you have configured Bitcoin Core to create a wallet file named such.

What are the contents of your bitcoin.conf file?

[Welsh]

If it's created a file named Documents.data then you should probably think about verifying the installation via PGP to assure you haven't complied from a malicious source. 

Where are you putting the wallet.dat file? If you could navigate to the default folder ~/.bitcoin/ unless you have changed it to use a custom location and list whats in there using the

Code:

 ls 

command and post that here maybe we could make some sense out of this.

[firetreeactual]

Well...I think I solved my own problem. Apps running in the snap environment are new to me. OTOH, I discovered by accident that the .conf and wallet.dat files aren't even created until the app has been running a bit syncing.

What I've had to do so far is start the app, let it work for a minute or two, and then I stopped it.

Then I moved my backed up wallet file (a copy, of course) into the snap's location where it had created it's wallet.dat, renamed that oldwallet.dat, and so my backed up wallet.dat is now the target.

I next then relaunched the app, and rather than going to a syncing and picking up where it was, it is showing "Verifying wallet(s)..." I have seen documentation from Core that older wallets than 15 are still supported.

It's been doing that for a few minutes now...but the wallet file is a bit over 65MB, so it could take a while.

Just be patient now, I guess.

Thanks for coming back to me.

[firetreeactual]

Figured it out, FWIW. The wallet file from the failed HDD was corrupted, as was its backup. Didn't find that out until the sync was complete, restarted Core, and it went into the "Verifying wallet(s)..." thing for several hours.

It then popped up and detailed that the wallet file was corrupted, and tried to fix it. That part did not work well (it was over 65MB). I've had to start with a new Core and zero balance, but that isn't all bad...there was only .004BTC in it.

Thanks again for the responses.