Bitcoin recovery from 2011 wallet?

[bread45]

Yes, the harddrive is an ssd and has been my main machine being used on a daily basis.

[jojo69]

[Sword Smith]

bread45: DeathAndTaxes is saying all you need to know and what we others were too lazy or too ignorant to explain. Listen to him and follow his advice.

[bread45]

It appears that the transaction was never fully downloaded to the wallet.

Where would the private key for these bitcoins that were transfered exist if not in the wallet?

[Benjig]

Will be very hard

[jojo69]

you aren't listening

if blockchain.info shows the coins associated with that address they are associated with that address

either you posses the key to that address or you do not

go back and read the thread

[DeathAndTaxes]

you aren't listening

if blockchain.info shows the coins associated with that address they are associated with that address

either you posses the key to that address or you do not

go back and read the thread

This.  You don't "download" Bitcoins.   The Bitcoins were sent to an address.  You either have the private key for that address or you don't.  If you have that address in your wallet, you have that private key in your wallet as well.  If you don't have that address and private key in your wallet then your coins are lost or were never yours (potentially you sent them to an address you have NEVER had control of).

Another post shows how you can check if the address and private key are in your wallet.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=340948.msg3656457#msg3656457

If you post that address we can help you a little more by providing specific instructions but the concept is still the same.
To spend from Address X requires private key Y.  If Address X is yours and is part of this wallet.dat then private key Y should be also.

[bread45]

Thanks everyone for your help on this.

Ok, one last try here.

So I was able to find the following info on blockchain.info about the cashout transaction from Mt.Gox back in June, 2011

Original Mt.Gox transaction (cashout for 15 BTC)
https://blockchain.info/address/12Yim3HLs3vtpNonkSNN8WP6SiRL5svDeg

Unspent amount (14.9)
https://blockchain.info/unspent?active=12Yim3HLs3vtpNonkSNN8WP6SiRL5svDeg&format=html

So, If the bitcoins never made it to my wallet, is there any way I can re-capture them, or are they lost forever?

[DeathAndTaxes]

So, If the bitcoins never made it to my wallet, is there any way I can re-capture them, or are they lost forever?

It may seem like a techincal distinction but it matters.  Bitcoins don't "go to your wallet" Bitcoins are on the blockchain.  So the only thing that matters is do you have that address and private key in your wallet.dat file.  Simple version is if the answer is yes you have the coins, and if the answer is no you don't.

Longer version:
The 14.9 BTC was sent to address 12Yim3HLs3vtpNonkSNN8WP6SiRL5svDeg, they haven't been spent so the person who has the private key for 12Yim3HLs3vtpNonkSNN8WP6SiRL5svDeg is the only person who can spend them.
So lets start at the beginning.  Is 12Yim3HLs3vtpNonkSNN8WP6SiRL5svDegin your wallet?


DC provided a good way for you to determine if that is the case

In Bitcoin-Qt, you can go to help->debug window -> console, and type dumpprivkey 12Yim3HLs3vtpNonkSNN8WP6SiRL5svDeg for the address. If the wallet doesn't have that address, you'll get a message:

dumpprivkey 12Yim3HLs3vtpNonkSNN8WP6SiRL5svDeg
Private key for address 12Yim3HLs3vtpNonkSNN8WP6SiRL5svDeg is not known (code -4)

If it provides you the private key then you are good.  If it provides an error then this wallet.dat file doesn't contain that address and thus doesn't have the private key necessary to spend those coins.

So if you get the error some long shots:
Are you sure you copied the backup wallet.dat to proper folder (is the client looking at the correct wallet.dat)?
Is it possible you created this address after you made a backup (100 future keys are stored but if the backup is very old relative to the date of the transaction it may not contain this private key) and maybe you made another backup after this transaction?  
Do you have any other wallet.dat files anywhere on any drive (hdd, usb, etc)?  If you have more than one wallet.dat files I would check them all.
Is it possible this address wasn't part of your wallet?  Maybe it was for an online account like another exchange or eWallet?

If you don't have this address in any wallet.dat file anywhere and it isn't the deposit address for an online service then there is no there is nothing to recover.  No private key = no coins.  I hope that isn't the case.

[jojo69]

that wallet indeed has 14.9BTC associated with it

now to find the key to that address

you really need to figure out how wallets work

[ZenKat]

Help with recovering wallet as I'm having no luck. Created a backup wallet and stored it on flash drive and one on my server. Days later my HD went out, saw the disk 11 errors coming, so fresh Win8.1 with fresh bitcoin-qt install on SSD. Deleted the on startup wallet.dat from C:\Users\D\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin and copied my backup from server. Ran bitcoin-qt -rescan as instructions indicate but no joy. I closed bitcoin-qt.exe and deleted the new wallet and copied the second backup that I'd made days later. Started with rescan again and no joy.