Lost BTC?

[Mechanic1c]

Hey, this is my first post here, but I have a sort of burning question.

About a year ago, my brother gave me 0.05 BTC on a wallet on my computer. I completely forgot about it until I realized how much the value has soared recently. The thing was that my old computer broke and that's where my wallet was, but I had the whole hard drive put into an external and I still had all the files. I found the wallet with that same address that I know he sent it to, and it took ages to sync, but when it finished there was nothing in it. Is there any explanation as to how it could have disappeared?

Thanks for bothering to read and post. 

[naphto]

What is the btc address?

[PenAndPaper]

Maybe your brother spent it already. In any case there is no way for the coins to just disappear. 

[OnkelPaul]

Bitcoins "in a wallet" are not actually in the wallet, but in the blockchain.
The wallet is more or less like a keyring, with a number of keys that can be used to spend transactions sent to their respective addresses.
You only "have" the bitcoins when nobody else has a copy of the keys.
What actually happened in your case is not clear from your description - maybe your brother kept a copy of the wallet and removed them after your hard disk was gone, maybe you had a wallet-stealing malware program that copied your wallet, allowing some criminal to spend it.
Normally, a wallet program such as bitcoin-qt does not only show balances but transactions. You should be able to see when the wallet contained which amounts, and when bitcoins had been spent from it.
You should check this - and if you need more help from forum members, you should describe the facts in detail:
What wallet software do you use?
How do you know that the wallet contained 0.05 BTC?
If you know the wallet address but don't know how to view transactions in your wallet software, you can use blockchain.info to see what transactions have moved bitcoins into and out of this address.

Onkel Paul

[Mechanic1c]

This is how I know: http://blockexplorer.com/address/124rng28u4iT7Uojjj9jL6pTpXsKCLGNnR
Is that trustworthy? I didn't see any sign of it being gone.

And when I ran it, it didn't show any transactions whatsoever.

[naphto]

1FHJMxKZh1dcDbQxuLC2aCrR8kcwZN6FRt

https://blockchain.info/address/1FHJMxKZh1dcDbQxuLC2aCrR8kcwZN6FRt


There is 0 btc in that address now

[Mechanic1c]

1FHJMxKZh1dcDbQxuLC2aCrR8kcwZN6FRt

https://blockchain.info/address/1FHJMxKZh1dcDbQxuLC2aCrR8kcwZN6FRt


There is 0 btc in that address now

I don't really understand this page... sorry. I hope you explain if I need to know it, but otherwise thanks anyway

But it was sent, right? where could it have gone? I didn't see any other history but it says there's no balance, and so does my wallet.

[naphto]

This is the info concerning the btc address.
As you can see it, you received some btc there, but now the balance is 0 btc because all was sent a few months ago

[OnkelPaul]

The bitcoins in 124rng28u4iT7Uojjj9jL6pTpXsKCLGNnR are still there, so if the key to that address is in your wallet you should be fine.
So what wallet software do you use? Does it show this address?

BTW, what naphto writes is probably misleading. The address 1FHJMxKZh1dcDbQxuLC2aCrR8kcwZN6FRt is the one from which your wallet was filled, most likely it belonged to your brother.
Now it is empty, as naphto wrote, but that does not affect the funds in 124rng28u4iT7Uojjj9jL6pTpXsKCLGNnR.

Onkel Paul

[de3mka]

One possibility why you are seeing 0 balance is because you ran a bitcoin client on another PC. When you first run a client it creates a folder with a new wallet.dat file.

What you need to do is to replace a wallet.dat file in the bitcoin data folder with the one you have restored from the old HDD and resync the client. Pay attention at when the block  170102 is being downloaded, you must see the balance then.

[naphto]

The bitcoins in 124rng28u4iT7Uojjj9jL6pTpXsKCLGNnR are still there, so if the key to that address is in your wallet you should be fine.
So what wallet software do you use? Does it show this address?

BTW, what naphto writes is probably misleading. The address 1FHJMxKZh1dcDbQxuLC2aCrR8kcwZN6FRt is the one from which your wallet was filled, most likely it belonged to your brother.
Now it is empty, as naphto wrote, but that does not affect the funds in 124rng28u4iT7Uojjj9jL6pTpXsKCLGNnR.

Onkel Paul

Hmmmm, maybe I misunderstood what was the btc address.
Maybe it is a problem with the synchro, or the display of the balance.

He could try to synch again

[majorX]

Try close the Bitcoin-qt and start it with -rescan command
Also is 124rng28u4iT7Uojjj9jL6pTpXsKCLGNnR in the receive address page?

[Mechanic1c]

Thanks, all. As for de3mka, I thought that's what I did, but I'll see if I can look into that in more detail.

and MajorX, yeah. However, I understood nothing from the rest of your post.


EDIT:
HOLD MY HORSES. New discovery. It says my recieving address is different than the one he sent it to. did I just give him the wrong address? Was it never received? RAAAAH

[honky1492]

HOLD MY HORSES. New discovery. It says my recieving address is different than the one he sent it to. did I just give him the wrong address? Was it never received? RAAAAH

It may mean you need to replace wallet.dat file in the bitcoin data folder with your backup (the old HDD)

[marcovaldo]

What is your receiving address?
If he sent it to the wrong address, the coins are lost.

[Mechanic1c]

Okay, so I'm screwed.

Thanks anyway.

[bilcow]

Yeap, you just lost your btc:) You don't have chance to retrieve.

[gripflierGO]

Yeap, you just lost your btc:) You don't have chance to retrieve.

With backup or original wallet file he can retrieve the BTC. I guess OP realized he does not have it anymore

[Mechanic1c]

Well, I had the wallet that should contain the BTC but he sent it to the send address instead of the receive address, so it's just lost as far as I know.