Lost Bitcoin Core wallet.

[tiivitaavi]

Hello,

I bought many bitcoins back 2013 and since then my laptop went completely broken, I did do a backup, but its no where to find.
So I cant find my Bitcoin Core wallet anywhere anymore, but I have the password for it and the last address where the bitcoins came to my wallet. (didn't do any other transactions with that wallet)
Is it possible to recover the wallet with this infromation? If it is how its possible?
Thank you all for the answers and sorry if this had been asked before in this forum (I couldn't find similiar topic as this)

[1714054936]

1714054936

[1714054936]

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[LoyceV]

Is it possible to recover the wallet with this infromation?

No.

You'll need your wallet file, it's probably called wallet.dat.
When a laptop is "completely broken", that can mean a lot of things. Do you still have the laptop? If so, chances are your wallet is still on the hard drive. If not, you're going to have to find the backup of your wallet.dat.

[djhomeschool]

If you still have the harddisk from the laptop take a look in:

Code:

C:\Users\ReplaceUsername\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
and C:\Users\ReplaceUsername\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallets

(Replace "ReplaceUsername" with the username you used on the laptop, for example: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin)

See if you can locate a file called "wallet.dat"

If you erased your harddisk you can use tools to recover erased data, read here: https://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/recover-deleted-files.htm

Let us know if this helped

[ABCbits]

If you erased your harddisk you can use tools to recover erased data, read here: https://www.easeus.com/datarecoverywizard/recover-deleted-files.htm

For best result, please make RAW copy of your harddisk and perform any recovery attempt on RAW copy.

To make RAW copy : http://www.hddguru.com/software/HDD-Raw-Copy-Tool/
Perform recovery from RAW copy : https://www.remosoftware.com/how-to-recover-iso-image-file

[pereira4]

Do NOT power up the HDD again on your laptop or any other regular computer, because the sectors in which your wallet file are setting could become overwritten and thus basically impossible to recover unless you hire some high tier forensics specialists. Just an overwrite and it will become a nightmare. Use special hardware for this. I don't think those apps will cut it, don't risk it. If you are serious, you should go deeper. If it not was a lot of money, I guess don't bother and use the software on hddguru.

[naska21]

Do NOT power up the HDD again on your laptop or any other regular computer, because the sectors in which your wallet file are setting could become overwritten and thus basically impossible to recover unless you hire some high tier forensics specialists. ........

[malevolent]

OP shouldn't try booting an operating system on the affected drive, but connecting it to a different computer to make a copy of the contents should be fine.

[bob123]

Do NOT power up the HDD again on your laptop or any other regular computer, because the sectors in which your wallet file are setting could become overwritten and thus basically impossible to recover unless you hire some high tier forensics specialists. ........

Well, the question then becomes how to use the tool of Raw copy (suggested by @ETFbitcoin) if HDD powering up is able to overwrite some of HDD sectors? Do you still insist in your statement? I couldn't even  begin to guess any strong reason why that could happen.  IMO, that could only occur through  RAM mapping  but the odd coincidence that the sectors in question would be affected is very low.

It can happen if the drive has been formatted.
If you want to recover sensitive (and valuable) information, you indeed shouldn't boot from this drive anymore.

The correct way to clone this hard drive without simply 'connecting' it, would be to clone it with an write-blocker in between the hard drive and the computer accessing it.

Write-blocker are devices which block any writing to the hard drive, but allow reading.
They can either be hardware-write-blocker (small devices, costs money) or software-write-blocker (partially free).

However, a simple way would be to mount the drive read-only in a unix system. Not as safe as using a hardware-write-blocker, but doesn't require additional hardware.


One should always create 2 raw images and only perform recovery on such an image. Never on the original drive.

[keychainX]

Hello,

I bought many bitcoins back 2013 and since then my laptop went completely broken, I did do a backup, but its no where to find.
So I cant find my Bitcoin Core wallet anywhere anymore, but I have the password for it and the last address where the bitcoins came to my wallet. (didn't do any other transactions with that wallet)
Is it possible to recover the wallet with this infromation? If it is how its possible?
Thank you all for the answers and sorry if this had been asked before in this forum (I couldn't find similiar topic as this)

your best bet is to look for backups  (maybe it was a blockchain.info) wallet, then you can recover a copy of it

/KX

[lankymanx]

Hi guys, i dont have money for a Nano Ledger X or S and i also feel FOR ME that if something goes wrong with the unit , like if it does not turn on one day or just a button doesnt work or sommething stupid, then i dont know what i would do.
I feel for me, my best alternative to not store my coins on an exchange like i am currently doing, is to put my coins on a bitcoin core wallet.
I have fully downloaded and synchronized the blockchain of 250 gigs, BUT now i would like to confirm what i should do in case something breaks....
How can i keep my wallet and my stuff safe , before i send my fraction of my bitcoin to my wallet....
Thanks..

[LoyceV]

Hi guys, i dont have money for a Nano Ledger X or S

See *** below

and i also feel FOR ME that if something goes wrong with the unit , like if it does not turn on one day or just a button doesnt work or sommething stupid, then i dont know what i would do.

If you keep your 24 seed word phrase safe, you can just buy a new Ledger and restore everything.

I feel for me, my best alternative to not store my coins on an exchange like i am currently doing, is to put my coins on a bitcoin core wallet.

Offline storage is safer, if your Bitcoin Core runs on an online computer, it could be compromised, especially on Windows.

I have fully downloaded and synchronized the blockchain of 250 gigs, BUT now i would like to confirm what i should do in case something breaks....
How can i keep my wallet and my stuff safe , before i send my fraction of my bitcoin to my wallet....

And here's the ***: if you have a load of Bitcoin, you have money for a hardware wallet.
To answer your question: make a backup of wallet.dat. Then, make another backup, and once in a while make another backup on a new storage medium (say USB-stick) just in case the hardware where you made the other backups fails.

[lankymanx]

Hi guys, i dont have money for a Nano Ledger X or S

See *** below

and i also feel FOR ME that if something goes wrong with the unit , like if it does not turn on one day or just a button doesnt work or sommething stupid, then i dont know what i would do.

If you keep your 24 seed word phrase safe, you can just buy a new Ledger and restore everything.

I feel for me, my best alternative to not store my coins on an exchange like i am currently doing, is to put my coins on a bitcoin core wallet.

Offline storage is safer, if your Bitcoin Core runs on an online computer, it could be compromised, especially on Windows.

I have fully downloaded and synchronized the blockchain of 250 gigs, BUT now i would like to confirm what i should do in case something breaks....
How can i keep my wallet and my stuff safe , before i send my fraction of my bitcoin to my wallet....

And here's the ***: if you have a load of Bitcoin, you have money for a hardware wallet.
To answer your question: make a backup of wallet.dat. Then, make another backup, and once in a while make another backup on a new storage medium (say USB-stick) just in case the hardware where you made the other backups fails.

Thank you for feedback.
Does the wallet.dat file get updated ? i am not sure why i need to keep making a backup of the same file?
Also, is this all i need is the wallet.dat file... i have heard of private keys but i am not sure why i need them -  yes i have read the one article on medium about the keys and how to dump them, but i am still not sure why i need them.
Because surely i would just install a new bitcoin core wallet and then synch it again and then copy in and over write my original wallet.dat file ?
Then I  can interact with it and stuff, receive and send , right ?
Not sure why i need the private keys

[LoyceV]

Does the wallet.dat file get updated ? i am not sure why i need to keep making a backup of the same file?

Your wallet.dat will contain all private keys, and (assuming your new wallet is HD), your old backup will always be able to restore all your funds.
The reason for multiple backups is because your USB-stick, CD or wherever you made the backup can fail.

Because surely i would just install a new bitcoin core wallet and then synch it again and then copy in and over write my original wallet.dat file ?
Then I  can interact with it and stuff, receive and send , right ?

Correct. And I encourage you to actually test your backup before relying on them.

[lankymanx]

Hi i have had a look in the system tray of the wallet, if u can call it that, and it says HD key generation enabled - no idea what that means.
So i only need my wallet.dat file to be backed up , prefrably to a USB stick, CD HDD/SSD/360K Floppy/720K Stiffy whatever?
I do not need private keys to be dumped?
If i dump them , where the heck do they go to, what is it cle

"""""""""""""""
Copied from the bitcoincore site:
    Go to the "Receive" tab in the application.
    Click the "Request payment" button.
    Receive new address.

The "Receiving addresses" window that is found under the "File" menu is just a list of the addresses that you have requested so far.  You won't get a new one until you request it.
"""""""""""""

So then i took that address and then typed dumpprivkey {addy} as per below.


18:01:41

dumpprivkey 37Tn1St******c6vaYcsoPWxda

18:01:41

L3GKAxpb12q*********URMqM6w441QTF

Is this it? , and then what do i use it for?

So if i need to re-install bitcoincore to a different machine because something hapened to my original bitcoin core ...blackchain and all...
i would be praying i have the wallet.dat and then i would copy that file over to the new installation  roaming data folder and bob is my uncle?
what do i need to private keys for though?

[malevolent]

Yes, you have an HD wallet so just keep that file in a safe place and you're fine. Private keys can also be separately imported into a different wallet if you don't want to download the entire blockchain on a different computer.

[keychainX]

So if i need to re-install bitcoincore to a different machine because something hapened to my original bitcoin core ...blackchain and all...
i would be praying i have the wallet.dat and then i would copy that file over to the new installation  roaming data folder and bob is my uncle?
what do i need to private keys for though?

You can also do a deep scan of your drive. If you only did a quick-format then its possible to look for keys on the drive on a low-level.

To be safe, make a backup copy of the entire drive, preferably an image.

Then scan the image for possbile wallet.dat files or private keys.

You can do this with a tool call pywallet, you can get it from here: https://github.com/jackjack-jj/pywallet

Good luck!
/KX