Unsure what to do with .wallet file

[Haiden]

Back in 2014 I picked up some BTC. At the time, I was going through a ton of personal issues, forgot al about it. Recently I found a few old HDDs, after connecting them to my PC, I found them to be empty. I was curious, so I ran recovery on one of them and found several files. Two of which are below see image.

I also have a text file. When opened, I see for example:  "8–’XJQ*æhµ»Ç7U(Y^;I±T¡Ûi¯Áø¶¥ð39Šå*ùb×õÑ:Ýæà86žë`" , which tells me its either corrupted or ... something with encoding? I'll be honesty, this actually baffles me, as I have no experience with it. What caught my eye is, I recall saving this exact file, it is my passphrase for a wallet which I got back in... 2009? When ever BTC first became a thing. The only reason I am bothering, other than curiosity, is because I have recently run into some pretty bad times, financially. I'm not one to believe in miracles etc, but this being a coincidence does not fit. I do recall purchasing the BTC and never using it. Any more details I can try to give, please ask and I will do my very best. I'm probably working myself up here for nothing, but you never know I guess.

Appreciate any suggestions.


(Apologies if the image does not post, its been years since I have used a forum)



https://i.imgur.com/4jr6hOs.png

[LoyceV]

Quoting to show the image:

[pooya87]

the only wallet software that i know of that used "*.wallet" extension name was MultiBit wallet which is now discontinued. since MultiBit was around back in 2013 it also matches the dates of those files (2013-11 and 2014-07). it also used a similar format to store the wallet files (meaning it included dates). so you might want to download MultiBit and check if it can import/read your files. here is the website: https://multibit.org/ you still can find releases at the bottom of the page.

ps. make sure to make a backup of the files before importing them in any software.

[Haiden]

Appreciate the help. I have tried this, it gives me no option to open an existing wallet until I enter the word. I'm guessing thats a passphrase? That is something I do not have, because I cannot read a file, which I apparently saved as text file. My guess is that is corrupt. I am hoping it is a wallet. If so, then perhaps the text file I have contains the information needed to open it. I absolutely did get BTC around that time, and did not use it. I picked up the coin in order to save it.

[nc50lc]

The file name format resembles this description: (so there's a high chance that it is a Multibit classic wallet)

Wallet backups. These are two more directories where backups are made of your wallets. One stores backups for encrypted wallets, the other for unencrypted wallets. These files are in the format 'saving-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.wallet' and 'saving-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.info'.

With your reply, I guess you've downloaded the "classic" not the HD version and successfully selected the file, right?
then that "word" must be your passphrase.

If not, download the Multibit Classic instead of Multibit HD and use "File / Open wallet" and browse t the location of your wallet file(s).

[Haiden]

The file name format resembles this description: (so there's a high chance that it is a Multibit classic wallet)

Wallet backups. These are two more directories where backups are made of your wallets. One stores backups for encrypted wallets, the other for unencrypted wallets. These files are in the format 'saving-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.wallet' and 'saving-YYYYMMDDHHMMSS.info'.

With your reply, I guess you've downloaded the "classic" not the HD version and successfully selected the file, right?
then that "word" must be your passphrase.

If not, download the Multibit Classic instead of Multibit HD and use "File / Open wallet" and browse t the location of your wallet file(s).

OK , that is done. It has been syncing for about 2 mins or so. Unsure if thats a good sign or not. Ill go make some coffee and relax with some YouTube for a bit. Not expecting this to work/anything to be there.  It would be a very welcomed surprise tho. If there was anything there, I'll make sure to , well, "pay it forward" to someone in need. I appreciate your help and will update.

Edit: Also, I suppose it does not matter if there is BTC in there, considering I do not have the passphrase. Man that would be a kick in the face if I found coin in the wallet.

[mocacinno]

--snip--
Edit: Also, I suppose it does not matter if there is BTC in there, considering I do not have the passphrase. Man that would be a kick in the face if I found coin in the wallet.

If you have *any* idear what your password *might* look like, you can always try to setup btcrecover:
https://github.com/gurnec/btcrecover

Mind you, this will ONLY work if you have a clue what your password will more or less look like (for example, if you know you only used upper/lowercase letters and numbers, and always create passwords that are 5 - 10 letters long, and you're pretty sure you always use a date in your password => you might have a shot at bruteforcing the password, eventough it might take a very long time)

[HCP]

OK , that is done. It has been syncing for about 2 mins or so. Unsure if thats a good sign or not.

It might not "sync" properly... That client is so old and outdated, that it might not be working correctly. However, if you have managed to open the .wallet files with MultiBit Classic, then you might want to try:

1. Look at the "Request" tab... it should show any addresses contained within the wallet. Then check those addresses on a block explorer like blockchain.com or BlockCypher

2. Try and export the private keys using "Tools -> Export Private Keys"


Finally, is the wallet displayed with a little padlock icon this:


If so, it is definitely password protected and you'll need that password to send coins or export the private keys

[bernardos]

Just a warning, dont make the mistake of trusting some newbies who PM you and ask you to send them your wallet file. Someone might try to take advantage of your situation although without the passphrase it is hard to get ahead.

[Haiden]

Just a warning, dont make the mistake of trusting some newbies who PM you and ask you to send them your wallet file. Someone might try to take advantage of your situation although without the passphrase it is hard to get ahead.

I've been on the net since dial-up, that could never happen. Appreciate the concern.


Update:

I am unable to access the file which I apparently saved as a .txt , which I am certain was a text file that I left the passphrase on. I also may have left a private comment on my FB page, to myself, with said passphrase. That is in the early days of BTC tho I believe, back when a lot of people did not believe it would go anywhere. I'm going to check all posts I made from specific years, to make certain. I also seem to recall trashing an HDD due to some , uh, questionable stuff I may/may not have been up to back then. Pretty sure I had a couple wallets on there. facepalming hard here.

[bartekjagoda]

Just a warning, dont make the mistake of trusting some newbies who PM you and ask you to send them your wallet file. Someone might try to take advantage of your situation although without the passphrase it is hard to get ahead.

I've been on the net since dial-up, that could never happen. Appreciate the concern.


Update:

I am unable to access the file which I apparently saved as a .txt , which I am certain was a text file that I left the passphrase on. I also may have left a private comment on my FB page, to myself, with said passphrase. That is in the early days of BTC tho I believe, back when a lot of people did not believe it would go anywhere. I'm going to check all posts I made from specific years, to make certain. I also seem to recall trashing an HDD due to some , uh, questionable stuff I may/may not have been up to back then. Pretty sure I had a couple wallets on there. facepalming hard here.

What did you scan your drives with? There ate several lowl scanners for tgis

[Haiden]

Just a warning, dont make the mistake of trusting some newbies who PM you and ask you to send them your wallet file. Someone might try to take advantage of your situation although without the passphrase it is hard to get ahead.

I've been on the net since dial-up, that could never happen. Appreciate the concern.


Update:

I am unable to access the file which I apparently saved as a .txt , which I am certain was a text file that I left the passphrase on. I also may have left a private comment on my FB page, to myself, with said passphrase. That is in the early days of BTC tho I believe, back when a lot of people did not believe it would go anywhere. I'm going to check all posts I made from specific years, to make certain. I also seem to recall trashing an HDD due to some , uh, questionable stuff I may/may not have been up to back then. Pretty sure I had a couple wallets on there. facepalming hard here.

What did you scan your drives with? There ate several lowl scanners for tgis

I'm not very well versed on all the different types, I'll admit. What I used was Recuva.


Edit: I'm sure you've all heard this before, but if I managed to work this out with help, I would absolutely compensate whoever. Hard times are upon me, which is what lead me to even bother.

[prix]

Any ideas for a password? Numbers, letters, length, encoding, etc? If you are sure that it's on the disk and there is some idea of ​​it's format, then you can find everything that looks like a password scanning the dump of the disk or using direct access and try to use it to unlock the wallet in auto mode. But programming skills and knowledge of files system are needed here. For example, there are MFT (master file table) in NTFS. And small files (called resident files) are store entirely within their MFT record. I think recovery program should do correct restore this files, but if MFT damaged maybe better try to restore manually. So first step for NTFS is scan MFT file for small txt data.

You can try to restore the partition using different programs.
For low-level access, manual recovery, dump I used WinHEX (but you need to figure out how the file system works), to restore partitions - testdisk.
For automatic file recovery, it is better to try as many programs as possible, sometimes different programs sometimes give different results.
In any case, first of all you need to have a copy of the disc in case the original accidentally damage.
Good luck.

[Haiden]

Any ideas for a password? Numbers, letters, length, encoding, etc? If you are sure that it's on the disk and there is some idea of ​​it's format, then you can find everything that looks like a password scanning the dump of the disk or using direct access and try to use it to unlock the wallet in auto mode. But programming skills and knowledge of files system are needed here. For example, there are MFT (master file table) in NTFS. And small files (called resident files) are store entirely within their MFT record. I think recovery program should do correct restore this files, but if MFT damaged maybe better try to restore manually. So first step for NTFS is scan MFT file for small txt data.

You can try to restore the partition using different programs.
For low-level access, manual recovery, dump I used WinHEX (but you need to figure out how the file system works), to restore partitions - testdisk.
For automatic file recovery, it is better to try as many programs as possible, sometimes different programs sometimes give different results.
In any case, first of all you need to have a copy of the disc in case the original accidentally damage.
Good luck.

I appreciate the response. I will try what you suggested. What I am offering is 1/4 of the total amount. I am certain there is quite a bit, becaue I bought a bunch of coin way back when BTC first came out. Will keep you al posted, thanks again.

Edit: I did make a copy as well, thats the first thing I did before attempting any recovery.

[pereira4]

Just a warning, dont make the mistake of trusting some newbies who PM you and ask you to send them your wallet file. Someone might try to take advantage of your situation although without the passphrase it is hard to get ahead.

I've been on the net since dial-up, that could never happen. Appreciate the concern.


Update:

I am unable to access the file which I apparently saved as a .txt , which I am certain was a text file that I left the passphrase on. I also may have left a private comment on my FB page, to myself, with said passphrase. That is in the early days of BTC tho I believe, back when a lot of people did not believe it would go anywhere. I'm going to check all posts I made from specific years, to make certain. I also seem to recall trashing an HDD due to some , uh, questionable stuff I may/may not have been up to back then. Pretty sure I had a couple wallets on there. facepalming hard here.

What did you scan your drives with? There ate several lowl scanners for tgis

I'm not very well versed on all the different types, I'll admit. What I used was Recuva.


Edit: I'm sure you've all heard this before, but if I managed to work this out with help, I would absolutely compensate whoever. Hard times are upon me, which is what lead me to even bother.

Does Recuva give you an orange or a red mark for the .txt filename? If it's orange, it should be pretty possible to get it back, even within recuva, using the deep search thing and turning on all the recovery settings. If it's red, it's probably overwritten several times by now. The good news is its an HDD so there is no degradation when it's stopped compared to SSD.

Even if it's red, you have a chance if a pro looks at your case with the required gear, or you can learn doing it yourself. Do not plug the HDD again within a computer, you need special gear to make a copy and work from there. In this forum you can asks some data recovery experts: http://eraser.heidi.ie/forum/

I wouldn't bother with bruteforcing unless the password was less than 8 characters without special characters.

[Haiden]

the only files i was able to find so far are text files, but the text is gibberish. "8–’XJQ*æhµ»Ç7U(Y^;I±T¡Û" . but the title of the files seems very familiar. one of the file names is "PPhrase".


im probably giving up soon , unfortunately i need the money so im selling my pc. appreciate all the help.

[Btcspot]

 Hi , Haiden can I talk to you please send me a pm. I think I know how to help you. Im not trying to trick you into anything or if you like I can post it here let me know soon. Thanks

[Haiden]

hi i appreciate the response. not sure how you could, but id be forever thankful. im very serious about a percentage going to who can. ive had people pm me already, they just wanted me to send them the information. of course i wouldn't do that. im desperate sure but not naive. if you have any ideas itd be helpful to post here i think, that way maybe someone can give input on ideas. ideas are always better when shared anyway i think. thank you once again.

im selling my system in a week i think, but will keep hdds. got to eat after all.

[Btcspot]

 So have you been able to get the wallet open? Ive not heard from you.

[Haiden]

sorry havent been able to get online, on an old tablet. had to sell my pc. i havent no. probably a lost cause.