Bitcoins on old computers - bought some in 2010

[lawsuit-loans]

Question, I truly have no idea where I put the bitcoins and am now looking around attempting to go thru old hard drives since I lost tons of emails.  I purchased several bitcoin at one point, and it could have been just a few or maybe more.

Really it was so long ago when I was running a successful business and never really thought about it and now I'm realizing if I can find out the best way to find them there is some value there.

Since I purchased them never thinking anything about it, I simply remember the emails they likely were purchased with and can likely remember passwords.  What do I need to find specifically to recover them?  Do I need the key?  Or address? I absolutely don't know anything about bitcoin just remember a long time thinking - what the heck why don't I buy some.

Thanks for your help

[lawsuit-loans]

I also remember using a wallet, does a wallet help you locate old lost bitcoins?  Also are some wallets web based?  I literally know nothing and am now trying to learn the smartest first steps to try to find bitcoin

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

Your could search your machine for a file called :

wallet.dat  or defualt_wallet.dat

Sometimes this is located in folder called %appdata% on windows.

also when you got your bitcoin do you recall a 12 word phrase?  some random words that are generated that allow easy recovery of your funds.

As you did not specify what type of wallet you used it would be hard to give some detailed info on where the wallet may be stored.

Some of the wallets are Bitcoin core or Electrum those are the two most popular ones and have been about for a very long time.

My advice would be search for the wallet file if you find it recover will be very easy.

NEVER SEND ANYONE YOUR WALLET FILE OR SEED PHRASE.

Let us know how you get on and if you need any further help.

[LoyceV]

also when you got your bitcoin do you recall a 12 word phrase?

I don't think that was used in 2010. I've read about "emails" back in those days, but I don't remember the details.

Do I need the key?  Or address?

Finding a private key would be nice, finding an address is like a teaser.

When Bitcoin goes up, topic like this often pop up. Good luck!

[Abdussamad]

I also remember using a wallet, does a wallet help you locate old lost bitcoins?  Also are some wallets web based?  I literally know nothing and am now trying to learn the smartest first steps to try to find bitcoin

what do you expect from us when you yourself have no idea what you did?

[nc50lc]

IMO 2010 was a bit early for web wallets and paper wallet generators.
An early adopter might know some.

Your best bet is to find a "wallet.dat" file like suggested in post number 2.
Or an exported WIF private key which is a 51-character string (random-case/base58check) that starts with '5'.
eg: 5JQpcp6Thh7QR4mNxfQFgsfKVTkzoK9CxdBySQRtgpox5g8RwLJ

[AltcoinBuilder]

do you remember wallet client you used?

[lawsuit-loans]

Awesome, thank you all.. I just located a few hard drives and am going to start doing some digging.  I was completely confused how bitcoin works and just remember getting involved a long time ago briefly, so absolutely appreciate your insight (and thanks for being understanding that I'm clueless regarding bitcoin).

Great advice, I will look into everything you all mentioned... I have some old outlook files I am going to restore on another PC and see what I can find.

Thanks again, I will let you know if I have any luck