BTC Retrieval (Not BS)

[TMAT180621]

Hi all
New to the forum and wasn't even sure where to start with all this!

I'm in search of some information on bitcoin retrieval from the early days. I'm pretty noob!

Back in the period of around late 2010/early 2011 I used to frequent /g/ and other online IT forums and there was a bit of a buzz around bitcoin at the time in these small communities. So I decided to give it a go myself. All I remember at the time was jumping onto a mining client and leaving the computer running overnight. My memory of the time is very vague and I don't remember setting up everything specifically, just that I would leave it on overnight to mine then stop it in the morning. I probably did this for maybe 2 weeks, possibly more, then decided it wasn't doing much for me. Maybe 6 months later my hard drive stopped working, wouldn't spin up and it's been sitting in dry storage since. So 10 years or so.

I wouldn't mind trying to see if I can get a professional data recovery done on the drive and see whats happening on it. I don't even remember if I did a wipe and reinstall at some stage but I doubt it. What's the chances of finding meaningful bitcoin data? I have no idea what my private key is, whether I stored it on there or not. Or if it's possible that it's stored on the mining client? I never "cashed in" any coins, just mined and left it. I'm sure I would have linked it to a wallet? Any advice guys? Is it lost forever?

Cheers

[BitMaxz]

So you mean that the harddrive is not spinning even you connect them to another PC?

If that's the case you will need a professional recovery service to recover from your old hard drive I'm sure it will need to replace a new hard drive board or repair the hard drive and maybe the pins are stuck that prevent the disk from spinning.

You can do that on yourself if you know how to disassemble the hard drive to repair the stuck heads there are many videos on youtube about this.
Or you can buy a new hard drive with the same model/unit and take the disk from your HDD and put it on your new hard drive.

Once the HDD fixed you can now access the drive and look for wallet.dat file that is the file that you need to recover your old wallet.

[NotATether]

Or if it's possible that it's stored on the mining client? I never "cashed in" any coins, just mined and left it. I'm sure I would have linked it to a wallet?

Mining pools keep your BTC stored in their own wallets until you cash out to a wallet address. So you need to remember which mining pool you were mining with (Slush?), find your login credentials for the pool and then you can withdraw your BTC to another wallet without having to recover the drive. Unless the pool had already sent the bitcoins to your address as Bitcoin's price went up and their payout threshold was reduced.

You do remember your wallet address, right?

[DannyHamilton]

Hi all
New to the forum and wasn't even sure where to start with all this!

I'm in search of some information on bitcoin retrieval from the early days. I'm pretty noob!

Back in the period of around late 2010/early 2011 I used to frequent /g/ and other online IT forums and there was a bit of a buzz around bitcoin at the time in these small communities. So I decided to give it a go myself. All I remember at the time was jumping onto a mining client and leaving the computer running overnight. My memory of the time is very vague and I don't remember setting up everything specifically, just that I would leave it on overnight to mine then stop it in the morning. I probably did this for maybe 2 weeks, possibly more, then decided it wasn't doing much for me. Maybe 6 months later my hard drive stopped working, wouldn't spin up and it's been sitting in dry storage since. So 10 years or so.

I wouldn't mind trying to see if I can get a professional data recovery done on the drive and see whats happening on it. I don't even remember if I did a wipe and reinstall at some stage but I doubt it. What's the chances of finding meaningful bitcoin data? I have no idea what my private key is, whether I stored it on there or not. Or if it's possible that it's stored on the mining client? I never "cashed in" any coins, just mined and left it. I'm sure I would have linked it to a wallet? Any advice guys? Is it lost forever?

Cheers

If this actually happened as early as you claim (late 2010 / early 2011), then you were almost certainly running Bitcoin-Qt (the software that is now known as Bitcoin Core).  That software operated as BOTH a wallet AND a miner back then.  It would have generated your private keys internally, and then mined the bitcoin to the addresses that it created.  There would have been VERY LITTLE set-up. You could have just downloaded the software, and then run it with the mining turned on.

Depending on how powerful your computer was, it's certainly quite possible that you could have solo-mined one or more blocks at that time each worth 50 bitcoins. Nearly all mining at that time was GPU-based.  FPGA didn't come along until mid-2011. There is also, however, a small possibility that you mined 0 blocks, so you'll have to decide for yourself how much time, money, and effort you're willing to spend in the attempt to recover what might be nothing more than a memory.)

IF you successfully solo-mined any blocks, each would be worth approximately $1,850,000 today! As such, you'll want to be VERY careful about not damaging that hard-drive any more than it already is, and about who you allow to access that hard drive.  Sure would suck to have someone try to recover that hard-drive for you, just to have them tell you there was nothing recoverable, and a week later they retire to the Cayman Islands.

Whether you try to access the drive yourself (risking doing irreparable damage), or you pay the world's top data recovery company to do it for you in a clean-room (risking an untrustworthy individual accessing the data), what you'll be looking for is the wallet.dat file, probably in the same directory where the Bitcoin-Qt software was installed.

Note that, even if you recovered the file, it's possible (likely?) that you added a password when you first ran the software. If that happened, then after you recover the wallet.dat file, you won't be able to access the bitcoins until you can remember (or guess) what password you used. The good news is that the number of guesses you can make is not limited. You can just keep guessing until you get it right. There is even software that you can use that will allow you to set parameters (such as: "I always started my passwords with a capital letter, and replaced my vowels with specific symbols") and will then generate and try millions of passwords per second. As pointed out later in this thread, password protection wasn't added to the reference client (Bitcoin-Qt) until late 2011.

If the wallet.dat file can't be found (or can't be recovered) from the drive because it's too damaged, then it might still be possible to recover just the key from the drive.  I'd start by looking for the whole file though, it will be much easier to work with if it's available.

[nc50lc]

-snip-
Note that, even if you recovered the file, it's possible (likely?) that you added a password when you first ran the software. If that happened, then after you recover the wallet.dat file, you won't be able to access the bitcoins until you can remember (or guess) what password you used.
-snip-

Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't wallet.dat encryption introduced in late 2011 Bitcoin version 0.4.0?
If so, the chance that it's unencrypted is high and would increase his confidence on proceeding to recover the data.

[DannyHamilton]

Mining pools keep your BTC stored in their own wallets until you cash out to a wallet address. So you need to remember which mining pool you were mining with (Slush?)

Note that if you did set up pooled mining, and it was Slush, then you started mining after October 2010.  I'm pretty sure Slush didn't mine their first block until mid-December 2010. Also, You might not have known them as "Slush" back then. If I recall correctly, they were "Bitcoin.cz Mining" at one point, and they were also known early on as "Bitcoin Pooled Mining Server".  They were the first mining pool available.

Other early pools you may have used could have been:

• Eligius (also known as Luke-Jr's Pool) started in Spring 2011
• BitMinter started in mid-2011
• btcmp (also known as "Bitcoin Minepool" or perhaps "stratum" early on, started in mid-2011

find your login credentials for the pool and then you can withdraw your BTC to another wallet without having to recover the drive.

IF you set-up pooled mining, and IF you didn't set up automatic payouts, then this would be your best chance of recovering easily.

Unless the pool had already sent the bitcoins to your address as Bitcoin's price went up and their payout threshold was reduced.

I thought most pool payouts back then were based on the number of Bitcoins, and not based on their dollar value, but I certainly could be mistaken about that.  Based on the initial post, I suspect that TMAT180621 didn't go to the effort of setting up pooled mining that early, but if it was later in 2011 when pools were more common then he/she might have.

-snip-
Note that, even if you recovered the file, it's possible (likely?) that you added a password when you first ran the software. If that happened, then after you recover the wallet.dat file, you won't be able to access the bitcoins until you can remember (or guess) what password you used.
-snip-

Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't wallet.dat encryption introduced in late 2011 Bitcoin version 0.4.0?
If so, the chance that it's unencrypted is high and would increase his confidence on proceeding to recover the data.

You are correct.  Autumn of 2011.  I forgot about that.  So, that's one less hurdle for TMAT180621 to overcome to access any bitcoins they might have.

[Cricktor]

But if there's an unencrypted wallet.dat on the harddrive then you'd have to very carefully choose the data recovery service. That's a painful situation. You don't know if you mined a block or two, but if you did, you don't want to loose that wallet to someone else. I'd rather want to watch them over the shoulder during the recovery.

[TMAT180621]

So you mean that the harddrive is not spinning even you connect them to another PC?

If that's the case you will need a professional recovery service to recover from your old hard drive I'm sure it will need to replace a new hard drive board or repair the hard drive and maybe the pins are stuck that prevent the disk from spinning.

You can do that on yourself if you know how to disassemble the hard drive to repair the stuck heads there are many videos on youtube about this.
Or you can buy a new hard drive with the same model/unit and take the disk from your HDD and put it on your new hard drive.

Once the HDD fixed you can now access the drive and look for wallet.dat file that is the file that you need to recover your old wallet.

That's correct, doesn't spin up at all when I put power to it. Unfortunately it's a Western Digital Caviar Black which requires the same model PCB with the same serial number? I have another WD Cav Black and remember at the time trying to swap the PCB and I was unsuccessful so it could be a seized motor or maybe something more sinister. I'm a little skeptical about sending it off for a professional recovery. Is this the type of thing some people would actively look for? Do they snoop through recovery jobs?

[TMAT180621]

If this actually happened as early as you claim (late 2010 / early 2011), then you were almost certainly running Bitcoin-Qt (the software that is now known as Bitcoin Core).  That software operated as BOTH a wallet AND a miner back then.  It would have generated your private keys internally, and then mined the bitcoin to the addresses that it created.  There would have been VERY LITTLE set-up. You could have just downloaded the software, and then run it with the mining turned on.

Depending on how powerful your computer was, it's certainly quite possible that you could have solo-mined one or more blocks at that time each worth 50 bitcoins. Nearly all mining at that time was GPU-based.  FPGA didn't come along until mid-2011. There is also, however, a small possibility that you mined 0 blocks, so you'll have to decide for yourself how much time, money, and effort you're willing to spend in the attempt to recover what might be nothing more than a memory.)

IF you successfully solo-mined any blocks, each would be worth approximately $1,850,000 today! As such, you'll want to be VERY careful about not damaging that hard-drive any more than it already is, and about who you allow to access that hard drive.  Sure would suck to have someone try to recover that hard-drive for you, just to have them tell you there was nothing recoverable, and a week later they retire to the Cayman Islands.

Whether you try to access the drive yourself (risking doing irreparable damage), or you pay the world's top data recovery company to do it for you in a clean-room (risking an untrustworthy individual accessing the data), what you'll be looking for is the wallet.dat file, probably in the same directory where the Bitcoin-Qt software was installed.

Note that, even if you recovered the file, it's possible (likely?) that you added a password when you first ran the software. If that happened, then after you recover the wallet.dat file, you won't be able to access the bitcoins until you can remember (or guess) what password you used. The good news is that the number of guesses you can make is not limited. You can just keep guessing until you get it right. There is even software that you can use that will allow you to set parameters (such as: "I always started my passwords with a capital letter, and replaced my vowels with specific symbols") and will then generate and try millions of passwords per second. As pointed out later in this thread, password protection wasn't added to the reference client (Bitcoin-Qt) until late 2011.

If the wallet.dat file can't be found (or can't be recovered) from the drive because it's too damaged, then it might still be possible to recover just the key from the drive.  I'd start by looking for the whole file though, it will be much easier to work with if it's available.

Thanks for the reply. The software name itself does not ring a bell at all but I do remember it being simple.

At the time it was an overclocked intel 920 and an ati 6870.

I'm a but up in the air about sending it off for professional repair. Is that the kind of thing someone would actively look for? Would it be a file that gets automatically flagged?

So you're saying that because it was such an early time there is a good chance it can be sorted out if the wallet.dat is there and not corrupted?

[TMAT180621]

Mining pools keep your BTC stored in their own wallets until you cash out to a wallet address. So you need to remember which mining pool you were mining with (Slush?), find your login credentials for the pool and then you can withdraw your BTC to another wallet without having to recover the drive. Unless the pool had already sent the bitcoins to your address as Bitcoin's price went up and their payout threshold was reduced.

You do remember your wallet address, right?

No idea what I was using until I fix that drive and have a look. Also wouldn't have a clue what the address is. It was 10 years ago and I did it out of interest and gave up on it fairly quickly. I reckon 2 weeks was all I gave it! I could be wrong and it was a few days or a couple months!

Correct me if I am wrong but wasn't wallet.dat encryption introduced in late 2011 Bitcoin version 0.4.0?
If so, the chance that it's unencrypted is high and would increase his confidence on proceeding to recover the data.

You are correct.  Autumn of 2011.  I forgot about that.  So, that's one less hurdle for TMAT180621 to overcome to access any bitcoins they might have.

This is positive news. Obviously I need to be careful who I give this drive to for recovery. I'm tempted to give it a go myself by finding the right PCB and swapping it over. How much better is the professional software vs the consumer stuff at recovery?

[nc50lc]

-snip-
This is positive news. Obviously I need to be careful who I give this drive to for recovery. I'm tempted to give it a go myself by finding the right PCB and swapping it over. How much better is the professional software vs the consumer stuff at recovery?

If you can remember if it was detected by your PC (can be seen in the BIOS/UEFI), then the chance that the PCB at fault is low.
But I wouldn't suggest to reconnect a mechanically damaged drive to a computer as it may introduce more damage.
If it's the internal mechanism, then you'll definitely need a professional to do the job since it needs an enclosed contaminant-free space and specialized tools to repair.
Take note, do not seek the typical "tech repair guy" but someone specializes in hard disk drives.

It's your decision, you must consider the fact that you're not certain that you've set the miner correctly or successfully mined a block.

[TMAT180621]

-snip-
This is positive news. Obviously I need to be careful who I give this drive to for recovery. I'm tempted to give it a go myself by finding the right PCB and swapping it over. How much better is the professional software vs the consumer stuff at recovery?

If you can remember if it was detected by your PC (can be seen in the BIOS/UEFI), then the chance that the PCB at fault is low.
But I wouldn't suggest to reconnect a mechanically damaged drive to a computer as it may introduce more damage.
If it's the internal mechanism, then you'll definitely need a professional to do the job since it needs an enclosed contaminant-free space and specialized tools to repair.
Take note, do not seek the typical "tech repair guy" but someone specializes in hard disk drives.

It's your decision, you must consider the fact that you're not certain that you've set the miner correctly or successfully mined a block.

There's no detection at all when plugging it in. I took the PCB off and there are definite burn marks around one of the chips so it's fried. I've already got a matching PCB on order so I'll get an electronics repairer to swap the original bios/firmware chip onto the new PCB and see how it goes!!

[NotATether]

There's no detection at all when plugging it in. I took the PCB off and there are definite burn marks around one of the chips so it's fried. I've already got a matching PCB on order so I'll get an electronics repairer to swap the original bios/firmware chip onto the new PCB and see how it goes!!

Just make sure that the platter(s) are not damaged because that would mean total loss of data. Perhaps when the HDD overheated - the cause for these burn marks you're talking about - it might have affected the arm and/or platter as well while it burnt the PCB.

[Lucius]

What I would do in a case like this is to look for some service with a really good reputation that has been doing that job long enough that they can be considered professionals. Then I would like to be present in person at the data recovery process, and I know that this is an option offered by real professionals - of course such a service is paid extra, but since this disk can contain 50 or maybe 250 BTC (although it may not actually contain nothing), I would not agree to anything less than all of the above.

It is possible to try to repair the disk at home, but if a person is not an expert in such things, there is a good chance that he can damage the disk to such an extent that no one will be able to save the data.

[kano]

I guess the issue actually is simply a case of recovery of the HDD.

About 10 years ago, after dealing with 2 other services and them failing,
I used ontrack to recover data from a disc that head-crashed and cut a groove in the middle of the disc.
Cost at the time was about the price of a couple of new disks, however the disks were not old.
They recovered everything except that one part of the disk where the head had crashed
(and using backups for that, I got all the data back)
Aside: they had an interesting story on their site about recovering data from a crashed space shuttle.

The only concern would be if someone in their technical department accessed the data, since it's probably worth at least a few Mil$ now.
Or worse, the wallet was OK, but they copied and corrupted the wallet data so you couldn't access it.

So, if you do get the wallet back:
Make sure you move the coins immediately to a new address.
If instead the coins moved before you could do this, you'd know for sure it was someone who had access to the HDD at the place it was recovered.

[Timelord2067]

Recently, I've read/seen a few other threads where people have bought wallet.dat files and spun a yarn concerning how to crack the password etc.,

I see two outcomes at this point:  One, the OP's HDD is "unrecoverable" and the OP will wonder for the rest of their life whether or not a Technician got greedy and just says the drive was corrupted (sorry bud) or, two, the OP comes back in a few weeks and says the data is recoverable, but the wallet.dat is password protected and then asks for our help cracking that password.

[TMAT180621]

Thanks all for the replies. I had it looked at and it's definitely the PCB. I'm getting the bios chip swapped over today to a matching number PCB by a micro soldering professional and I will install the PCB myself (it's only 4 screws) that way I don't have to worry about recovery shenanigans. I'm hoping this is the actual drive I used at the time so I can put all this to bed. Judging by my pc hardware purchase receipts at the time it all lines up. I don't care if it only has 0.1!

I guess the issue actually is simply a case of recovery of the HDD.

Actually it's only the first step. If the wallet.dat file isn't corrupted, OP need to move the Bitcoin securely (make sure the computer is clean, verify the wallet software is valid, verify backup, etc.). But if the wallet.dat is corrupted, it'll be complicated.

I don't even know how to do any of this. Guess I have a lot of reading to do! I have no recollection of formatting the drive so it may all still be there.

Recently, I've read/seen a few other threads where people have bought wallet.dat files and spun a yarn concerning how to crack the password etc.,

I see two outcomes at this point:  One, the OP's HDD is "unrecoverable" and the OP will wonder for the rest of their life whether or not a Technician got greedy and just says the drive was corrupted (sorry bud) or, two, the OP comes back in a few weeks and says the data is recoverable, but the wallet.dat is password protected and then asks for our help cracking that password.

No idea how I can prove myself online but this is legit with no BS. The first option isn't going to happen as no one is getting their hands on the drive and I'm hoping the wallet was old enough where it didn't have the heavy encryption as stated earlier in the thread?

[HCP]

Don't mind them... they're getting a little cynical in their old age

Seriously tho, there have been numerous threads in recent times of people seeking assistance to crack wallet.dat passwords... it happens every time there is a surge in Bitcoin price. Lot's of people think they're onto a big score buying wallet.dat's from scammers and thinking they're going to get rich.

This instance looks nothing like that... but instead is just a "i think i might have had some BTC on a broken hdd" type thread. I hope it works out for you. Please keep us informed of your progress after you get the PCB fixed.

[HCP]

Actually it's only the first step. If the wallet.dat file isn't corrupted, OP need to move the Bitcoin securely (make sure the computer is clean, verify the wallet software is valid, verify backup, etc.). But if the wallet.dat is corrupted, it'll be complicated.

I don't even know how to do any of this. Guess I have a lot of reading to do! I have no recollection of formatting the drive so it may all still be there.

It isn't as nearly as complicated or scary as they are making out... if you manage to recover the wallet.dat, you really just need to install Bitcoin Core, put a copy of your old wallet.dat in the data directory, then run Bitcoin Core and let it sync. Then you'll see the transaction history and current balance of the wallet file... and you'll be able to decide what you next move is from that point.

Yes, things will be more complicated if the wallet file is corrupted... but it sounds like the damage was to the drive controller and not to the physical platters etc, so theoretically the data should still be "OK" (assuming there hasn't been any 'bit rot').

It's also possible they remember they tried Bitcoin long time ago, although usually they don't have intact wallet file or store it online.

Yes, any thing is "possible"... it's just a matter of what is "probable".

To be honest, the vast majority of these "I mined/bought BTC in 20XX, help!"-type threads, turn out to be instances where they did buy BTC, but already spent it... or they are trying to recover data from devices used 6-7+ years ago and formatted/wiped etc... or they're trying to access online services that no longer exist...

Then you get the wallet.dat's from altcoins like LTC or DOGE etc. Or, you get "1 post Andy's" who start a thread, post some vague description of their situation and then disappear into the ether.

So, I'm not really surprised that a number of users here are a bit cynical when these types of threads pop up.

[Timelord2067]

Straying slightly off topic, I suspect some of those "one time poster's" are a shill and the subsequent contributors to the thread are the other Alta quietly building their post counts in threads that most people don't give a thought about contributing to and tend to start clear of.

As to the wallet.dat files, there couldn't be that many people at the dawn of Bitcoin who installed, wiped or three out their wallets in the first few years...

Could there?