lost access to my bitcoin wallet...

[AsPhYiXiA]

so a few years back i had a few bitcoin on a hard drive but today i tried to access the harddrive and i ended up spilling a glass full of water all over it and now it wont boot up.

what are my options?

[jrrsparkles]

Technically Bitcoins are not stored in your hard drives, it's just in the blockchain and it always be so the wallet and private keys are just the path ways to access them.

You can recover your Bitcoin very easily if you have access to the private keys which you are supposed to keep secured.

If you don't have keys then you need to recover the wallet.dat file from that HDD which is expensive as well as doesn't give you any guarantee that the recovery process will be success.

[retreat]

so a few years back i had a few bitcoin on a hard drive but today i tried to access the harddrive and i ended up spilling a glass full of water all over it and now it wont boot up.

what are my options?

I don't know if this story is true or not, but as far as I know as long as you don't scratch the HDD platter the data on it should still be accessible by taking it to a technician who specializes in HDD repair. Usually they will replace the shorted part so that your data can be accessed. The repair costs vary depending on the damage, but for a short circuit like this it shouldn't be too expensive.
And as a precaution, you have to pay attention to how they access your HDD, because they might duplicate your data.

[mk4]

Calculate how much bitcoin you own in USD(or your local currency) terms, then decide if it's worth paying decent sums of money for a file recovery service. It might cost a good amount of money.

[Fiatless]

Calculate how much bitcoin you own in USD(or your local currency) terms, then decide if it's worth paying decent sums of money for a file recovery service. It might cost a good amount of money.

After your calculations, if you discover that you can afford the service and still make some good profit, you can seek a reputable recovery service provider. It will not be also a bad idea to get the service of legal professional if you have a good number of coins. There is a need for a legal document to be signed that states the terms and conditions of service. Nobody can be trusted with money.

[gunhell16]

so a few years back i had a few bitcoin on a hard drive but today i tried to access the harddrive and i ended up spilling a glass full of water all over it and now it wont boot up.

what are my options?

I just want to ask you dude, how did you lose access to your Bitcoin? Shouldn't you know your private key for the Bitcoin address you mentioned? unless you misplace the private key you have for the Bitcoin address you are hiding. or Except it's not. if it was hacked, was the address you used for bitcoin hacked that you put the address on your hard drive?

Because even if your hard drive has a problem, as long as you have your private key, you will still be able to open that account with your bitcoin for sure. Unless you haven't saved your private here in your Bitcoin address. I also don't understand in your post if your Bitcoin is in a cold or hardware wallet?

[Husires]

so a few years back i had a few bitcoin on a hard drive but today i tried to access the harddrive and i ended up spilling a glass full of water all over it and now it wont boot up.

what are my options?

1) Stop using that harddrive or try to connect it to any power source, put it under the sun to dry and make sure all the water has dried up.
2) go to the nearest specialized store and ask them to help you make this disk work.

If it was just water spilled on it and you have the wallet file or seed or you remember your password, there is a great chance of getting your coins back.

If the damage is significant, some specialists can help you, but in any case, stop using it or connect it to any power source.

[jossiel]

so a few years back i had a few bitcoin on a hard drive but today i tried to access the harddrive and i ended up spilling a glass full of water all over it and now it wont boot up.

what are my options?

The optical drive of it could still be done by some experts but you know that it's going to cost you money. And much worse if there's really a balance in there like a hefty amount of Bitcoin.

You should only get those recovery experts that you trust because if those are the experts that you don't know then they may create a scene that it's totally empty.

Because you have to tell them what you are up to and why you need to recovery what's inside the HDD.

[AsPhYiXiA]

all my private keys was stored on the hard drive

[acroman08]

all my private keys was stored on the hard drive

this is why people should always keep a physical copy of their private keys and preferably several copies of it.

anyway, Husires's suggestions seem like the best options you have. just another suggestion, when drying your hard drive up, try using silica gel patches(if you have them), they are great at absorbing moisture.

[Outhue]

It doesn't sound like this happened, are you saying that you store Bitcoin in a wallet for the past years and you don't have your recovery seed written down somewhere? anyways, since you poured water on something that has your Bitcoin in it makes me feel you are not responsible, You can't keep that Hard Disk safe and you don't also have your private key? Are you for real?

Dry the hard disk first and try again, if it doesn't work , go to any PC repairer store and stay will that person to fix your hard disk or at least recover the files on the disk, Also how much Bitcoin do you have in this Hard disk?  Is it worth much?

[Zaguru12]

Technically Bitcoins are not stored in your hard drives, it's just in the blockchain and it always be so the wallet and private keys are just the path ways to access them.

It’s just misconception sometimes when people say they have bitcoin on drives, the thing on these drives are your private keys which are basically your only access to bitcoin. So it is actually the private key they loss when this drives got damage. Even on hardware wallet it is still private keys on it.

all my private keys was stored on the hard drive

Then you might have a seed phrase somewhere to help recover the wallet ( that is if the wallet wasn’t created before seed phrase introduction, like before 2012 or 2013). If you don’t have then just find a repairer for hard drives.

[BD Crypto]

all my private keys was stored on the hard drive

It's really very sad to say that you aren't much responsible for your assets. Why you haven't keep your backup in a safe place? Is that fund wasn't much worthy? The last hope is that ou may try to repair it from an expert who is trusted too.

Maybe you lost a little amount of Bitcoin. Though the fund is big or little it's a must to keep backup in a safest place. It's a good lesson for everyone who aren't much aware about their security or backup. Be conscious about your wallet and make your funds Secured.

[Lucius]

so a few years back i had a few bitcoin on a hard drive but today i tried to access the harddrive and i ended up spilling a glass full of water all over it and now it wont boot up.

Haven't you ever heard/seen that electronics and water are not the best of friends? Such a situation is incomprehensible to me, because I never have any liquids near my computer or any other electronics.

what are my options?

I recommend that you seek professional help from people who are engaged in professional data recovery, and considering that you have very sensitive data, you can ask to be present during the procedure (some offer this option). Of course, as some have already mentioned, you should first calculate whether it is worth saving the data considering their value in relation to the cost of the procedure - although I would note that you should also take into account the possible value of those BTC in the future.

You can read more at this link -> https://computertech.com/blog/hard-drive-water-damaged

[Taskford]

all my private keys was stored on the hard drive

So if that's the case then why not follow the recovery service professional suggestion? You cannot get any help here since people sympathy cannot do anything so best to seek a good skilled personnel nearby on your place and try to ask if there's a chance that you can recover your file so that you can get back all your keys and other important documents you need.

This is hard situation if this story is true since its mentally draining especially if you get worried for huge funds lost due to that incident.

[tbct_mt2]

Haven't you ever heard/seen that electronics and water are not the best of friends? Such a situation is incomprehensible to me, because I never have any liquids near my computer or any other electronics.

It is security wise. We should stop doing things belong to our childhood or teenager hood.

Eating and drinking when we are working with a computer, a laptop are simply unwise and it's very risky for physical damages on digital devices. Even we turn off our computer or laptop, like you said we should not put any water, liquid around our devices.

I recommend that you seek professional help from people who are engaged in professional data recovery, and considering that you have very sensitive data, you can ask to be present during the procedure (some offer this option). Of course, as some have already mentioned, you should first calculate whether it is worth saving the data considering their value in relation to the cost of the procedure - although I would note that you should also take into account the possible value of those BTC in the future.

OP has no other choice if he can not recover data by himself but using third party data recovery is risky. They can say we fail to recover your data but in fact they got it successfully and stole that wallet file and got access to bitcoin. We can not know what they do after we pass our devices and drives to them for data recovery.

Hopefully OP will recover his wallet successfully and bitcoin in that wallet will be intact. However, this accident reminds OP the importance of wallet backups. If you have a Bitcoin wallet, back it up before you use it for receiving, storing and sending bitcoin.

[348Judah]

Calculate how much bitcoin you own in USD(or your local currency) terms, then decide if it's worth paying decent sums of money for a file recovery service. It might cost a good amount of money.

Perfect solution, OP you really have to make this calculations if the amount you owe on the wallets is worth going for a recoverable service or not, this will actually help you not to get an additional lost added with a wasted efforts when you opted in for what is not worth it, but the question i may like to ask here is where can one get a reliable hardware wallet recovery and maintenance team's help and not get scammed through such means, could it be from the source he bought the hardware wallet from or there are tech expertise experienced in hardware wallet maintenance which he can request their service?

[Sim_card]

As mentioned by forum members that have posted before me,you should check the cost of paying a professional recover service to help you get those files from your hard disc. If it worth it then go ahead,but if it doesn't,forget about it and hodli your bitcoin for a very long time when the price worth seeking for a professional recovery personnel  to help you get the files. This should be a lesson for since you chose to play over important thing by bringing water close to your system. Try drying the water first and see if it works. You failed to back up your wallet and have put yourself into worries.

[Latviand]

all my private keys was stored on the hard drive

I guess you'll have to say goodbye to your bitcoins because if that hard drive can't be fixed or the contents of it not recovered in any way, you might as well start moving on. Also, follow what @mk4 said, is the recovery worth the effort and time, if not then don't bother and just be better at safekeeping your wallet. Also, make a habit of checking if your electronic devices are in the vicinity of water.

[Marvell1]

so a few years back i had a few bitcoin on a hard drive but today i tried to access the harddrive and i ended up spilling a glass full of water all over it and now it wont boot up.

what are my options?

I just want to ask you dude, how did you lose access to your Bitcoin? Shouldn't you know your private key for the Bitcoin address you mentioned? unless you misplace the private key you have for the Bitcoin address you are hiding. or Except it's not. if it was hacked, was the address you used for bitcoin hacked that you put the address on your hard drive?

Because even if your hard drive has a problem, as long as you have your private key, you will still be able to open that account with your bitcoin for sure. Unless you haven't saved your private here in your Bitcoin address. I also don't understand in your post if your Bitcoin is in a cold or hardware wallet?

As far as I know, many people are quite negligent in storing their private key or seed phrase, I mean, they store it right on the hard drive on the computer and they trust that it will be safe there. Many people have fallen into the same situation as the OP and they completely lost access to their assets.

But the hard drive spilled water is not too difficult to solve. As long as OP takes it to data rescue experts, I think everything will be solved. But the problem is how many bitcoins he has because data rescue doesn't come cheap either.