Upgrading to newer wallet? Anxious.

[srt4dave]

Hello, I have been using an old version of bitcoin-qt wallet (beta version) for a long time. It is also on an older windows user profile that I no longer use. I would like to install the new version of bitcoin-qt on my new windows user profile. Can I simply save the wallet.dat on my old user profile, download the new version on my new profile, let the blocks sync(ugh), and then just copy and paste the wallet.bat from my USB drive into the new folder? Am I missing anything? Thanks guys...nervous about messing with my wallet.

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[Light]

If I were you I would boot up your old version and copy the private keys with a balance in them. You should be able to use this command in Qt:

Code:

dumpprivkey 1YourAddressYouWantToDump

If you're not so paranoid I would just copy your wallet.dat (it's a .dat file by the way) to somewhere safe just in case it gets lost in the upgrade. You should be fine to upgrade to the newest version from there once you've made a backup.

[shorena]

If this is going on on two seperate computers Id just setup the new one and transfer all coins from the old wallet into the new one. This might cost you a little bit of fees, but the chances of a slip up are minimal.

If this however has to happen on the same machine do as Light suggested or do both. You can dump the keys, write them down somewhere safe (encrypted file on a usb stick) and still copy the wallet.dat. Better safe than sorry

[srt4dave]

Thanks for the quick reply - I do still have access to the old windows user and can start up the old wallet. I already backed up to wallet.dat onto a USB drive. I am not familiar with copying the private keys, and I will learn how to do that now. You say I would be fine just copying the old .dat file into the new %appdata%bitcoin on my current windows profile? Also, do I have to wait untill the new clients blocks sync up before I can paste the older .dat file?


To shorena - Both windows profiles are on the same computer, I do not plan on using a new computer any time soon. However I really do not trust my old windows profile as it went corrupt at one point.

[shorena]

Thanks for the quick reply - I do still have access to the old windows user and can start up the old wallet. I already backed up to wallet.dat onto a USB drive. I am not familiar with copying the private keys, and I will learn how to do that now. You say I would be fine just copying the old .dat file into the new %appdata%bitcoin on my current windows profile? Also, do I have to wait untill the new clients blocks sync up before I can paste the older .dat file?

You can close bitcoin core at any time and replace the existing wallet.dat. You can make a backup first, just in case, but it should be empty as it was just created.

To shorena - Both windows profiles are on the same computer, I do not plan on using a new computer any time soon. However I really do not trust my old windows profile as it went corrupt at one point.

So its just a different user profile? Not sure I understand the benefit of changing your profile.
What kind of corruption are you talking about? Trojan? Defected data?

[Light]

If this is going on on two seperate computers Id just setup the new one and transfer all coins from the old wallet into the new one. This might cost you a little bit of fees, but the chances of a slip up are minimal.

If he's on Qt I'm not sure whether he can actually send the coins until he's downloaded the blockchain and that might take a while since he's on the old version. Another option would be to export the private keys into a light client (ie Electrum) and use it instead - it's basically the same for most users except you don't have to download the whole blockchain (you aren't a full node). Or you could use it to send it to one of your deterministic addresses and not have to worry about having to backup as long as you have your seed.

[Light]

Thanks for the quick reply - I do still have access to the old windows user and can start up the old wallet. I already backed up to wallet.dat onto a USB drive. I am not familiar with copying the private keys, and I will learn how to do that now. You say I would be fine just copying the old .dat file into the new %appdata%bitcoin on my current windows profile? Also, do I have to wait untill the new clients blocks sync up before I can paste the older .dat file?


To shorena - Both windows profiles are on the same computer, I do not plan on using a new computer any time soon. However I really do not trust my old windows profile as it went corrupt at one point.

You should be fine to replace the wallet file that it generates (once run for the first time) with your own as long as the client is closed when you do so. You don't need to download the whole chain to change wallets but I'm not sure whether you can send coins without it.

If you're getting consistent corruption I would be wary of that computer - you could be experiencing hard drive failure. Best to make sure you have copies on your USB as you've stated. If it was a one time event it probably isn't so bad - doesn't hurt to take precautions though.

[shorena]

If he's on Qt I'm not sure whether he can actually send the coins until he's downloaded the blockchain and that might take a while since he's on the old version. Another option would be to export the private keys into a light client (ie Electrum) and use it instead - it's basically the same for most users except you don't have to download the whole blockchain (you aren't a full node). Or you could use it to send it to one of your deterministic addresses and not have to worry about having to backup as long as you have your seed.

QT will need a full blockchain to send coins, true. The way I understood OP is that he allready has a fully updated QT and just wants to migrate from there. This corruption part has me worried though, not sure if just changing your user profil is doing any good.

[srt4dave]

Shorena - There is no real benefit. I had a problem where cpu usage was very high for an unnatural reason. Upon doing research, I found that my user profile had gone bad. Sure enough, creating a new user profile fixed the issue. I think the issue has since been fixed by windows, but there is no point on going back to my old profile. I suppose once I have this new wallet and my coins secure, I can finally destroy that last user.

Light -  I don't believe it was hard drive related, but I hear your concern. Upon the research I found it was due to a windows file going bad that was able to be repaired.


By pasting the old .dat file into the new wallet, assuming the blocks are synced, all of my coins will just be on the new wallet? I won't need to send my coins to myself, per se?

Shorena, that was my next question. I am selling some of my coins to purchase new ASIC equiptment. I am unable to send any coins as payment untill this is finished?

Also I should add, this corrupted windows profile did not just happen. It's been at least 3 months since then. It is not the reason I am switching wallets. I am switching because the client tells me my version is very old and may not work, which has me nervous about potentially sending these coins as payment as I am about to do so. My new client has only started syncing the blocks.

[Light]

By pasting the old .dat file into the new wallet, assuming the blocks are synced, all of my coins will just be on the new wallet? I won't need to send my coins to myself, per se?

Shorena, that was my next question. I am selling some of my coins to purchase new ASIC equiptment. I am unable to send any coins as payment untill this is finished?

No you won't need to send coins to yourself again. All of your coins will be in old your wallet as per usual, all you've done is updated the client so that its has all the new functionality and some of the implementation changes. Your wallet is simply a collection of private keys nothing more.

If you're determined to use Qt then I would think so. If you're willing to try using a light client which doesn't need to download the blockchain as it refers to servers as nodes to ensure that txs are legitimate you could look into Electrum/Multibit. But if you're in no rush then yeah it's fine waiting.

[srt4dave]

Is Qt not recommended? Should I switch? Would it save me time to just get a new wallet and then send the coins from my old client to my new wallet program instead of waiting for the new version of Qt to sync up? Can I send coins from my super old outdated client still?

[Light]

Is Qt not recommended? Should I switch? Would it save me time to just get a new wallet and then send the coins from my old client to my new wallet program instead of waiting for the new version of Qt to sync up? Can I send coins from my super old outdated client still?

People prefer Qt because they feel safe (or to be a full node) using the reference client - although there are enough people reviewing the code for Electrum and Multibit that they are safe. If you're keen to get going then yes it would save you time to use a light client instead of waiting to download the whole chain.

I would advise against sending coins from your old client just in case it creates issues. Instead dump the private keys from those addresses as I mentioned above and then import them into your new client. You would probably have to wait about a minute for the client to connect to nodes but from there your coins should be spendable.

If you'd like to make sure you're secure I would advise Electrum - at the moment it is one of the few to be deterministic (meaning you can memorise/write down a seed and you retain the whole wallet) but that only works with new wallets and not imported addresses. Also if you're moving to a new client please password protect it - don't want some malware stealing your private keys.

[srt4dave]

I'm in no hurry. It's already Friday morning so anything I order won't ship untill after the weekend anyways. It sounds like the safest/sure thing is to just let my new QT client on my new windows profile finish syncing and then copying over the .dat file. I really appreciate the information quickly at this hour that you guys have given. And then once the blocks are synced, I would just close the program, paste the old .dat file over, restart Qt, and would be good to then send coins are payment?

[shorena]

I'm in no hurry. It's already Friday morning so anything I order won't ship untill after the weekend anyways. It sounds like the safest/sure thing is to just let my new QT client on my new windows profile finish syncing and then copying over the .dat file. I really appreciate the information quickly at this hour that you guys have given. And then once the blocks are synced, I would just close the program, paste the old .dat file over, restart Qt, and would be good to then send coins are payment?

Yep thats how it should work. I guess every other question has allready been answered by Light

[srt4dave]

Thanks a bunch guys, I really appreciate it. I am going to be up late(r) and if I think of another question I will ask away

[Light]

Thanks a bunch guys, I really appreciate it. I am going to be up late(r) and if I think of another question I will ask away

Sure no problems. Happy to help people to the extent of my somewhat limited technical knowledge. If you need help don't hesitate to ask.

[srt4dave]

I am getting Error: Disc space is low! At around 77 weeks remaining. I have Qt installed on my external HDD which has over 500GB+ free. Some thing I am missing?

Edit - Apparantly my C drive being full is affecting this, even though I have bitcoin-qt installed on my H drive. Freed up 10gb on my C drive and now the blocks have continued syncing.  Confused on this?

[roslinpl]

I am getting Error: Disc space is low! At around 77 weeks remaining. I have Qt installed on my external HDD which has over 500GB+ free. Some thing I am missing?

But blockchain is downloading to your system folder like c:/Users/name/AppData/Roaming/Bitcoin

So you need free space over there.

[srt4dave]

Roslinpl - Thanks, I was typing that out as you posted. I turned off my windows hibernate to delete hiberfil.sys to clear up 12gb. Sure enough, the blocks have resumed syncing up.

[srt4dave]

I have got my coins copied over into my new wallet and it is all synced up. Ready to upgrade my mining rig. Thanks a bunch guys, I felt a lot better about doing this and now feel confident to do this same process for a friend.