Always back up your wallets - a lesson I learned the hard way

[Bitcoin_Mafia_Me]

Hi all

Not good but if your wallets are worth it, you can as already suggested send your hd to a recovery service, maybe you have luck.

I think i should make some backups right now better later then too late.

I plan to only copy the wallet.dat, this should be enough right?
And must i use the backup function in the wallet or is to copy the *.dat enough?

thanks

I thought about it, but I also do all of my day job work on this computer and the down time would cost me more than
is on the wallet DAT files.

Appreciate the thought though!

[Buo]

I have bought three pendrives of three different companies to store the wallets,
they are in "cold storage" and won't be connected in any pc with internet access.

[Divorcion]

I think i should make some backups right now better later then too late.

I plan to only copy the wallet.dat, this should be enough right?
And must i use the backup function in the wallet or is to copy the *.dat enough?

thanks

sorry for the noobish question but does anyone know?

[Bitcoin_Mafia_Me]

I think i should make some backups right now better later then too late.

I plan to only copy the wallet.dat, this should be enough right?
And must i use the backup function in the wallet or is to copy the *.dat enough?

thanks

sorry for the noobish question but does anyone know?

Your wallet.dat and also export your private keys.

[Divorcion]

I think i should make some backups right now better later then too late.

I plan to only copy the wallet.dat, this should be enough right?
And must i use the backup function in the wallet or is to copy the *.dat enough?

thanks

sorry for the noobish question but does anyone know?

Your wallet.dat and also export your private keys.

thank you, so i have just to copy it and then i assume the backup function in the wallet is not really needed...... and another question if you want to answer it: how to export my private keys?

[Bitcoin_Mafia_Me]

I think i should make some backups right now better later then too late.

I plan to only copy the wallet.dat, this should be enough right?
And must i use the backup function in the wallet or is to copy the *.dat enough?

thanks

sorry for the noobish question but does anyone know?

Your wallet.dat and also export your private keys.

thank you, so i have just to copy it and then i assume the backup function in the wallet is not really needed...... and another question if you want to answer it: how to export my private keys?

Which coin? If you're using Multibit for Bitcoin, you go to Tools > Export Private Keys and follow the instructions there.

Most wallets have an export keys function somewhere in the top toolbar.

[Divorcion]

In the bitcoin standard client i cant find "export private keys" or sth. similar, i will try some other wallets.
thanks

[Domino]

In the bitcoin standard client i cant find "export private keys" or sth. similar, i will try some other wallets.
thanks

If you are using bitcoin core (aka bitcoin qt), you can just close the client and then copy the wallet.dat file.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

In the early days of bitcoin mining, i actualy backed up wallet.h from bitcoin folder.
60+ BTC went poof. i learned lession the hard way also, wasnt worth much back then , but now...
Too bad none of those date restore programs could recover the real wallet.dat on hdd, coz it was overwritten by other files.

If this happened in the early days of mining it wouldn't have been worth much then and could easily have made that back in less then a day

[littlewizard]

I think i should make some backups right now better later then too late.

I plan to only copy the wallet.dat, this should be enough right?
And must i use the backup function in the wallet or is to copy the *.dat enough?

thanks

sorry for the noobish question but does anyone know?

Your wallet.dat and also export your private keys.

Thanks for the remind, I hope you will restore the .dat
One thing i am not sure, what do the private keys do? Normally I just save the .dat wallet.

[Divorcion]

I think i should make some backups right now better later then too late.

I plan to only copy the wallet.dat, this should be enough right?
And must i use the backup function in the wallet or is to copy the *.dat enough?

thanks

sorry for the noobish question but does anyone know?

Your wallet.dat and also export your private keys.

Thanks for the remind, I hope you will restore the .dat
One thing i am not sure, what do the private keys do? Normally I just save the .dat wallet.

I also just backuped the *.dat files, all is working fine. I'm not 100% sure but i think the private keys are in the *.dat and you can dump it out and restore your wallet only with the private key - ok im not sure have to read more, but thats my stand of (non) knowlegde.

[cech4204a]

wallet.dat is not as important as privatekeys. By having private keys you can anytime access your coins. Keep in mind that BACK-up is safe as you have your private-keys.

[Divorcion]

wallet.dat is not as important as privatekeys. By having private keys you can anytime access your coins. Keep in mind that BACK-up is safe as you have your private-keys.

ok but how can i get my private keys with the standard-client of bitcoin (as example)?

thank you

[Lucky Cris]

My advice to you is to not touch your computer starting now.

You can visit a Best Buy or other computer store and they may be abel to recover your wallet.dat file

Concur - partially. Please don't go to Best Buy... you might as well hire a student.

You can actually do this yourself - it's windows after wall There's light at the end of the tunnel.

[ShakyhandsBTCer]

My advice to you is to not touch your computer starting now.

You can visit a Best Buy or other computer store and they may be abel to recover your wallet.dat file

Concur - partially. Please don't go to Best Buy... you might as well hire a student.

You can actually do this yourself - it's windows after wall There's light at the end of the tunnel.

I was giving Best Buy as an example that hopefully most people could relate to.

I think that there are a lot of very smart college students so I wouldn't say that hiring a student would necessarily be a bad thing.

[Shogen]

In the bitcoin standard client i cant find "export private keys" or sth. similar, i will try some other wallets.
thanks

Go to Help -> Debug window -> Console.
Enter "dumpprivkey <bitcoinaddress>", and you will get the private key of that address.

[Icardi09]

so sorry for you
how many bitcoin you lose?
i always back up my wallet / private key in safe place like external harddrive using password protection

[Bitcoin_Mafia_Me]

so sorry for you
how many bitcoin you lose?
i always back up my wallet / private key in safe place like external harddrive using password protection

I lost 4.5 bitcoin. Everything I had to put towards my kid's graduation trip. Ugh. So now I'm starting
over again.

[Benjig]

Im sorry for your lose, just in case someone needs advice, i have my wallet.dat backed up on my mobile, email, external hosting service, and in another hard drive. Of course with strong password.

[Velkro]

backup is one thing, because backup in couple places is security risk of exposing your private key to someone
thats why beside backup you must do encryption (older version of TrueCrypt)