Freaking linux Crash NIGHTMARE!!!!

[grondilu]

Oh my god this is the first time ever I have such a linux crash!!!

It seems that my system is absolutely unrecoverable!!!!!

I'm currently sending this message from a freshly installed Ubuntu distro.   So far I've managed to recover some backups such as my GnuPG private key.

I hope I'll have no problem getting my wallet back!

Pray for me guys!

[trentzb]

You haven't written to the crashed drive yet have you?

[grondilu]

You haven't written to the crashed drive yet have you?

No as I wasn't even able to mount it.  And fsck is returning many errors.

[trentzb]

Can you fdisk it? You may be able to recover some bits of it...don't write to it even though writes may go to safe locations.

Did you recover your wallet/GnuPG and important items from backup?

[trentzb]

fsck is returning many errors.

ahh, probably too late if you let fsck do something.

[ploum]

anyway, if you have a backup of your wallet.dat, it's not a problem.

If I understood well, even a very old backup should be enough to recover all the transactions that happened after the backup (because all transactions are saved on the network anyway).

[grondilu]

I don't have much hope about recovering anything from my disk.

I could decrypt my wallet backup so it should be fine.  I'm currently re-downloading the full block chain, looking anxiously at the "balance" field  

First time in 10 years that I have such a critical crash.

[rezin777]

You don't have multiple wallet back ups?! 

Good luck!

[ploum]

You don't have multiple wallet back ups?! 

Why would it be needed? I read about people backuping their wallet after each transaction and I still don't understand why.

[pjwaffle]

You don't have multiple wallet back ups?! 

Why would it be needed? I read about people backuping their wallet after each transaction and I still don't understand why.

Did you even read the first post?

Fail.

[grondilu]

damn it I've already downloaded 92,000 blocks and my balance is still zero   

I'm starting to worry now.   I received my first bitcoins around block 85,000 

[bitlotto]

You don't have multiple wallet back ups?! 

Why would it be needed? I read about people backuping their wallet after each transaction and I still don't understand why.

Did you even read the first post?

Fail.

Maybe he was getting at the 100 addresses feature. The wallet creates 100 addresses at time for use. So if you back up the wallet once it will be good until you use those 100 addresses. No need to back up after every transaction. Problem though, is you have no idea when you've used them. (At least not that I see. Haven't really looked. I back up all the time) So if you got paid at address 101 and you only have the first backup, your kind of hooped.

[ploum]

Wait, this would mean that the wallet.dat actually "stores" the bitcoin (I don't know how). This doesn't make sense.

Also, it means that we are all forced to backup the wallet each time we receive a transaction! Which is highly impractical and even impossible if services like mybitcoin.com start to grow.

Good luck man, I really hope you recover your bitcoins.


EDIT: thanks bitlotto for the explanations. I didn't know that it was working that way. I understand better now.

[bitlotto]

damn it I've already downloaded 92,000 blocks and my balance is still zero   

I'm starting to worry now.   I received my first bitcoins around block 85,000 

If it's the hard disk that has failed your last hope could be to "dd" the data to a working drive. And see if you can pick the data out. dd will copy it bit for bit errors and all. Then do your exploration on the working drive.

[bitlotto]

Wait, this would mean that the wallet.dat actually "stores" the bitcoin (I don't know how). This doesn't make sense.

Also, it means that we are all forced to backup the wallet each time we receive a transaction! Which is highly impractical and even impossible if services like mybitcoin.com start to grow.

It doesn't store the coins. They exist on the network. BUT, to spend them, you need the "keys". They are stored in your wallet. Lose the keys and those coins will never move again to another account.

[grondilu]

Doesn't seem to get my bitcoins.

I try to stay calm and I think it might be a software version issue.

I was running version 0.3.19 and now I am trying with 0.3.21

Isn't there any non-compatibility issue about database format or something ?

[mewantsbitcoins]

try -rescan

[grondilu]

try -rescan

didn't work.

damn it am I going to lose everything ?

[mewantsbitcoins]

it doesn't make sense. try development&technical discussion board

[bitlotto]

try -rescan

didn't work.

damn it am I going to lose everything ?

How old is the backup? If you've sent and received BTC quite a bit since the backup there is a chance you have BTC contained in addresses not backed up. Sending money sometimes creates new addresses for the change that comes back to you.

You don't have to answer, but how much lost?
Depending on how much, you could use a data recovery specialist.