Bitcoin wallet.

[Nesetalis]

I've read alot of threads about people having trouble accessing their wallet for one reason or another.
Others have talked about extracting information from a corrupted wallet.
So my question is, what would be the best way to turn the wallet in to a flat file with less risk of corruption, prior to backup?

[1714092675]

1714092675

[Slimquick]

I've read alot of threads about people having trouble accessing their wallet for one reason or another.
Others have talked about extracting information from a corrupted wallet.
So my question is, what would be the best way to turn the wallet in to a flat file with less risk of corruption, prior to backup?

Keep copies on other storage media and reduce the risk. At three copies, you'd be pretty safe from data corruption.

Casper

If you wouldn't mind saying–how does one create and switch between multiple wallets from within the BitCoin client? I don't see any wallet management options in the GUI…

[lulzplzkthx]

I've read alot of threads about people having trouble accessing their wallet for one reason or another.
Others have talked about extracting information from a corrupted wallet.
So my question is, what would be the best way to turn the wallet in to a flat file with less risk of corruption, prior to backup?

Keep copies on other storage media and reduce the risk. At three copies, you'd be pretty safe from data corruption.

Casper

If you wouldn't mind saying–how does one create and switch between multiple wallets from within the BitCoin client? I don't see any wallet management options in the GUI…

1. Quit Bitcoin.
2. If you're on Linux go to ~/.bitcoin/, if you're on Windows go to %AppData%/Bitcoin, if you're on Mac then I can't help you.
3. Rename wallet.dat to wallet.dat.1
4. Start Bitcoin.

Bitcoin will automatically generate a new wallet called wallet.dat, and you can manage them however you'd like.

[Slimquick]

Thank you.

[Nesetalis]

still have no answer as to a non-binary wallet. I suspect though I may just have to play with the bitcoind software and figure it out :p

[Mike Hearn]

Wallet "corruption" doesn't happen because it uses binary. It's not actually about bit flipping.

It can happen at a logical level because the wallet gets out of sync with the status of the block chain, due to people copying wallets around and doing things that historically weren't well supported. You can't easily fix that with a text editor, you need a good understanding of what happened. It can usually be fixed with the latest version using a combination of command line flags and extra patches.

[Nesetalis]

There are a lot of compelling reasons to make the wallet a flat file instead of binary.
one of which being that you can actually see the stored data, and store it in a more personalized way so that it is less likely to be found.. also so you can store only what you need. Also, since its obfuscated in such a way people might assume its secure. Really some encryption method should be built in to the client to store an encrypted plain text wallet, one which is openable by a generic decryption if the person knows the method and the password. Forcing people to password protect their wallet might also give them a sense that this file is important from the start.

also.. more importantly, it can be easily rebuilt by hand if the need arises.

[Mike Hearn]

The wallet stores transactions, which are complex binary data structures. It's really not feasible to build a wallet by hand. It's programs or nothing.

[thinkweis]

I made a guide on how to make a secure bitcoin wallet using Ubuntu. Don't be scared if you don't have any experience with that. I cover every step from installation of Ubuntu to using your secured wallet.

http://startbitcoin.com/how-to-create-a-secure-bitcoin-wallet/

[memvola]

still have no answer as to a non-binary wallet. I suspect though I may just have to play with the bitcoind software and figure it out :p

Before diving into bitcoind, you might want to check bitcoin-tools. I don't remember enough about it to tell if it will fully suit your need, but the source will be helpful for sure.

[unk]

The wallet stores transactions, which are complex binary data structures. It's really not feasible to build a wallet by hand. It's programs or nothing.

i may be reading the original poster incorrectly, but it may be that all he wants is something that dumps the internal berkeley db structure of wallet.dat to a flat 'textual' file.

if so, you can just use db_dump:  http://doc.gnu-darwin.org/dumpload/utility.html

as an additional backup of a wallet.dat, a textual serialization of the data structure can have some value, albeit a fairly marginal value in most cases. 'text' introduces potential character-encoding issues in theory, but in exchange, you get (1) some hedge against potential data-file incompatibilities in the future, and (2) perhaps, if you're smart and careful, a better opportunity to engage in redundant, fault-tolerant backups compared to treating the whole binary file as opaque.

i agree, overall, it's a relatively minor advantage, but i hope this helps.