4 ms·

I have been procrastinating on this for a long time, so I might as well ask here: I own a very old wallet.dat[1]. It is from a time when you had to compile som

I have been procrastinating on this for a long time, so I might as well ask here: I own a very old wallet.dat[1]. It is from a time when you had to compile some C files to a command line tool which downloaded the whole blockchain [2] to your computer locally. I'm pretty sure I have never had to specify a password (or 12 random words). I remember this because it seemed odd to me back then. What is the easiest way to check if this wallet.dat is intact and what is in there? [3] I'd prefer if it would be possible to check without transferring it to a service (like Coinbase, or similar), but I'm open to that, if it is safe. [1] Actually I have two different versions of it with slightly different sizes and couldn't figure out which is the most recent. [2] I think it must be in my backups as well, but it is probably not of much use. [3] I have a pretty good idea what should be in there and even know the Bitcoin address used. Still I would like to verify independently if my memory serves me right and if I could transfer the Bitcoins if I wanted to.

antocv 5y ago
First you make many copies of that file, to different disks and usb-memories. Then you can load one of them into bitcoin-core wallet and you are done. That file should be all you need, it is unencrypted and contains your bitcorns.
- weinzierl 5y ago
  > First you make many copies of that file, to different disks and usb-memories. This is exactly what I've done with it so far, haha. > Then you can load one of them into bitcoin-core wallet and you are done. Sorry, I'm completely out of touch with Bitcoin by now. In the beginning there was not much info and everything was low risk anyways. Nowadays there is so much noise and I'm never sure what to trust. When you say bitcoin-core, you mean the client I can get from https://bitcoincore.org https://bitcoincore.org? If I understand the instructions correctly I should enable pruning and need to download and store about 6 GiB, but that's it. > That file should be all you need, it is unencrypted and contains your bitcorns. Sounds good...
  - notanzaiiswear 5y ago
    I think you can also import them in "light" wallets like Electrum. That way you don't have to download the whole blockchain. You may be leaking the information that somebody with your IP address has Bitcoins, though.
    - crtasm 5y ago
      It's easy to configure Electrum to use Tor or any socks proxy if that's a concern.
svenfaw 5y ago
bitcoin-cli --dumpwallet "filename" should give you the private keys in WIF format
- notanzaiiswear 5y ago
  He needs the public keys to check the balance.
lordnacho 5y ago
Get the official bitcoin client, sync it, and put your own file in place of the default wallet file. Then you're done. Also don't forget you will have coins on all the forks, get those as well.
- weinzierl 5y ago
  Never had time to wrap my head around forks. If I have a wallet from the time before forks existed, do I have to do anything to not lose my money in case a fork "wins"? Or is this the wrong way to think about forks?
  - TacticalCoder 5y ago
    I'll answer about the forks at the end... I personally would only import that wallet.dat on a fully offline/airgapped computer (which you've synched to the BTC blockchain first), prepare the transaction to move those coins to a safe address (like an hardware wallet), put that transaction on a USB stick, put that stick in an online computer and broadcast the transaction. But first and foremost: buy a hardware wallet, learn how it works, make sure to have copies of the seed (24 words probably), "warm" you address by having a friend send you 0.01 BTC on it or something, move these coins to another address (you really want to be sure this address works and everything is smooth). This costs some money (a hardware wallet + the fees to "warm up" the addresses / test how it all works) but if you have an old wallet.dat with some or a lot of BTCs, it's worth it. And also: move the most valuable coins first. So BTC first, then BCH, then BSV. I'm not kidding with this. So many scams with the forks / executables to synch the forks etc. Don't even think about moving the BCH/BSV etc. before having moved all the BTCs. Re- forks: depends on what you mean by "winning". BTC "won" over BCH if you take the market price (45 K vs 500 USD) but BCH lives on. So if your wallet.dat predates that fork, you'll have both. Once again: do not ever try to move the BCH before moving the BTC... For you want to minimize the places where you import that wallet.dat for the most important coin. Now if by "winning" you mean: one chain wins and the fork dies a sad death, the point is moot as there's no other fork/chain and hence coins there are worth 0. If you have an old wallet.dat, you'll have coins on the BTC chain, the BCH chain, the BSV chain, the BTG Gold chain, etc.
  - 5y ago

antocv 5y ago

First you make many copies of that file, to different disks and usb-memories. Then you can load one of them into bitcoin-core wallet and you are done. That file should be all you need, it is unencrypted and contains your bitcorns.

weinzierl 5y ago
> First you make many copies of that file, to different disks and usb-memories. This is exactly what I've done with it so far, haha. > Then you can load one of them into bitcoin-core wallet and you are done. Sorry, I'm completely out of touch with Bitcoin by now. In the beginning there was not much info and everything was low risk anyways. Nowadays there is so much noise and I'm never sure what to trust. When you say bitcoin-core, you mean the client I can get from https://bitcoincore.org https://bitcoincore.org? If I understand the instructions correctly I should enable pruning and need to download and store about 6 GiB, but that's it. > That file should be all you need, it is unencrypted and contains your bitcorns. Sounds good...
- notanzaiiswear 5y ago
  I think you can also import them in "light" wallets like Electrum. That way you don't have to download the whole blockchain. You may be leaking the information that somebody with your IP address has Bitcoins, though.
  - crtasm 5y ago
    It's easy to configure Electrum to use Tor or any socks proxy if that's a concern.

svenfaw 5y ago

bitcoin-cli --dumpwallet "filename" should give you the private keys in WIF format

notanzaiiswear 5y ago
He needs the public keys to check the balance.

lordnacho 5y ago

Get the official bitcoin client, sync it, and put your own file in place of the default wallet file. Then you're done. Also don't forget you will have coins on all the forks, get those as well.

weinzierl 5y ago
Never had time to wrap my head around forks. If I have a wallet from the time before forks existed, do I have to do anything to not lose my money in case a fork "wins"? Or is this the wrong way to think about forks?
- TacticalCoder 5y ago
  I'll answer about the forks at the end... I personally would only import that wallet.dat on a fully offline/airgapped computer (which you've synched to the BTC blockchain first), prepare the transaction to move those coins to a safe address (like an hardware wallet), put that transaction on a USB stick, put that stick in an online computer and broadcast the transaction. But first and foremost: buy a hardware wallet, learn how it works, make sure to have copies of the seed (24 words probably), "warm" you address by having a friend send you 0.01 BTC on it or something, move these coins to another address (you really want to be sure this address works and everything is smooth). This costs some money (a hardware wallet + the fees to "warm up" the addresses / test how it all works) but if you have an old wallet.dat with some or a lot of BTCs, it's worth it. And also: move the most valuable coins first. So BTC first, then BCH, then BSV. I'm not kidding with this. So many scams with the forks / executables to synch the forks etc. Don't even think about moving the BCH/BSV etc. before having moved all the BTCs. Re- forks: depends on what you mean by "winning". BTC "won" over BCH if you take the market price (45 K vs 500 USD) but BCH lives on. So if your wallet.dat predates that fork, you'll have both. Once again: do not ever try to move the BCH before moving the BTC... For you want to minimize the places where you import that wallet.dat for the most important coin. Now if by "winning" you mean: one chain wins and the fork dies a sad death, the point is moot as there's no other fork/chain and hence coins there are worth 0. If you have an old wallet.dat, you'll have coins on the BTC chain, the BCH chain, the BSV chain, the BTG Gold chain, etc.
- 5y ago