PatricF
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Restore wallet from backup 4 years ago

Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:17 pm

Hello,

I just found a backup from a Bitcoin wallet I had in 2013. I can't really remember how I made the backup. I only remember I did it on my Android phone at the time. I think it was the Bitcoin Wallet from "Bitcoin Wallet developers" but when I try to restore it it just says I don't have a valid backup.

If I open the backup in Notepad there is a 240 characters long string.

Is there any way I can restore this to my wallet on Blockchain.info?

I tried to install various desktop wallets on my Windows 10 computer but I can't seem to restore the backup.
The filename is bitcoin-wallet-keys-2013-11-29.

Does anyone know if I can restore this or am I screwed?

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bitkilo
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Re: Restore wallet from backup 4 years ago

Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:34 pm

Hello,

I just found a backup from a Bitcoin wallet I had in 2013. I can't really remember how I made the backup. I only remember I did it on my Android phone at the time. I think it was the Bitcoin Wallet from "Bitcoin Wallet developers" but when I try to restore it it just says I don't have a valid backup.

If I open the backup in Notepad there is a 240 characters long string.

Is there any way I can restore this to my wallet on Blockchain.info?

I tried to install various desktop wallets on my Windows 10 computer but I can't seem to restore the backup.
The filename is bitcoin-wallet-keys-2013-11-29.

Does anyone know if I can restore this or am I screwed?
If the wallet was created on an Android phone and it gave you access to your private keys then it would have given you a 12 word seed when first setting the wallet up, unless you have that you have slim to no chance in recovering the funds inside.
If you have the seed then just download a wallet like the Bitcoin.com wallet and select the option "restore from seed"
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PatricF
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:09 pm

Re: Restore wallet from backup 4 years ago

Tue Sep 26, 2017 2:50 pm

Thanks for the quick reply.

I downloaded the app but couldn't find "restore from seed". I however tried the "recovery phrase" but the "12 word seed" I have (if it's the correct one) is 20 words long.
I can't be sure it this is the right one but it dates back to the same day the backup was made so I guess it's this one.

However if I try to use it in the app is says "Wrong number of recovery words: 20"

Any idea?

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bitkilo
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Re: Restore wallet from backup 4 years ago

Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:03 pm

Thanks for the quick reply.

I downloaded the app but couldn't find "restore from seed". I however tried the "recovery phrase" but the "12 word seed" I have (if it's the correct one) is 20 words long.
I can't be sure it this is the right one but it dates back to the same day the backup was made so I guess it's this one.

However if I try to use it in the app is says "Wrong number of recovery words: 20"

Any idea?
You would have to find out what wallet you originally had and try find a newer version or another wallet that let's you restore from a 20 word seed.
I don't know of any wallets that give a 20 word seed but there are some that give 12,13 and 24 word seeds.
Please help Ross and his family during this hard time by donating to the https://freeross.org/ fund. Play at the best provably fair Bitcoin games site here: games.bitcoin.com Need a fantastic Bitcoin wallet Pick up some great Bitcoin.com swag here

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Re: Restore wallet from backup 4 years ago

Tue Sep 26, 2017 4:03 pm

If the wallet was created on an Android phone and it gave you access to your private keys then it would have given you a 12 word seed when first setting the wallet up, unless you have that you have slim to no chance in recovering the funds inside.
If you have the seed then just download a wallet like the Bitcoin.com wallet and select the option "restore from seed"
The above is not strictly true, use of seed words back in 2013 was very limited - the backup that was created by the Schildbach Bitcoin Wallet (the most commonly used Android wallet at the time) most likely included the private keys for the addresses in the wallet in the 240 character long string.

@OP, you can try using the instructions at the link below to import your private keys into the Bitcoin.com wallet:

https://www.bitcoin.com/guides/how-to-i ... ivate-keys

puccettone
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Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2017 4:26 pm

Re: Restore wallet from backup 4 years ago

Mon Nov 06, 2017 4:34 pm

the bitcoin-wallet-keys-YYYY-MM-DD format is an old format.
I already managed to decrypt and view the priv key of an old wallet, it's just matter of scripting and programming.

If you need help I can tell you how to do it.
P.

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btc2dogecom
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Apr 12, 2021 3:57 pm

Re: Restore wallet from backup 4 years ago

Mon Apr 12, 2021 4:04 pm

you need the password to decrypt the backup. then you can restore it. without the backup password, you cant get access to your coin.

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