"Can you find my bitcoin?"

[ITtechguy]

Just got an email from a client asking if I could look on his old computer for his bitcoin from years ago.

I don't concern myself with bitcoin (or any other get-rich-quick schemes). From what I can find on Google, wouldn't this be just a wallet.dat file?

 

[phaZed]

No, not really. Depends on how he had it, what he stored it in, etc. "Wallet" apps treat their holdings and accounts differently and there is not a standardization to it that I can see.

 

[ITtechguy]

Yeah, my original draft reply to him was going to be "What would I be looking for? Filename? File size range? Not just saved to your Documents?" but a search made it look like the wallet.dat files were fairly common. I'm guessing he's talking plain Bitcoin and not some other currency but I'm not 100% on that.

And I'm asking him if he even has the password.

 

[phaZed]

Yeah. In order to even begin, he's likely going to need to recall the program/wallet app he was using and the user/pass for that app/wallet.

Failing that, he will need his wallet address(I think) and his "recovery key" - the recovery key is given at time of wallet creation and should be written/printed and stored away safely.

 

[ITtechguy]

Yup. I'm just going to shoot him back a list of those questions and expect he'll just reply with "Aww crap".

 

[Markverhyden]

Yup. I'm just going to shoot him back a list of those questions and expect he'll just reply with "Aww crap".

Wonder if he'd been bragging to a significant other about how much it was worth now.......

If he doesn't have all the details it's doubtful he'll get anywhere. Part of the sales pitch is that it's so secure.

 

[ITtechguy]

Exactly. Check the link in my earlier post.

 

[Markverhyden]

Exactly. Check the link in my earlier post.

LOL!!! Not the first time it's happened. And it's not just bitcoin.

Daughter throws away mattress stuffed with mother's $1m life savings

Security guards posted at landfill sites in Tel Aviv to keep treasure hunters away

www.theguardian.com

 

[thecomputerguy]

On the bright side you can have him download some RAM for free.... consolation prize?

DownloadMoreRAM.com - CloudRAM 2.0

DownloadMoreRAM.com - CloudRAM 2.0

downloadmoreram.com

 

[Sky-Knight]

Lol if you figure it out can you tell me how to get back a lost wallet from 3 computers ago that had 2 coins in it? Because I mined them way back in the early days, figured it wouldn't amount to much and formatted the machine!

Those hashes of course are GONE. So all I can do is look back and be sad.

 

[Stever]

I would ask if he had backups from back then, or his prior pc in the loft that may well have the "Wallet" on it

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ort-council-wales-james-howells-b1787863.html

 

[timeshifter]

I'd suggest you make a full forensic copy or image backup of his computer and work from that. Depending on how long ago he had bitcoin on there it could be worth a fortune now. At one moment in history a pizza was 100 bitcoin. Now one bitcoin is around $50,000.