According to the New York Times, 20% of all bitcoins currently exist are in the wallets, access to which is lost. How to restore access to a bitcoin wallet, and what to do not find yourself in a similar situation? Read this article.
How not to lose access to your bitcoin purse
The following is a brief reminder of the rules that will keep you from financial losses in operations with cryptocurrency.
Keep large sums in cold wallets.
You wouldn’t think of carrying millions in your pants pockets. It’s the same with bitcoins: keep only a small amount online to exchange and trade. It’s better to access your primary savings in a hardware or paper wallet.
Have a backup copy of your wallet
This applies not only to public and private keys, as it is much harder to recover a bitcoin wallet password than to reassure yourself in advance. Use multiple media – a thumb drive, paper, disk, etc. updаte your backups regularly so that none of your keys are irretrievably lost. If your keys or backups are accessible from the network, encrypt them.
Your password for accessing your bitcoin wallet should be pretty complicated, but you should remember it, and better yet, write it down and keep it in a safe place – for example, on a piece of paper in your safe.
How to restore an old bitcoin wallet
If you did not manage to be overprotective and lose access, there are several ways to restore it. It all depends on the type of purse and the situation.
SEED phrase
Bitcoin wallets are often accessed via SEED phrase. The device generates this 12, 18, or 24-word phrase when it is initially set up. This is how Ledger or TRESOR hardware wallets work, for example.
The SEED phrase is best stored on a device that is not connected to the network or written down on paper. If the password is lost, you can press the restore button and enter the SEED phrase.
Wallet.dat file
This method is often used for desktop wallets and software installed on your computer. The main file is called wallet.dat. To restore access, locate it on your computer.
- Windows: %APPDATA%/NameOfWallet /
- Linux: ~ /NameOfWallet/
- Mac OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/NameOfWallet/
This file should be copied to a flash drive or other media not connected to the network. If you lose access to the wallet, you will need to rеplace the default file of the same name with it.
Console
Already familiar to us, file wallet.dat will help you restore the wallet key through the console. To do this, open the vault, go to the console, and enter the command dumpprivkey into the command line. Press Enter – and you’ll get a private key to your wallet. It is better to copy it to a flash drive or write it down by hand, where it will not get lost.
Before you restore your bitcoin wallet using your private key, reinstall the application or program. Then go to the console, and enter the importer key command and the key you copied earlier. The blockchain data will be updated, and you will get your data and balance back.
Recovering a lost wallet file
Another everyday problem for a desktop wallet owner is the loss of the file itself due to disk corruption, a Windows crash, and other causes. This is where disk content recovery software can help.
Here are some popular utilities:
- Recuva
- Disk Drill
- R.Saver
Recuva allows you to sеlect the files you want to recover.
Installing the program on a drive other than the one whose contents you will recover is best. The best option is to put another hard drive, install the system on it, and put the one to be retrieved as a removable drive. The earlier you run the scan, the better the chances of retrieving all the necessary data.
Remember, this last resort can be avoided with a good anti-virus and vigilant online behavior.
How to recover a Bitcoin wallet password
Unfortunately, very often, there is nothing you can do about the loss of your password. Owners of online wallet hosting sites don’t have access to your balance and password.
Check to see if there is a password recovery form on your site. Sometimes, you can enter the data you specified during registration and receive a new password or a link to recover it to your email or phone.
If that doesn’t work, contact technical support. This is not a panacea, but you may be offered options. The recovery through SEED phrase, which we wrote about above, often works.
There are also more risky, unconventional methods used by some wallet owners: password recovery services, crackers, and cryptohypnotists. You can use them at your own risk.
How to restore a Bitcoin wallet by wallet address
This is a fairly common question that has no answer. Because the wallet address is used for transactions in the public domain, it is not enough to access the balance. Otherwise, anyone possessing the address could quickly dispose of your crypto assets.
Summary
Bitcoin wallet recovery is not the most straightforward task. Half the success is the steps you take ahead of time.
- Don’t keep all your funds in one wallet, especially if it’s an online wallet.
- Write down private keys and SEED phrases and keep them in a safe place.
- In the case of desktop wallets, make a couple of backups of wallet.dat files and store them on different media types.
Basic ways to recover bitcoin wallets:
- From the SEED phrase generated during wallet registration.
- By a backup copy of the wallet.dat file
- Through the console, if you copied and saved the private key in advance.
- With disk recovery utilities, if you lost the wallet file itself.
- Through a password recovery form on some online services.
There are other unconventional ways, like contacting a cracker or cryptohypnotist, but no one guarantees the success of the operation and the safety of your funds.
