The wallet.dat contains all private keys (and therefore all Bitcoins on them), so it's all you need. (You can backup the other stuff so you don't have to download all of the blockchain again though.)
If you use bitcoin-qt: Important to know is that transactions can have a "change" (just like when you give out a $100 bill to pay $50 and get back a $50 bill) that will go to a new hidden adress due to anonymity reasons. 100 adresses are pregenerated and included in any backup, but if you make a lot of transaction or create a lot of adresses you should make a new backup every now and then.
Topic: BACKUP PROBLEM (Read 405 times)
You shouldn't need to open your wallet.dat file directly, but doing so shouldn't harm anything as long as you don't save any changes. A text editor like notepad will open the file, but you probably won't see anything human-readable in there.
Adobe doesn't recognize the format of the file, and therefore doesn't know how to display it, that's why it gave you an error message.
Copying your wallet.dat file might not work while the wallet program is running. To back up your wallet, take a look in your wallet program's menu. You'll find a command there to do it.
Thanks for your help.Adobe doesn't recognize the format of the file, and therefore doesn't know how to display it, that's why it gave you an error message.
Copying your wallet.dat file might not work while the wallet program is running. To back up your wallet, take a look in your wallet program's menu. You'll find a command there to do it.
I am a little paranoid on protecting the wallet, lol.
I back up the whole BTC folder not just the wallet.dat file, is that OK?
You shouldn't need to open your wallet.dat file directly, but doing so shouldn't harm anything as long as you don't save any changes. A text editor like notepad will open the file, but you probably won't see anything human-readable in there.
Adobe doesn't recognize the format of the file, and therefore doesn't know how to display it, that's why it gave you an error message.
Copying your wallet.dat file might not work while the wallet program is running. To back up your wallet, take a look in your wallet program's menu. You'll find a command there to do it.
Adobe doesn't recognize the format of the file, and therefore doesn't know how to display it, that's why it gave you an error message.
Copying your wallet.dat file might not work while the wallet program is running. To back up your wallet, take a look in your wallet program's menu. You'll find a command there to do it.
I recently downloaded the BTC wallet and bought some BTC.
I was looking in the BTC folder and tried to open the wallet.dat file. I was asked how to open and I selected Adobe. It came up with an error message, I closed it.
I want reverse what I have done as when I tried to make a back up to a flash drive the back up did not complete. I assumed it may have something to do with the file. I now have the adobe icon next to the file.
Would I choose another app to open it.
As I am new to BTC I a little concerned I will lose the file if I have done something wrong.
I have a couple more questions regarding security which I will put in another thread.
Any assistance is appreciated.
I was looking in the BTC folder and tried to open the wallet.dat file. I was asked how to open and I selected Adobe. It came up with an error message, I closed it.
I want reverse what I have done as when I tried to make a back up to a flash drive the back up did not complete. I assumed it may have something to do with the file. I now have the adobe icon next to the file.
Would I choose another app to open it.
As I am new to BTC I a little concerned I will lose the file if I have done something wrong.
I have a couple more questions regarding security which I will put in another thread.
Any assistance is appreciated.
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