Have a partial priv key, need help guessing missing characters, ink is blurry

jackg

copper member

Activity: 2856

Merit: 3071

https://bit.ly/387FXHi lightning theory

Quote from: mezzomix on November 19, 2016, 08:08:57 AM

Quote from: LoyceV on November 19, 2016, 04:19:49 AM

Quote from: puddlejumperzz on November 18, 2016, 06:28:26 PM

Make copies. Give to family members.

This is how you lose your Bitcoins and happy Christmas dinners! Don't mix family with money, it's a recipe for disaster.

BIP38 provides a solution for your backups. My paper wallet backups are spread all over the world. A lot of them can be found in public locations.

Just print it with larger characters so it's less likely to be blurred or defaced to a point where it can't be seen.
And it is always a bad idea to trust people witheven these small amounts of money as there can be problems that lead to them just taking the money from you.

Quote from: racezefi on November 13, 2016, 12:44:19 AM

So, I have 5 BTC stored "safely" in a paper, that I put in a safe... but the ink has faded partially, so now I'm going insane trying to figure out if something is a G or a 6, an a or 9 (seriously).

Is there a script to brute force the possible combination of characters that look similar in a private key?

I can try and get in it for you for a 5% fee if there's no other option for you to use (although I doubt my trust will be high enougth to be accepted).

donalddlanod

newbie

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Merit: 0

OP any update on your progress? Please post.

mezzomix

legendary

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Quote from: LoyceV on November 19, 2016, 04:19:49 AM

Quote from: puddlejumperzz on November 18, 2016, 06:28:26 PM

Make copies. Give to family members.

This is how you lose your Bitcoins and happy Christmas dinners! Don't mix family with money, it's a recipe for disaster.

BIP38 provides a solution for your backups. My paper wallet backups are spread all over the world. A lot of them can be found in public locations.

LoyceV

legendary

Activity: 3290

Merit: 16489

Thick-Skinned Gang Leader and Golden Feather 2021

Quote from: puddlejumperzz on November 18, 2016, 06:28:26 PM

Make copies. Give to family members.

This is how you lose your Bitcoins and happy Christmas dinners! Don't mix family with money, it's a recipe for disaster.

puddlejumperzz

newbie

Activity: 37

Merit: 0

Sorry to hear your troubles. Been there. While it sucks, I wont and I bet you wont make that mistake again. Make copies. Give to family members. Store image on encrypted usb. Always need to have a couple of backups. Use cloud, usb, desktop combination of.

Abdussamad

legendary

Activity: 3710

Merit: 1586

if the QR code is not too blurred then scanning that might be a better idea than trying to brute force the priv key. QR codes have built-in redundancies and error correction so even a slightly damaged QR code can yield a lot, if not all, of the data.

cr1776

legendary

Activity: 4256

Merit: 1313

Quote from: racezefi on November 13, 2016, 12:44:19 AM

So, I have 5 BTC stored "safely" in a paper, that I put in a safe... but the ink has faded partially, so now I'm going insane trying to figure out if something is a G or a 6, an a or 9 (seriously).

Is there a script to brute force the possible combination of characters that look similar in a private key?

If the "something" is only one character (it isn't clear above) and the only options are as above, that is only 3 combinations so you could just try all three without any need for software.

LoyceV

legendary

Activity: 3290

Merit: 16489

Thick-Skinned Gang Leader and Golden Feather 2021

Quote from: bitkilo on November 16, 2016, 05:30:41 AM

Can you give us a little more information on the paper wallet itself, don't need this happing to myself down the track.
Was it just a plain piece of paper or laminated?
Being in a safe i would have assumed it was out of sunlight, was it exposed to heat within the safe?
How long had the paper wallet been stored for?

People are always paranoid when it comes to storing paper wallets. I have paper with ink 50+ years old, printed I've seen decades old, and it's all just totally fine.
I can only imagine someone tries to do something so secure to store it, that it causes other problems. If you write a code in a book and keep it with your other books, it will still be there 400 years from now.

bitkilo

legendary

Activity: 1638

Merit: 1010

https://www.bitcoin.com/

Can you give us a little more information on the paper wallet itself, don't need this happing to myself down the track.
Was it just a plain piece of paper or laminated?
Being in a safe i would have assumed it was out of sunlight, was it exposed to heat within the safe?
How long had the paper wallet been stored for?

LoyceV

legendary

Activity: 3290

Merit: 16489

Thick-Skinned Gang Leader and Golden Feather 2021

Quote from: elbandi on November 13, 2016, 02:17:42 PM

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.16359515

I've tested this script when it was first posted in that thread, it works fine for 5 missing characters.
Give it a try, if it works, elbandi's tip-addy is in the link too

mocacinno

legendary

Activity: 3612

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https://merel.mobi => buy facemasks with BTC/LTC

5 BTC is enough to make some effort... I participated in the quoted topic and gave some proof of concept examples in perl on how to tackle this problem (altough, an other member wrote a much better sollution in python), in case you need some extra assistance, you're always free to PM me

LFC_Bitcoin

legendary

Activity: 3556

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If you're unable to decipher said missing characters then I'm sure a trusted member on here could help for a small fee. Somebody on DT1 or something?

elbandi

hero member

Activity: 525

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https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.16359515

achow101

staff

Activity: 3458

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Just writing some code

Quote from: shorena on November 13, 2016, 01:38:18 AM

Quote from: achow101 on November 13, 2016, 01:18:59 AM

Yes, there is such a script that exists, or if it does not, it can be easily recreated. This problem has happened before and there is a thread somewhere here about that. Just search for it, the script should be in there.

You are refering to this thread I guess? -> https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/private-key-lost-one-character-1409361

Yep. That's the one.

shorena

copper member

Activity: 1498

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No I dont escrow anymore.

Quote from: achow101 on November 13, 2016, 01:18:59 AM

Yes, there is such a script that exists, or if it does not, it can be easily recreated. This problem has happened before and there is a thread somewhere here about that. Just search for it, the script should be in there.

You are refering to this thread I guess? -> https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/private-key-lost-one-character-1409361

achow101

staff

Activity: 3458

Merit: 6793

Just writing some code

Yes, there is such a script that exists, or if it does not, it can be easily recreated. This problem has happened before and there is a thread somewhere here about that. Just search for it, the script should be in there.

racezefi

member

Activity: 80

Merit: 14

So, I have 5 BTC stored "safely" in a paper, that I put in a safe... but the ink has faded partially, so now I'm going insane trying to figure out if something is a G or a 6, an a or 9 (seriously).

Is there a script to brute force the possible combination of characters that look similar in a private key?

Topic: Have a partial priv key, need help guessing missing characters, ink is blurry (Read 1833 times)