We get a lot of enquiries from people who bought BTC a long time ago (2011 – 2015)  and then forgot all about it.

They stored their Bitcoin in a wallet on their hard drive and now that hard drive is in a computer stored in the loft that doesn’t even switch on. What can be done to recover their Bitcoin wallet from their old computer ?

  1. First of all, see if the hard drive is working. It doesn’t matter if the computer no longer works, the important question is does the hard drive still work ?
  2. Remove the hard drive from the old computer and attach it to your current computer using a USB to SATA to cable. If the drive is recognised by the computer then it is still working which is great news. If it isn’t working go to point 5.
  3. Use File Explorer to search the hard drive for a wallet.dat file. This is the filename of your Bitcoin wallet.
  4. Download a compatible wallet application to your current computer and use it to open your wallet.dat file and get access to your BTC. Job done !

  5. If your hard drive isn’t working: This is sometimes the case. Hard drives are not the most resilient of devices and if your hard drive isn’t recognised, don’t despair, our sister company Data Clinic Ltd is a specialist data recovery company who have been recovering the data from broken hard drives for over 20 years. Contact them at https://www.dataclinic.co.uk/
  6. If your you’ve got your wallet but can’t remember your password: Please contact us – we should be able to help you.