Files · Damage
My wallet file is corrupted: can anything be salvaged?
Two things first. One: check whether it really is damaged, because a «wrong password» message does not mean that. Two: if it is damaged, don’t let any program try to «repair» it on the original.
First, is it really damaged?
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| «Wrong password» | The file is fine: it was read perfectly |
| «Cannot read file» | Possible real damage |
| «Unrecognised format» | Could be damage or could be a different kind of file |
| The program crashes on opening | Possible real damage |
| Size of 0 bytes | The copy failed: look for the original |
The first row matters most, because it reassures a great many people: if the wallet asks for the password and rejects it, it read the file without trouble. Your case is a password case, not a damage case. See the wallet says wrong password but the file is fine.
What usually survives damage
A wallet file is not an indivisible block: inside there are many separate elements. Partial damage — a bad disk sector, an interrupted copy, a power cut while saving — usually ruins one part and leaves the rest intact. And what really matters, the keys, takes up very little space.
That is why in many cases the contents can be salvaged even when the program refuses to open the file. It isn’t magic: it is reading what remains legible and reconstructing the useful pieces.
What to do, in order
- Copy the file to two separate places, without opening it.
- If the drive it is on throws errors, stop using it: every boot can make the damage worse.
- Look for earlier copies of the same wallet: a healthy old copy is worth more than a damaged original.
- Don’t run repair tools on the original. Only on copies, and only knowing what they do.
- Check whether the wallet holds a balance by looking up one of your addresses on an explorer, so you know whether the effort is worth it.