Question about Bks Wallet Backup (B&C)

[desrever]

Today I was doing a backup of the B&C wallet files…

I found two files .dat : walletC.dat and wallet8.dat .

I guess that wallet8.dat contains the BlockShares wallet… I was wondering why is it called 8?

cc @erasmospunk @sigmike @glv

[Nagalim]

all blockshares addresses start with 8

[sigmike]

I think it’s @JordanLee and @tomjoad who decided BKS addresses would start with an 8. The unit and wallet filename were derived from that.

[tomjoad]

There was some thought behind that decision. B and S (for Blockshares or blockShares) were out because they were used in NBT and NSR addresses and we didn’t want confusion between the projects. From there, we decided a number prefix might feel familiar to Bitcoin users who mostly used addresses beginning with “1”.

In my research I couldn’t find any major crypto projects using “8”, which I thought was strange because it’s considered a very lucky number in China, where people will pay extra to have an 8 in their phone number or house address. It wasn’t a coincidence the Beijing Olympics started on August 8, 2008 (08/08/08) for example.

Given the popularity of Bitcoin trading in China, 8 seemed like as good a number as any for BlockShares addresses. I think BlockShares addresses will occasionally start with 9 (such as multisig addresses) but @sigmike would have to confirm.

[sigmike]

I think BlockShares addresses will occasionally start with 9 (such as multisig addresses) but @sigmike would have to confirm.

Yes, multisig BKS addresses start with 9.

[Jimmy]

9 is also great, which means longevity

[ChrisS]

I decided to get a dedicated computer running linux to store my wallets. I am in the process of transferring from a MAC to my linux system. I have the B&C wallet and NuBits wallet installed successfully with blockchains up-to-date.

1. B&C E, I have saved the wallet8.dat file on a USB stick and replaced the wallet8.dat file on my linux system. The program is not recognizing the wallet. I have tried to import it and the error I get it “Wallet import failed. Only NuShares wallets are supported.”

2. Once the wallet is imported, should I suspend updating that wallet on my MAC or can I run them both?

Thank you.

[Nagalim]

Are you copying the wallet files or using the ‘backup’ function in the client? If you can, please use the backup function directly with the graphic user interface. Once you have everything up and running, you should only mint with one at a time. There is no advantage to double minting, it’s about your coins not your processing power.

[ChrisS]

I have tried both copying the file and using the backup feature.

[Nagalim]

Are the clients the same version across computers?

[ChrisS]

Both are 4.0.1.

[Nagalim]

I don’t know if it works from mac to linux. I’ll let someone else respond. Worst case you can dump your private keys and import them, but you’d lose things about your wallet history and stuff.

[ChrisS]

I just was able to import my wallet from Linux to MAC using Peerunity for peercoin, just to try. I am intending to go MAC to LINUX. HMMM

Also, I tried to send from the MAC computer to the new address on the LINUX (rather than doing the wallet) and I get the following error “ERROR: Transaction creation failed.”

[Nagalim]

ERROR: Transaction creation failed.

So your MAC client/wallet isnt working properly? You could check the debug.log

[PinkyAndTheBrain]

I have not installed a Mac version, since nobody is responding to this, I would do the dumpprivkey and then importprivkey:

launch your bitcoin client as usual and wait for it to load the blockchain and start up
click on ‘help’ in the menu bar (top right)
click on 'debug window’
select the ‘console’ tab
type: walletpassphrase “your walletpassphrase here” 600
type: dumpprivkey [your public key here]
this will return the private key, you can copy it now; ensure you clear your clipboard/history afterwards
type: walletlock

and in your linux client:

click on ‘help’ in the menu bar (top right)
click on 'debug window’
select the ‘console’ tab
type: walletpassphrase “your walletpassphrase here” 600
type: importprivkey thatverylongprivatekey

[ChrisS]

Could it be because I have 4 coins in “Stake”?

[ChrisS]

Are there any risks in doing this?

[Nagalim]

There are no risks to dumping and importing private keys as long as no one gains access to those keys (strings of numbers and letters) in the process and both wallets are encrypted with a password only you know. Dont go posting your private key on the internet and you should be alright.

Staked coins don’t matter for dumping and importing private keys. They do matter for transactions to new addresses.

[PinkyAndTheBrain]

another tip:
once you have your private key, you might as well save that in your password manager of choice as backup.

[ChrisS]

here is what happened:

15:12:16
walletpassphrase “password” 600

15:12:49
dumpprivkey [address]

15:12:49
Invalid address (code -5)