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If I just open up the .dat file in note pad and it opens it shouldn't be corrupt then right?
Well if notepad can open it the file itself can be opened, but for the btc client to make something usefull of the data they have to be unchanged.
E.g. you open the file in notepad, change something and safe it. Notepad can still open the file, but the bitoin client may no longer consider it a valid walet.dat.
What happens if you backup your wallet.dat
Keep your wallet running on your computer. Earn a couple more BTC then copy over the original wallet.dat file?
The way I understand the wallet it would just update to the "new" version. If it wouldnt you could backup the wallet, spend your btc, restore, repeat.