I'm not entirely sure how BTC works, even after reading through the wiki, so please excuse any stupidity on my behalf.
If I have a wallet.dat file with Private Keys can I back it up, import the generated Brain Wallet Private Key, perform some transactions and then delete the wallet.dat file replacing it with the backup?
Or is there an easier method (such as just deleting the private key from the wallet.dat)?
I ask because every article or thread I read on how to use Brain Wallets seems to revolve around BlockChain.info or a similar service.
Thanks in advance, hope the question makes sense.
I assume you are asking about Bitcoin-Qt?
If so, then your plan would work as long as:
- You understand and are careful about "change" addresses.
- You make sure you keep a good backup of the original wallet.dat
- You don't use more than 100 addresses (including change addresses) before you restore the backup, or you increase the size of the keypool
It might be safer to:
Create a backup of the wallet.dat
Shut down Bitcoin-Qt
Delete the wallet.dat from the Bitcoin-Qt data directory.
Start up Bitcoin-Qt (it will create a new wallet.dat that has none of the previous addresses and access to none of the coins from the backed up wallet.dat)
Import the private key from the paper wallet.
Perform the transactions you desire.
Send the entire remaining balance to a new paper wallet.
Shut down Bitcoin-Qt
Replace the wallet.dat in the Bitcoin-Qt data directory with the backup.
Start up Bitcoin-Qt
As far as I know there is no way to remove a private key from a Bitcoin-Qt wallet.dat without a third-party utility.
