Question about wallet backup.

[BitPorium]

Hello,
If i backup my wallet how it is right now and use its address to receive payments, Do i have to keep the bitcoin client running or can I just run like once a week and update my wallet with new transactions?

Questions2:
If I backup my wallet to say, my gmail account and I keep using the copy on my pc and lets say a couple weeks later I lose that for whatever reason, say a system crash, Will the backup I made weeks ago still be good or should I backup more often?

[BitPorium]

bump

[theymos]

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

[BitPorium]

Thanks. That article was... Informative. One thing that didn;t explain well is receiving addresses. I i generate 100 receiving addresses, and make a backup of my wallet, does it matter if I receive 100 transactions or even 1000 transactions to those addresses? Will my backup I made after getting the 100 addresses still pick up everything? It only generates more addresses when I send a transaction. So I should Backup after each sent transaction correct?

[ribuck]

I i generate 100 receiving addresses, and make a backup of my wallet, does it matter if I receive 100 transactions or even 1000 transactions to those addresses? Will my backup I made after getting the 100 addresses still pick up everything? It only generates more addresses when I send a transaction.

Correct. There's nothing new to backup after someone sends payment to your receiving address, because it goes into the block chain and not to your computer.

[Pieter Wuille]

Also, 0.3.21 will automatically rescan the necessary part of the block chain if you'd replace wallet.dat with an older copy.

[bitlotto]

When you back up your wallet you are backing up the "keys" needed to access your money. If you've backed up the wallet AFTER you created the addresses, you will always be able to access Bitcoins sent to the backed up addresses. There is no need to connect to Bitcoin every so often. If you make new addresses after; a new backup is suggested. It doesn't matter how many transactions occur it's the addresses that matter. Moving money back to yourself or to other people causes you to create more addresses that won't always show up in the GUI. But if all you do is receive BTC, once you've backed up the addresses, no new backup is needed until more receiving addresses are made or you send money.