Hi,
I upgraded from 2.6 to 2.7 and it split my old wallet into two files:
* default_wallet.deterministic
* default_wallet.imported
The thing is, I don't want to create a new wallet where I would send all of my balances in my previous wallets because I have hundreds of used (with a balance) addresses.
Can I continue to use these 2 wallets indefinitely with future versions of Electrum? Will it be supported? Is it secure?
Thanks!
The deterministic wallet will definitely continue to be supported. ThomasV the chief developer
has said that it is part of the social contract between electrum developers and its users that seed backups continue to work forever. So maintaining backward compatibility with old deterministic wallet types is a priority for him.
However there are certain advantages to making a new wallet:
- Newer wallets use compressed public keys which take up less space on the blockchain. so you may save some small amount in transaction fees over time. It will also be better for other bitcoin users because the chain won't get bloated by transactions involving uncompressed public keys.
- Hundreds of addresses might soon turn into thousands and at that point electrum will take too long to load and do transactions. Unfortunately Electrum can't handle thousands of addresses in a wallet. So better to send your money to a fresh wallet. You can still use the old wallet if you ever need to.
To create a new wallet use the file > new/ restore option. To open it use file > open. To create a shortcut use the -w switch.
