giacecco (OP)
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July 15, 2015, 09:29:53 AM |
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Hi All,
I'm using Bitcoin Core 0.10.2 and a wallet that is encrypted using Bitcoin's native encryption.
Something that is not clear to me and could not find described anywhere is if the file created using backupwallet is encrypted, too, or not. Moreover, is there a reason to use backupwallet rather than simply copying the wallet.dat file? (apart from the convenience of not having to stop bitcoind).
Thanks,
Giacecco
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runpaint
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July 15, 2015, 10:07:56 AM |
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backupwallet is the same as copying wallet.dat
encrypting the wallet means encrypting the private keys.
If you have made a backup, and then you encrypt your wallet, you need to make a new backup because the old one will not work anymore.
Anyway that's my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm sure I've missed some important points.
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jabo38
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mining is so 2012-2013
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July 15, 2015, 11:29:52 AM |
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backupwallet is the same as copying wallet.dat
encrypting the wallet means encrypting the private keys.
If you have made a backup, and then you encrypt your wallet, you need to make a new backup because the old one will not work anymore.
Anyway that's my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm sure I've missed some important points.
I am by no means an expert, but I have been playing with Bitcoin for over a year and that is how it seems to work to me. |
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neurotypical
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July 15, 2015, 12:08:49 PM |
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Simple solution: put your encrypted wallet.dat file inside a .7z (7zip) encrypted file with the same password you used on your wallet.dat file, so you don't forget it.
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batesresearch
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July 16, 2015, 07:20:11 AM |
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I don't believe the file is encrypted as well just protected by the passphrase you protected with (If you added one)
The Backup Wallet feature is just a much less technical way for a user to backup their wallets without having to navigate through user folders and temp folders etc.
I do believe a routine 'Please Backup Your Walket' message should appear in the Bitcoin client or something similar in design.
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turvarya
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July 16, 2015, 07:25:06 AM |
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backupwallet is the same as copying wallet.dat
encrypting the wallet means encrypting the private keys.
If you have made a backup, and then you encrypt your wallet, you need to make a new backup because the old one will not work anymore.
Anyway that's my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm sure I've missed some important points.
Wrong. The wallet.dat is designed to fit in every installation of Bitcoin Core. Your scenario just means, you made an unencrypted backup, before encrypting it, so your encryption was pointless if somebody finds the backup. If you encrypt your wallet, you should delete all unencrypted backups(so all backups, that were made before the encryption) |
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runpaint
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July 16, 2015, 12:05:24 PM |
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That makes more sense. I knew there was something wrong with the way I said it.
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LiteCoinGuy
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July 16, 2015, 04:02:11 PM |
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correct me if iam wrong but when you use a passphrase your wallet should be safe because an attacker has to know that passphrase. only the wallet.dat is useless.
to be even more safe: you can encrypt that wallet.dat too with software tools.
(i know there should not be any keyloggers on your pc)
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batesresearch
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July 16, 2015, 04:05:13 PM |
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correct me if iam wrong but when you use a passphrase your wallet is safe because an attacker has to know that passphrase. only the wallet.dat is useless.
to be even more safe: you can encrypt that wallet.dat too with software tools.
(i know there should not be any keyloggers on your pc)
That's correct, so before you backup your wallet enter a very strong passphrase and encrypt it! Then you can encrypt with a third party encryption tool (I won't name any!) |
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odolvlobo
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July 16, 2015, 04:47:03 PM |
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backupwallet is the same as copying wallet.dat
encrypting the wallet means encrypting the private keys.
If you have made a backup, and then you encrypt your wallet, you need to make a new backup because the old one will not work anymore.
Anyway that's my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm sure I've missed some important points.
Wrong. The wallet.dat is designed to fit in every installation of Bitcoin Core. Your scenario just means, you made an unencrypted backup, before encrypting it, so your encryption was pointless if somebody finds the backup. If you encrypt your wallet, you should delete all unencrypted backups(so all backups, that were made before the encryption) Wrong.  When you add a passphrase to Bitcoin Core, it throws out all unused addresses in the pool, so any previous backups are no longer valid because they have the wrong keys. You must back up the wallet after adding a passphrase, just like the instructions say. |
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turvarya
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July 16, 2015, 04:51:04 PM |
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backupwallet is the same as copying wallet.dat
encrypting the wallet means encrypting the private keys.
If you have made a backup, and then you encrypt your wallet, you need to make a new backup because the old one will not work anymore.
Anyway that's my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm sure I've missed some important points.
Wrong. The wallet.dat is designed to fit in every installation of Bitcoin Core. Your scenario just means, you made an unencrypted backup, before encrypting it, so your encryption was pointless if somebody finds the backup. If you encrypt your wallet, you should delete all unencrypted backups(so all backups, that were made before the encryption) Wrong. When you add a passphrase to Bitcoin Core, it throws out all unused addresses in the pool, so any previous backups are no longer valid because they have the wrong keys. You must back up the wallet after adding a passphrase, just like the instructions say. So, adding a passphrase creates new address and send all funds from previously created addresses to the new addresses? |
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runpaint
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July 16, 2015, 04:53:46 PM |
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Shit, I knew I was right the first time before I said I was wrong
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Amph
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July 16, 2015, 05:50:24 PM |
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never bothered with encripting it, i know it is useful in the case you wallet is stolen, but i prefer to have access to my fund in the fastes way posssible, i want to cover more the security of my machine and no the wallet itself
having a machine that is not infected in the first place(one can argue that you never know if it infected, well he is wrong, you can.. with a simple "trap wallet" and with the fact that i don't DL anything without a sign) is the most important thing for me
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odolvlobo
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July 17, 2015, 12:44:49 AM |
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When you add a passphrase to Bitcoin Core, it throws out all unused addresses in the pool, so any previous backups are no longer valid because they have the wrong keys. You must back up the wallet after adding a passphrase, just like the instructions say.
So, adding a passphrase creates new address and send all funds from previously created addresses to the new addresses? |
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turvarya
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July 17, 2015, 06:43:00 AM |
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When you add a passphrase to Bitcoin Core, it throws out all unused addresses in the pool, so any previous backups are no longer valid because they have the wrong keys. You must back up the wallet after adding a passphrase, just like the instructions say.
So, adding a passphrase creates new address and send all funds from previously created addresses to the new addresses? That still doesn't make sense. From the way, I understand Bitcoin Core, it creates 100 addresses at once. So, I used address 1-10 and than made a backup. The backup contains all 100 addresses. Then I used address 11-20 and came to mind, that I should encrypt the whole thing. According to you, it deleted address 21-100 and creates new addresses. It still has address 1-20 which could contain money and which are in the backup. I could even have given out one of these addresses for let's say weekly payments of a sig campaign here on the forum and would get Bitcoin in the future. Only money that is send to new addresses is save. So, I am still right about, deleting your old backups after encrypting your wallet. |
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peligro
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July 20, 2015, 12:03:29 PM |
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backupwallet is the same as copying wallet.dat
encrypting the wallet means encrypting the private keys.
If you have made a backup, and then you encrypt your wallet, you need to make a new backup because the old one will not work anymore.
Anyway that's my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm sure I've missed some important points.
Wasn't there a bug in a previous version of bitcoin-qt where the backup did only back up the first hundred bitcoin addresses so that the ones coming after that were not backed up. Then does this mean the backing up procedure of the wallet.dat did change? |
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Muhammed Zakir
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July 20, 2015, 03:31:42 PM |
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backupwallet is the same as copying wallet.dat
encrypting the wallet means encrypting the private keys.
If you have made a backup, and then you encrypt your wallet, you need to make a new backup because the old one will not work anymore.
Anyway that's my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm sure I've missed some important points.
Wasn't there a bug in a previous version of bitcoin-qt where the backup did only back up the first hundred bitcoin addresses so that the ones coming after that were not backed up. Then does this mean the backing up procedure of the wallet.dat did change? It is not a bug and it is same for latest versions AFAIK. |
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turvarya
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July 21, 2015, 09:55:57 AM |
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backupwallet is the same as copying wallet.dat
encrypting the wallet means encrypting the private keys.
If you have made a backup, and then you encrypt your wallet, you need to make a new backup because the old one will not work anymore.
Anyway that's my understanding, someone please correct me if I'm wrong. And I'm sure I've missed some important points.
Wasn't there a bug in a previous version of bitcoin-qt where the backup did only back up the first hundred bitcoin addresses so that the ones coming after that were not backed up. Then does this mean the backing up procedure of the wallet.dat did change? It is not a bug and it is same for latest versions AFAIK. Bitcoin Core generates 100 addresses in advance. So, if you back it up, just this addresses get backed up. If you used all 100 addresses, it generates 100 new ones. If you back up now, all 200 are saved. The problem is(afaik, maybe it changed), that it doesn't tell you, that it generated new addresses und your backup is outdated. |
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peligro
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July 27, 2015, 01:23:14 PM |
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Thank you for the clarification turvarya. Normally i would have thought that the standard client will create the same addresses again. So when 100 are not enough and he creates more 100 then it would not be a problem when there is only a backup for the first 100. The second 100 could be created from seed.
I wonder why that doesn't happen.
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turvarya
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July 27, 2015, 01:33:52 PM |
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Thank you for the clarification turvarya. Normally i would have thought that the standard client will create the same addresses again. So when 100 are not enough and he creates more 100 then it would not be a problem when there is only a backup for the first 100. The second 100 could be created from seed.
I wonder why that doesn't happen.
As far as I know, there just wasn't something like this seed passed generation of private keys, as e.g. Mycelium uses, when Bitcoin QT was created. Bitcoin Core just randomly generated addresses without any connection to each other. |
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