Backing up an Electrum wallet

[bitcoinrocks]

Is it enough to back up my Electrum wallet file once if I disable change addresses?

[1714841539]

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[1714841539]

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[1714841539]

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[1714841539]

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[1714841539]

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[1714841539]

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[mocacinno]

Is it enough to back up my Electrum wallet file once if I disable change addresses?

Just back up the seed words you got when creating a new wallet, that's all you ever need
Disabling the change addresses shouldn't have any impact on the ability to restore your wallet from seed.

[bit-tard]

Any address that was made under a wallet through a seed is backed, you don't need anything except to import it in Electrum itself later or Blockchain as well,
You can back it as well, but the best methods is the seed, since you can use it with methods even other than Electrum.
Note that wallets used through importing Private keys directly aren't included in the seeds, these need a regular backup to keep them.

[bitcoinrocks]

Exactly.  My Electrum wallet was imported from the private key so there was no seed.  If I disable change addresses, will a single backup of the wallet file be all I ever need?

[mocacinno]

Exactly.  My Electrum wallet was imported from the private key so there was no seed.  If I disable change addresses, will a single backup of the wallet file be all I ever need?

AFAIK, you can only import private keys into a non-HD electrum wallet (you can sweep a private key into a HD wallet, but you can only import in an non HD wallet). This means there were no change addresses to begin with
This being said: you're right, a backup of the wallet file should be sufficient. I tested this myself when my company forced a windows upgrade on me a couple months ago... I just backupped my wallet files, which are a combination of HD and non-HD electrum wallets, and i didn't have any troubles using those wallets on my new PC.

This being said: since you imported private keys, i take it that you still have controll over said private keys? In this case, those private keys can serve as a backup (i'd encourage you to always bip38 encrypt private keys + store them in an encrypted volume).

[Abdussamad]

Is it enough to back up my Electrum wallet file once if I disable change addresses?

Electrum is a deterministic wallet which means that all address specific private keys are derived from one single master private  key which in turn is derived from a seed. That means all the addresses in your wallet past, present, future, receiving or change can be recovered with a one time backup of your wallet file and/or seed. You can make a backup of the wallet file via file menu > save copy.

To clarify to recover access to your bitcoins you need one of the following:

a) wallet file + password (if any)

OR

b) seed mnemonics (12 words)

I don't recommend disabling change addresses. It does you no good. It is bad for your privacy and the privacy of people you deal with.

[HCP]

Electrum is a deterministic wallet which means that all address specific private keys are derived from one single master private  key which in turn is derived from a seed. That means all the addresses in your wallet past, present, future, receiving or change can be recovered with a one time backup of your wallet file and/or seed.

Unless, as in the OPs case... there is no seed and his wallet is NOT an HD wallet... seriously, people need to start actually reading threads all the way through before jumping in at the end with advice that is wrong...

Exactly.  My Electrum wallet was imported from the private key so there was no seed.  If I disable change addresses, will a single backup of the wallet file be all I ever need?

OP, if you don't create or import any other keys in your wallet... then you should be fine with a single backup of the wallet file, as that will have whatever private keys you currently have in your wallet. Should you, at a later date, import (or create) another key into your wallet, you would need to make another backup.

[Abdussamad]

Electrum is a deterministic wallet which means that all address specific private keys are derived from one single master private  key which in turn is derived from a seed. That means all the addresses in your wallet past, present, future, receiving or change can be recovered with a one time backup of your wallet file and/or seed.

Unless, as in the OPs case... there is no seed and his wallet is NOT an HD wallet... seriously, people need to start actually reading threads all the way through before jumping in at the end with advice that is wrong...

Sorry I didn't read that. OP would be well advised to create a deterministic wallet using file > new/restore and then sweep his private key. This way he can take advantage of the features of deterministic wallets.

However it would mean that money sent in future to the address associated with that private key will not show up in his deterministic wallet. He will have to sweep that private key again in order to get that money. So if for whatever reason he can't stop using that address then it probably isn't practical for him to do this (sure he could switch between wallets with file > open but that might be confusing).

[bitcoinrocks]

So I'm sure I understand, with my current Electrum wallet I should disable change addresses if I want to make sure my single backup will always restore everything?

[mocacinno]

So I'm sure I understand, with my current Electrum wallet I should disable change addresses if I want to make sure my single backup will always restore everything?

No

You imported your private keys, you don't have a HD wallet, no new private keys will be made by your wallet, so if your wallet picks a change address, it'll be an address that comes from an imported key.
You can make a backup every time you import new private keys, that should do it.

Actually, i'm not even sure that electrum will even use change addresses on a non-HD wallet.

[Abdussamad]

Actually, i'm not even sure that electrum will even use change addresses on a non-HD wallet.

It'll send change back to one of the input addresses.