private key - does it change?

[nuttynoah]

Maybe this question has been asked 100 times, but it's a quickie.

I bought some coins, printed my public and private keys as a paper wallet and backed up my dat file.
I then deleted the qt file and all pertaining files as I wasn't going to use them for a while.
So yesterday I bought some new coins, downloaded a new client qt and copied my old wallet.dat file into the right place and hey presto all my old coins appeared once synced together with the new coins (which I sent to the same public address as before).

So here's the thing, as I now want to delete the client qt file and everything else off my computer and I will backup the wallet as before.  But do I also need to print out my private key again or does this not change?  I'm guessing it doesn't change. Much like the public key but I thought I'd better check, just in case.

[roslinpl]

Maybe this question has been asked 100 times, but it's a quickie.

I bought some coins, printed my public and private keys as a paper wallet and backed up my dat file.
I then deleted the qt file and all pertaining files as I wasn't going to use them for a while.
So yesterday I bought some new coins, downloaded a new client qt and copied my old wallet.dat file into the right place and hey presto all my old coins appeared once synced together with the new coins (which I sent to the same public address as before).

So here's the thing, as I now want to delete the client qt file and everything else off my computer and I will backup the wallet as before.  But do I also need to print out my private key again or does this not change?  I'm guessing it doesn't change. Much like the public key but I thought I'd better check, just in case.

Old private keys will not change.
New one must be added

Simple.

[DannyHamilton]

Every bitcoin address has its own private key.  That private key is mathematically connected to the bitcoin address.  Therefore, for a given bitcoin address, the private key doesn't ever change.

If you generate a new bitcoin address, the new address will have its own private key, entirely separate from the prvious private key of the previous address and not realated in any way.  Therefore, if you use a new address, you will have a new private key.

[BookLover]

Just a note to prevent a possible future crisis: When bitcoin-qt sends coins it creates a new private key (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Change), so you need to either send all of your coins back to the original address or print out the new private key.

[roslinpl]

Just a note to prevent a possible future crisis: When qt sends coins it create a new private key (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Change), so you need to either send all of your coins back to the original address or print out the new private key.

thanks man! Not it is clear like a water!

Your full of information reply make it easy to understand!

Cheers!

[bittyweb]

The private key will not change never. it is linked to the address permanently.

So every address, has its own private key.

[nuttynoah]

Many thanks everyone for the advice.

[nuttynoah]

So something seems wrong.
I just printed out my private key using the console and dumpprivkey and it is completely different to the one I had before.
This is Quarks if that makes a difference.

[DannyHamilton]

So something seems wrong.
I just printed out my private key using the console and dumpprivkey and it is completely different to the one I had before.
This is Quarks if that makes a difference.

I don't know anything about Quarks.  Unlikely, but perhaps Quarks uses a completely different form of proof of authorization to spend?  More likely you either made a mistake before, or you made a mistake now.

[nuttynoah]

So something seems wrong.
I just printed out my private key using the console and dumpprivkey and it is completely different to the one I had before.
This is Quarks if that makes a difference.

I don't know anything about Quarks.  Unlikely, but perhaps Quarks uses a completely different form of proof of authorization to spend?  More likely you either made a mistake before, or you made a mistake now.

I just tried 3 times and still got the same private key so maybe I made a mistake the first time round a few months ago.  Wouldn't be my first operator error