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My backup private keys were made in Jan and my computer crashed in May. If I upload the keys on a new wallet, will it show my bitcoin balance from May or January?
What are the limitations to an outdated backup?
Answers
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Bitcoin-Qt has a feature called "keypool." It pre-generates 100 keys and includes them in all of your backups. This way, if you make a backup, it will also include the keys you're going to use in the future.
In general, sending a payment consumes an address, and receiving a payment consumes an address.
If you make 1 transaction a month, 100 keys will last 8 years.
However, if you change your wallet password, you must make a new backup.
How many transactions do you make per month? – Nick ODell – 2015-01-26T16:59:00.087
One or two every couple of months. The Jan balance and the May balance were definitely different. – Kris – 2015-01-26T17:31:00.970
If you didn't créate any new private key during this time, then I would say it's safe to use. – Arturo Torres Sánchez – 2015-01-26T17:31:57.083