<p>Ack! You certainly could have.</p>

<p>When you send bitcoin, the "change" is returned to an address that you have not previously used to protect your privacy. If your <code>wallet.dat</code> files doesn't contain any unused addresses, a new one is generated and the corresponding private key stored back in the <code>wallet.dat</code> file. If this happened, and you didn't save the new file, you may not have the address the change from that transaction was returned to.</p>

<p>I believe that newer implementations of the bitcoin core wallet make this much less unlikely.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-12-19T07:30:31.197Z
2019-12-19T07:30:31.197Z
David Schwartz
<p>The important thing you should clarify is if the address to which you transfer your BTC belongs to the same wallet or another one.<br>
A wallet is just a collection of addresses which have been created by the same Private Key/Seed. In case you created a new address from the same key (belonging in the same wallet) then You should see the BTC you sent in your balance (minus the transaction fee).<br>
It is also possible that your transaction has not been processed yet.<br>
Without additional information we are unable to help.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-08T16:17:09.117Z
The adress do not belong to the same wallet.
Guy Cohen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-08T16:23:51.317Z
You can use [blockchain explorer](http://blockchain.info) to search for both your addresses, the source and destination one. That way you can verify that the balance in the destination address is the amount you sent minus the transaction fee.
vkoukou
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-08T16:10:01.893Z
2017-11-08T16:17:52.577Z
2017-11-08T16:17:52.577Z
vkoukou
<p>I saved a copy of my wallet.dat as a backup, i used it to transfer 1 btc to another address, now it's got 1 btc less in the total. now I deleted the wallet.dat and open the wallet with the saved wallet.dat before the transaction, I can see a higher balance(it not showing 1 btc off). how could it be? do I lost my whole balance from not saving the newest wallet.dat?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-11-08T18:01:35.010Z
please be a bit more specific, so we can have an idea what software you are using, which wallet type, or an online wallet, and maybe a transaction ID or a "sent to" address. this would help to dig deeper...
pebwindkraft
<bitcoin-core><wallet>
Did I lost my balance by using an old wallet.dat?
Guy Cohen
# Did I lost my balance by using an old wallet.dat?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-11-08)

I saved a copy of my wallet.dat as a backup, i used it to transfer 1 btc to another address, now it's got 1 btc less in the total. now I deleted the wallet.dat and open the wallet with the saved wallet.dat before the transaction, I can see a higher balance(it not showing 1 btc off). how could it be? do I lost my whole balance from not saving the newest wallet.dat?

**Tags:** bitcoin-core, wallet

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: please be a bit more specific, so we can have an idea what software you are using, which wallet type, or an online wallet, and maybe a transaction ID or a "sent to" address. this would help to dig deeper...  

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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-12-19. Score: 2

Ack! You certainly could have.

When you send bitcoin, the "change" is returned to an address that you have not previously used to protect your privacy. If your `wallet.dat` files doesn't contain any unused addresses, a new one is generated and the corresponding private key stored back in the `wallet.dat` file. If this happened, and you didn't save the new file, you may not have the address the change from that transaction was returned to.

I believe that newer implementations of the bitcoin core wallet make this much less unlikely.


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### Answer by username_3 on 2017-11-08. Score: 0

The important thing you should clarify is if the address to which you transfer your BTC belongs to the same wallet or another one.  
A wallet is just a collection of addresses which have been created by the same Private Key/Seed. In case you created a new address from the same key (belonging in the same wallet) then You should see the BTC you sent in your balance (minus the transaction fee).  
It is also possible that your transaction has not been processed yet.  
Without additional information we are unable to help.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The adress do not belong to the same wallet.  
> **username_3**: You can use [blockchain explorer](http://blockchain.info) to search for both your addresses, the source and destination one. That way you can verify that the balance in the destination address is the amount you sent minus the transaction fee.  

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