Recovery drill

Why do a recovery drill

Is your backup really enough to get your Bitcoin back? A wallet can look fine for years while the backup has a wrong word, a forgotten passphrase or a missing file. You find out on the worst day.

A drill finds out on a calm day. You restore a key from its backup on purpose, while the amount is small, and check that it gives the same wallet.

Restore from your backup once, so you know it works. This guide shows how, for each kind of key on Few. No coins move.

Recovery drill A planned rehearsal of getting a wallet back from its backup.

Before you start

Write down what you will compare, while the wallet still works.

1. In Sparrow, open the wallet's Settings tab and copy the master fingerprint (8 characters) onto paper.
2. Open the Receive tab and copy the first address onto paper. In a multisig wallet this is the address of the whole wallet, not of one key.
3. Using more than one key? Do this for each key, and note which is which.

The fingerprint and the address can't spend anything. Keep the paper private anyway, because an address shows a balance.

Don't wipe a device before you know its backup is right. If this key holds your savings, do the backup test in step 5 of the seed backup guide first. If you can, run the drill on a small test wallet or a spare device.

Pick a quiet hour with no cameras around, and have your paper backup in front of you.

Run the drill, one key at a time

Pick the kind of key you want to test. With several keys, test one at a time.

A SeedSigner. It keeps nothing when it loses power, so the drill is loading the seed again from your backup.

1. Unplug the SeedSigner and plug it back in. Its memory is wiped.
2. Choose Seeds, then Enter 24-word seed (or the 12-word option). Type the words from your paper, or scan your SeedQR.
3. Check that the fingerprint on screen matches the one on your paper and in Sparrow.
4. Using a passphrase? Add it too, then compare the fingerprint with the one Sparrow shows for that wallet.
5. In Sparrow, open Receive. On the SeedSigner choose Scan, scan Sparrow's QR and pick your seed. It confirms the address belongs to your seed.
6. Compare that address with the first address on your paper. Unplug the SeedSigner again.

A hardware wallet from a maker. These devices keep the seed inside, so this drill starts with a reset.

1. Only start once the backup has passed the test in the seed backup guide and the wallet holds nothing, or only a small test amount.
2. In the device's own settings, reset it to factory state. The menu name differs by maker.
3. Choose the option to restore or recover a wallet. Type your words on the device.
4. Compare the fingerprint with your paper. Then show the first receive address on the device screen and compare it too.

A phone wallet with one key. The drill is a fresh install.

1. Install the app on a second phone. Or delete it on your phone, once the backup has passed its test.
2. Choose to recover a wallet and enter your words.
3. Open Receive and compare the first address with your paper.

A multisig wallet. Any two of three keys can sign in a 2-of-3, so two keys are enough to prove you can move the coins.

1. Run the drill above for one key, up to the fingerprint check. On another day, do the same for a second key. One key alone does not show the multisig address, so do not compare addresses yet.
2. Rebuild the wallet first, from your saved wallet config file. In Sparrow that is File, then Import Wallet, then BSMS. Attach each key.
3. Only then compare the first receive address of the rebuilt wallet with your paper.
4. Optional: send a tiny amount to yourself and sign it with the two restored keys (SeedSigner guide, steps 17 and 18).

Seed words alone may not rebuild a multisig wallet. The config file is what makes it reliable, so keep both. Nunchuk guide, step 10, covers what to back up.

If the address doesn't match

Check in this order. Stop at the first thing that is wrong.

1. Check each word against your paper: the order, the spelling and the first four letters.
2. Check the word count, 12 or 24, and that you are using the right copy of your backup.
3. Passphrase. Type it exactly as you set it, with the same capitals and spaces. Try without it to see whether you get a different wallet.
4. Wallet type. The same words give different addresses under a different script type. The SeedSigner guide uses Single Signature and Native Segwit.
5. Multisig. Import the config file, and attach the right key in each slot.
6. Try your second copy of the backup, if you have one.

If the original device still works because you did not wipe it, leave it as it is. Make a new wallet with a new backup, test that backup, and move your coins to it.

If you already wiped it, try your other copies of the backup before you do anything else.

Record it

A drill only counts if you can show it passed. Write one line on paper, sign it and date it.

The line Recovery drill passed. Key: ____ Fingerprint: ________ Device: ____ Date: ________ Signed: ________

Don't write your words on this paper. Keep it with your family instructions, apart from your seed backup.

Repeat the drill when something changes: a new device, a new place for your backup, or about once a year.

One step for today

Pick one key. It takes about an hour and you don't need to buy anything.

1. Write down the fingerprint and the first address.
2. Run the matching drill from step 3.
3. Write the record line and sign it.

If it matched, your backup works. Put everything back where it lives.

Want to do this with someone on a call? Book a setup call.