ok clear, will try things out.
i guess i need to save the xpriv from the `listdescriptors` command, right?
You need to save everything, not just the private key. Otherwise you are throwing away information that is necessary for restoration. If you do not save the entire descriptor, you lose the derivation path information and the address types and will have to guess those in the future. Backups are much better when they contain all of the information necessary in order to rediscover your funds.
if i may take advantage of your generosity, can you explain this (i take my previous points):
- i sent some sats to some address that were in the dumpfile, *bc1..abcd*
- if i do 'getaddressinfo' of the *bc1..abcd* address i sent money to it tells me 'ismine: false'
That address is derived from the master private key that itself is derived from the seed. Since you have not done sethdseed but rather just imported the seed as a normal private key, these derivation steps have not been done. The wallet does not know that the private key you imported is actually a seed and that it needs to do derivation on it. So all addresses that are derived from it are not known by your wallet.
i don't have a full node to test this at the moment:
- is the money gone?
- or will it have the ability to 'see' that address balance if i run a node?
It is not gone. However you need to make the wallet aware of the fact that you have a seed and not just a single private key.