I'm pretty sure I screwed myself, but just want confirmation from more knowledgeable folks.

I had a machine running Slackware. I stored my Quicken data on it (I ran Quicken with Netraverse Win4Lin). I had a habit of using gpgdir to encrypt my Quicken files whenever not in use.

I bought new machine parts recently (processor/motherboard) and copied my Quicken files to backup location before wiping all drives to test brand new installation of Slackware on new hardware. Unfortunately, the backed up files were the .gpg encrypted ones....and now I have wiped the old drives by reformatting.

The only things I wrote down from my previous machine regarding gpg keys was the identifers, my pass phrase and (I'm not at home now, but I think...) some other piece of information (salt?) that it gave me when it generated the keys.

So, is there any way that I can still get those files decrypted? Or is "rm" my only remaining option?

Thanks for info.

AFAIK, your passphrase is used to generate your keys, and that's a static algorithm. At least, that's how it is with other encryption schemes.

If that's the case, you should be able to regenrate your decryption key with your passphrase again. Doesn't hurt to try, no?

Thanks for the thoughts. I gave it a shot using all original information (I had written it all down). It wouldn't generate the same IDs or fingerprint. My guess is it's because of that "random number generation" business that goes on during key generation.

No biggie though. I'll just restart my data files from latest financial statements.