Bitcoin Forum
May 01, 2024, 09:53:33 PM *
News: Latest Bitcoin Core release: 27.0 [Torrent]
 
   Home   Help Search Login Register More  
Poll
Question: Have you ever lost some bitcoins?
Yes, somebody hacked my computer and copied my wallet - 1 (1.9%)
Yes, I forgot my OS password or the password for my encrypted backup - 0 (0%)
Yes, because of a bug in the program, my wallet was corrupted and I had no backup. - 0 (0%)
Yes, a virus destroyed my wallet - 0 (0%)
No, not yet - 51 (94.4%)
Yes, mybitcoin.com stole some of my bitcoins Sad - 2 (3.7%)
Total Voters: 53

Pages: [1] 2 »  All
  Print  
Author Topic: Is bitcoin safe?  (Read 7349 times)
grondilu (OP)
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1288
Merit: 1076


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:04:15 PM
 #1

I voted "No"


TalkImg was created especially for hosting images on bitcointalk.org: try it next time you want to post an image
Advertised sites are not endorsed by the Bitcoin Forum. They may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or illegal in your jurisdiction.
Garrett Burgwardt
Sr. Member
****
Offline Offline

Activity: 406
Merit: 256


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:09:01 PM
 #2

I lost some when I reformatted and didn't have a backup. But back then they weren't worth much so I didn't care, now I'm kicking myself for doing so  Cry
gusti
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1099
Merit: 1000


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:11:11 PM
 #3

As much as safe as printed banknotes.

If you don't own the private keys, you don't own the coins.
ribuck
Donator
Hero Member
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 826
Merit: 1039


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:12:11 PM
 #4

As much as safe as printed banknotes.
If you lose banknotes, you don't lose all of them at once.
grondilu (OP)
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1288
Merit: 1076


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:18:14 PM
 #5

I lost some when I reformatted and didn't have a backup. But back then they weren't worth much so I didn't care, now I'm kicking myself for doing so  Cry

Well, you didn't really "lost" them.  You destroyed them on purpose, because you didn't value them much.

It may be not to late to recover it, though.  Check out "recover lost data" on Google.

In some other thread a guy formated his disk just as you did, and yet he managed to recover his wallet.

Garrett Burgwardt
Sr. Member
****
Offline Offline

Activity: 406
Merit: 256


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:21:54 PM
 #6

It was a long time ago, back when bitcoins were worth maybe .003 cents each  Grin

I probably don't even have the hard drive I was using before.
bitcool
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1441
Merit: 1000

Live and enjoy experiments


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:25:42 PM
Last edit: February 06, 2011, 04:45:41 PM by bitcool
 #7

I voted "No"
Don't write this.  Some people might be silly enough to think you're serious, and we'll have to explain them again.  Wink

Seriously, I admire you honesty but "safe" is always a relative term. I think currently it's safe enough to be useful, especially if the user is careful and knows how to do wallet file safekeeping.

To me better handling of the wallet file (e.g. automated encryption and online backups) is an area of improvement.

EDIT: sorry, got confused. the title of the thread is "is bitcoin safe" but the poll is "have you lost bitcoins", gotcha.
ribuck
Donator
Hero Member
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 826
Merit: 1039


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:30:48 PM
 #8

The "No, never" option should really say "Not yet".
LZ
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1722
Merit: 1072


P2P Cryptocurrency


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:43:32 PM
 #9

Not yet! Cheesy

My OpenPGP fingerprint: 5099EB8C0F2E68C63B4ECBB9A9D0993E04143362
grondilu (OP)
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1288
Merit: 1076


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:52:02 PM
 #10

The "No, never" option should really say "Not yet".

corrected.

kiba
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 980
Merit: 1014


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 03:56:59 PM
 #11

But normal users don't know how to encrypt and backup their wallet.dat!

gusti
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1099
Merit: 1000


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 04:20:15 PM
 #12

As much as safe as printed banknotes.
If you lose banknotes, you don't lose all of them at once.

If you lose your wallet, you lose all money that is inside it.
Same for Bitcoin, it's always clever to have multiple wallets.

If you don't own the private keys, you don't own the coins.
barbarousrelic
Hero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Activity: 675
Merit: 502


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 04:48:31 PM
 #13

Good plan or bad plan: Back up your wallet.dat on a USB thumb drive, hide this somewhere no one will look.

Do not waste your time debating whether Bitcoin can work. It does work.

"Early adopters will profit" is not a sufficient condition to classify something as a pyramid or Ponzi scheme. If it was, Apple and Microsoft stock are Ponzi schemes.

There is no such thing as "market manipulation." There is only buying and selling.
ribuck
Donator
Hero Member
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 826
Merit: 1039


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 05:17:05 PM
 #14

Same for Bitcoin, it's always clever to have multiple wallets.
Yes. And it's easy to have multiple wallets for paper money, and it's cumbersome and error-prone to have multiple wallets for bitcoin.
Local
Member
**
Offline Offline

Activity: 109
Merit: 10



View Profile
February 04, 2011, 05:38:29 PM
 #15

As much as safe as printed banknotes.
If you lose banknotes, you don't lose all of them at once.

If you lose your wallet, you lose all money that is inside it.
Same for Bitcoin, it's always clever to have multiple wallets.

I photocopy my FRN and keep them in multiple places. How could you be safe if they had to be in just one place?
kiba
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 980
Merit: 1014


View Profile
February 04, 2011, 05:39:59 PM
 #16

I photocopy my FRN and keep them in multiple places. How could you be safe if they had to be in just one place?

Photocopy? O_o

Hal
VIP
Sr. Member
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 314
Merit: 3853



View Profile
February 04, 2011, 06:59:32 PM
 #17

You could tear your banknotes into 5 pieces and hide them separately. As long as you can recover at least 3 pieces you should be able to exchange them for fresh bills.

Hal Finney
Fractality
Newbie
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 47
Merit: 0



View Profile WWW
February 05, 2011, 09:31:51 AM
 #18

Good plan or bad plan: Back up your wallet.dat on a USB thumb drive, hide this somewhere no one will look.

Not practical, as you have to backup the wallet after every transaction.

You could split the BTC across several wallets (probably a good idea), and have a "savings wallet" that you only occasionally transfer money to. Might be practical enough to hide that one on a USB drive.

Personally I find USB drives much too easy to lose.
davout
Legendary
*
Offline Offline

Activity: 1372
Merit: 1007


1davout


View Profile WWW
February 05, 2011, 09:51:08 AM
 #19

Not practical, as you have to backup the wallet after every transaction.
No

Local
Member
**
Offline Offline

Activity: 109
Merit: 10



View Profile
February 05, 2011, 10:03:23 AM
 #20

Good plan or bad plan: Back up your wallet.dat on a USB thumb drive, hide this somewhere no one will look.

Not practical, as you have to backup the wallet after every transaction.

You could split the BTC across several wallets (probably a good idea), and have a "savings wallet" that you only occasionally transfer money to. Might be practical enough to hide that one on a USB drive.

Personally I find USB drives much too easy to lose.

Keypool, every 100 will do.
Pages: [1] 2 »  All
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.19 | SMF © 2006-2009, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!