Bitcoin Forum

If I want to secure my wallet do I just need to back up wallet.dat to an external hard drive.

Please, don't make this complicated. Presume I don't have any virus. I just want a simple way to save my bitcoin elsewhere in case my PC dies.

Also, if I back up wallet.dat what happens if I spend bitcoin?

just make sure that qt is closed and copy the file.
if you spend your bitcoin your balance will decrease in both wallet.

I don't use QT, I use Multibit.

Si once I have backed up a copy I don't need to back up again unless I add additional funds, right?

And if I later wanted to import the wallet back into Multibit do I import private keys or is there another way to import a wallet?

Can you import a wallet on top of another one?

Srry for all the questions.

multibit doesn't use wallet.dat. they uses .wallet format and .info for description and labels. that's what you need to copy.

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you don't need to back up unless you generated a new address. but to be safe you can do that every time you like.

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the back up wallet is to be used when something went wrong with your primary wallet.  you can import private keys but you can't import a wallet on top of another.

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use the edit button instead of triple posting if you don't want to be warned by a mod.

Yes, multibit.wallet

Don't need to backup again until you get a new address. Some wallets use change addresses (not sure if multibit does, never used them). I think they do though, since it seems similar to Electrum and by default electrum uses change addresses. Otherwise, if someone sends you eg 0.5 BTC in your usually address, it will get added automatically since the wallet.dat file is like a copy of your bitcoin bank account.

Do you use multibit classic or multibit HD?

Pretty sure it's the classic.

It's pretty easy to spot if it's the HD or the classic: what does the shortcut in your start menu say? If it says multibit HD, you have the HD variant, otherwise the classic.
It's a big difference, since the HD version doesn't need to backup any wallet.dat, just write down the seed and you're good.

Can you verify your version?

I am using electrum and in this if i have the passphrase that is enough for me to recover my wallet, but some wallets need the wallet.dat file to recover the wallet details.

Thats why we need to know if OP uses multibit classic (has no seed) or multibit HD (has a seed).