Bitcoin Forum

Other => Beginners & Help => Topic started by: martynw2000 on April 04, 2013, 12:22:41 PM



Title: Question about backing up wallet.dat file
Post by: martynw2000 on April 04, 2013, 12:22:41 PM
A very quick question...

If I back up my wallet.dat file to a dropbox account (which is encrypted by default), is that a safe way to protect my coins? The file would automatically be copied to 3 different computers I have linked to my dropbox account, plus of course stored online. All my computers are protected with truecrypt.

Or.. is this method dangerous?


Title: Re: Question about backing up wallet.dat file
Post by: Ledningen on April 04, 2013, 12:40:35 PM
I think that’s what a lot of people do, myself included. It's only unsafe if you don’t encrypt your wallet, else.. it's totally safe.

1. Even if somebody gets to your computer and accesses your Dropbox files (chances?), they won’t be able to do anything with the wallet.dat file anyway.
2. If somehow the wallet.dat gets deleted from Dropbox, you can always recover it on Dropbox's web interface.

I can't see why people would go through the hassle of creating Ubuntu-boot usb keys. It seems just as risky as having it in your Dropbox. If your key gets lost, or corrupted you’re going to have a bad time.

/Ledningen


Title: Re: Question about backing up wallet.dat file
Post by: lassdas on April 04, 2013, 12:44:56 PM
It's only totally unsafe if you don’t encrypt your wallet, else.. it's totally as safe as your passphrase.
Fixed.  ;)


Title: Re: Question about backing up wallet.dat file
Post by: martynw2000 on April 04, 2013, 01:10:45 PM
That's what I thought, but it's always good to get another opinion.

Thanks.