Bitcoin Forum

Been in the search of best way to secure my future bits (if there will be :D). And I came up with this clients that supports wallet.dat and clients that support SEEDS. What do you prefer? And Why?

both at the same time!
if you have a couple of backups then it is best (not too many that you lose track of and risk losing it to someone robbing you though).
you can write down the seed on a piece of paper and store the paper somewhere safe, possibly even laminate it. or you can even etch it on a piece of metal!
you can encrypt it with a strong password then paste the base64 string in a .txt file and store it on the cloud (good as long password is strong).

also you can store the wallet file, on a USB, DVD, on the cloud. again a strong encryption is suggested.

also remember being safe doesn't mean which one you chose, it means how you store them.

It really depends on what kind of person you are,me i preffer using wallet.dat instead of seeds because i can easily misplace things that im using at the current stage so wallet.dat is more relevant for me

I would go with a seed myself, a file could get corrupted or get infected by a malware, Its easier to steal etc. I'd go with a printed seed and hide somewhere safe where no body could get access to and you are ready to go. If you only have the wallet.dat, you will need to remember the password as well otherwise you can't decrypt the file.

I do also go with seed combined with 2fa and possibly locked withdrawal address.

Seeds for me is the best and safest way of storing my wallet in my mobile.Because i can store seeds of my wallet everywhere from my phone without noticing that is a passs code for my wallet

I think is the same, but I like the wallet.dat file, more peace of mind!
 ;D ;D ;D

Does client that uses seeds also have wallet.dat? It would be easier to choose right knowing this haha. Thank for the replies

I go with both, but would always choose SEED if I had to. The only issue I can foresee for storing seeds is that someone else who might come across it would easily notice that it's a seed. So I store mine in a pattern only I would recognise (I throw in some red herring for example or use it in a paragraph of text) and send it as emails to several addresses to keep.

Can I take electrum as a sample? It gives seeds does it have wallet.dat as well?? Or just seeds?

I prefer seeds because it is easy to remember after some efforts so that you don't have to worry about storing them in secure place. I just memorize seed for my jaxx wallet where I can put almost anything like bitcoin, ethereum or litecoin for future.

I also like the SEEDS. It is much easier to store your seeds. You can write just it down or simple send it to your multiple email address as backup. And since I'm using Electrum, that is why I lean towards the seeds is the safest for me. We saw some members here backing up their wallet.dat and encrypted it. However, they have issue remembering their password. That's the only issue I saw with wallet.dat.

yes it has!
all the wallet clients should store that seed, private keys, usually public key, and transaction details somewhere and that somewhere is a file called
- wallet.dat (bitcoin core)
- default_wallet (electrum)
- wallet.aes.json (blockchain.info)
- or any other possible similar names (other clients that i have never used so i don't know!)
and usually these files are human readable unless encrypted.
backing up the seed has the benefit that you will never need the wallet client to recover your funds, you can use any code (should be trusted source though) to recover them. but if you back up some of these wallet file types you have a harder time recovering your funds without the same wallet client.

A once off seed provided to you to restore your wallet when you create it, is the way to go. Any Malware can be created to target specific files, so

using wallet.dat files is a bit more risky for me. Some of these wallets really have poor security features and I would not trust online wallets with

large amounts. It is fun to play with and to have a backup... but it should not be your only option.  ;)

So this means they both are needed to be secured  :D Is this what you're trying to say?  Encrypt the wallet.dat against hack and secure the seed for the recovery.

a seed is better. because you can hide it much better. both in the electronic form and physical form
design a crossword
hide the words it as a grocery shopping list
a christmas wishlist

that seed is yours for life
..
wallet.dats can get corrupted. data loss, physical loss of usb memory stick, virus, electrical surges killing memory storage
and every time you use a new address or move funds to a new change address you usually end up needing to re-backup the wallet

Im a bit confused ???  If clients have somewhere to store keys the wallet.dat and at the same time give seeds. What do i secure? The wallet.dat or the seed?

secure it all

its best to have your access to your funds secured in different formats incase one goes missing/lost/corrupted/forgotten.

but generally seeds are better to handle

Thanks, i come to think of creating a portues linux boot on my usb flashdrive and do the bitcoin wallet there, boot it whenever I will send bits to protect the wallet. Is this secure as I think it is? And secure the seed somewhere.

sounds good

Wallet.dat saved on multiple devices, hidden in different places to protect yourself. Bury a USB in a box in waterproof material etc.

any of them will be enough. but as franky said, secure them all. but you just need one of them to recover all your funds as long as that one is not damaged.
for example the wallet.dat file can be damaged over time because of hardware failure, ...
also the seed which you print on a paper can be damaged over time because of degradation of paper lets say in a couple of years.

best course of action is taking backups from your seed and wallet file and checking their health on intervals.

I'd also say both.
With Electrum ,for example, you can have the seed and the default_wallet (you can rename this, of course). Just save the default_wallet and write the seed on a piece of paper and you'll have high safety.

Yeah and I can  use this wallet right even if its not online?

Thanks guys so this is build up in my head, I will

Make USB os portues and install the wallet there
Get the seed and wallet address
Safe keep the usb and use it when sending bits

But for the very paranoid there is also a good extra in wallet.dat = it cannot be generated with any seed, so only you own it.

With a seed, theres a chance someone somehow generates your same seed.. but with a wallet.dat, they would need to steal the file.

If you keep safe backups of your wallet.dat in various forms, I think it's a valid cold storage.

i like the first format because i can use it on core version, i like to use the original client and not third party client, what make your bitcoin really secure is the user behind the security of his coin not the way you do it, i like to secure with trezor or usd stick, which are portable and can be used everywhere, trezor for possible infected public pc is very good, usb on my home work great

are you saying you can use your wallet.dat in trezor? or any hardware wallets?