Bitcoin Forum

Hi,

I would like to have more than one bitcoin wallet on my PC.  Can I have two wallet.dat files in the same folder?  Like wallet1.dat and wallet2.dat?  Or does the file name have to be wallet.dat for the bitcoin-qt to read/recognize it?

What is the best way to add a second wallet, and where do I put the file?

Thanks for helping a completely non-technical person!

Sure you can, just to don't mix them up or it won't work. And, it's better for you to rename it to something else and not wallet or bat file.

Yes you can,but id prefer using an online wallet in addition for more safety

yeh just install bitcoin qt and create 2 shortcuts leave 1 shortcut alone and the 2nd shortcut right click, properties and on the "target" line youll see a line of text so add  -datadir=I:\ this will save all data from the 2nd shortcut to I:\ (change it to anywhere you want)

the only fault is it will download the whole block chain a 2nd time for the 2nd wallet so youll be using twice the amount of space

 You can have as many wallet.dat files as you like. Here is what I would do.
Remove your wallet.dat file from your bitcoin folder. BACK IT UP at least three times to be safe. Burn it to a disk or a USB stick, etc.

Now start bitcoin qt. Upon starting it will check for the wallet.dat file, if none is present it will create a new one. The new wallet will have no balance. While it's running get a receiving address from the new wallet.

Now shut down qt and remove the new wallet and back it up. BE VERY CAREFUL not to mix up your two wallets. They have the same name and it could be easy to overwrite your older wallet and lose all your coins.

Put the old wallet back in the bitcoin folder and open qt. You will see your old balance. So far so good.

Use the receiving address you copied from the new wallet to transfer some of your funds from the old wallet. Next time you run the new wallet it will see the transfer as it syncs up with the blockchain. Now you have two wallets, each with some of your bitcoin.  

You may wan to keep the bulk of your coins in one wallet stored offline and a smaller amount ready for spending in the other.

did you just say an online wallet is more safe? think again! offline is safest -- downgrade the risk of hacks, MITM attacks, etc!!!

Simlpy use MultiBit to run multiple wallets from a single application.
No need to store GBs of blockchain-data.
No need to handle all wallets within Bitcoin-QT (shutdown, backup, restore, rescan,..).

Keep it simple.

Funny, I running Electrum + Bitcoin-qt so I have mine and GF wallet  :)

This is a pretty good solution for beginners. However you will not have the benefits of a full node like Bitcoin-QT.

Online wallets are definitely not more secure than you holding and controlling your own wallet unless you are a lobotomized chimpanzee

lmao I second this

Thank you everyone for the great info! 

I almost lost a bunch of coins.  I had tried to create a second wallet but was screwing up the backups.  Now I know what I did wrong.  I opened an online wallet through Blockchain for easy spending of a few coins.  I'll also look into multiBit.  But I think I have the multiple wallets on a PC/jump drives figured out now.

Hiya,
The safest way, as some have already mentioned, is to use offline wallets. I'd imagine that you'd be pretty gutted if one day all your coins had been taken because the wallet isn't under your full control.

I believe this solution is risky and non technical people can make costly mistake somewhere now or in future. Easiest is use two different clients