Bitcoin Forum

i installed qt wallet and when i woke up i was horrified to see it ate up all my harddrive space... not good.


are there any alternatives??

I use multibit which doesn't require the entire block chain. I'm sure there are others as well.

Look in the alternative clients subforum.

yeah there are some:

multibit

armory

so on

I use an online wallet, http://blockchain.info

I have set my account so that only my IP address can withdraw funds, and I have purchased a YubiKey for 2 factor authentication.  The YubiKey costs about $25, and my wife and I have our own separate YubiKeys.

I am not aware of anyone losing funds with 2FA and blockchain, other than the Android cell phone encryption bug last summer.

so get mutibit?? how much space should that take up??  i dont want a web wallet.... and until i make some $$ here i cant afford another harddrive.

Why not a web wallet? Blockchain.info is secure, if you use it like ProfMac for example.

Armory huh? That requires DOUBLE the space but it's great for certain uses

Electrum is the fastest

doesn't sound real safe.  what happens if you change ISPs or your current ISP becomes bankrupt, or changes hands?

Yeah, locking to your IP is watertight in theory, but your address may not be static or stay the same forever. I'd just use the 2-factor auth and set up another password to be able to spend funds. You can also block TOR connections.

Blocking TOR connections sounds like a good idea... the user could be asked about this when registering. Also connections from other countries/known proxies, at least without e-mail confirmation.

Yeah, not sure if you can block countries on Blockchain.info though, but that would be a good idea and one I'd like to see.

Electrum or Multibit.

Nearly all of them, with the exception of bitcoin-qt and (online) Armory.

Personally I recommend (and use) Electrum. It's fast, easy to use and fairly noob friendly unless you want to deal with things like offline wallets (which can be done with a little extra work).. no need to download the blockchain, only the headers, which don't take up much hard drive space at all.

I wouldn't recommend using a web wallet for any amount of money you can't afford to lose.. but if you must, you should at least use a "hybrid" wallet like Blockchain.info so you're not trusting a third-party with access to your private keys.

I've used electrum so far, hasn't failed me yet.

Didn't they cover the losses for users?  Also keeping backups of private keys as cold storage just in case you lose the log in or the unlikely event blockchain.info shuts down.

I tried to give a small, digestable summary of what I do.

Additional practices include a copy on DVD that can be imported back to blockchain.info.  This allows, as an example, for my wife and I to share bitcoin payment addresses but have different wallets, passwords, and YubiKeys that we do not share.

Also, I can import to bitcoin-qt, the wallet that I use on my machine.

I'm confused. The only way I have seen to create new addresses with Multibit is the "New" button on the Request tab. When you do that, it is clear that you are creating a new address (although there isn't a warning to back it up). When I send coins the change always goes back to the sending address.


Once you find where on the disk the wallet is stored (typically in %APPDATA%\MultiBit), you use "File" -> "Close Wallet", then move the .wallet, and -info files, and the -data directory to the other drive. Then use "File" -> "Open Wallet" to open it in its new location.

I've been using blockchian.info for a while now and have never had a problem. All sensitive data is stored on your computer so they can't take your coins and run.

Use Mycelium for Android.

Use blockchain.info as a hot wallet, paper wallet for cold storage.  No software of any kind required, and zero HD space.