Bitcoin Forum

How can I store the following desktop cryptocurrency wallets on a USB flash drive?

- OKCash Client
- Verge Electrum Wallet
- Reddcoin Core Wallet
- RevolutionVR Wallet
- Bitbay Marketplace Client

Do I simply disconnect the internet, plug in a flash drive, click on "backup wallet", an voila`? Is it that simple?

Would this process restore my wallets (with balances) in the event I purchased a new PC that has none of the wallet files installed on it?

FYI: All my other cryptocurrencies are on Ledger Nano S (Ledger doesn't support the above-mentioned coins).

Maybe you can save/copy wallet.dat from each wallet you mention above and if you do this you can install it on your new PC

This sounds good. I can transfer just a little cryptocurrency to the wallet, copy the wallet.dat file to a USB, then delete all the wallet's files on my computer. Then, I can plug in my USB again and see if my balance is still there, and if the wallet works.

But make sure you make at least a 2 copies of your backup. Many people have lost their coins due to corrupted USB or hard disk or due to accidents like fire. Printing the private key in paper and storing in a different location could be a good backup or self crypting the private key and storing it into cloud is another great idea.

Or you can simply write down the private keys with a pen on paper, shove it in a glass bottle and bury it somewhere in the forest. Remember the coordinates and location or save it somewhere in the cloud. I think this option is the most reliable. ))

Yes, before I decide to transfer a lot of crypto into these wallets, I will have to have an extra USB drive as a back up in case one of them craps out on me. I will then store these flash drives in a fireproof safe.

Where would I find the private key on a desktop wallet? If I could get that, it would almost turn my USB drive into a Ledger! I would no longer be as paranoid of losing my USB, because I could simply buy another and restore my wallet.

Just move wallet.dat, or put private keys in a doc

Does every wallet have a wallet.dat file? I ask this because one time I was watching a video of how to install a wallet, and part of the instructions was to find the "electrum-xvg.exe" file, but no such thing existed on my computer, even after having downloaded all the install files.

It would not be *.exe as that is an executable file type

Using software with encryption is a great idea, but for storing paper copies with private keys or passphrases, a spot to consider is a bank safe deposit box.

deskop wallet and paper wallet is the right choice if ledeger nano or trezor doesn't support our crypto assets
and always back up our wallet regularly, so if something happend to our PC, we can import our wallet mate
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You can copy your data thru usb drive and move it to another pc. But I think it is too risky. Because there is a posibility that your data will lost when there is an problem between your pc or in your usb drive. So the better things to do is to finish your investment before using another pc or pc wallet and avoid transfer of information.

Lol what a joke this post is. That's hilarious, well done

I think the best way is that you can only access wallet information on USB as instructed in this article
https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/7sw9wu/encrypted_usb_flash_drive_for_private_keys/

beware that disconnecting the internet is not going to provide you any security if your computer is already compromised (like having a malware already on it). to have a proper cold storage you must be on a clean computer that has never been connected to the internet and will never be. to do that using a live Linux on a DVD is the easiest thing to do.

in order to do what you want, you simply install each wallet software, generate a new key pair, print it on a paper and you have yourself a paper wallet. now you only have to send coins to the address of that key pair.
make sure to test the setup first with a small amount to find if you have made any mistakes.

I don't like the idea of storing the keys in the cloud, even if they are encrypted, there is a risk of someone will hack your account, access your keys and find the way to decrypt them. About the idea of printing the key, I think it could be better to write it by hand on a paper instead of using the printer.

the problem with printers is when they are shared printers over a network and also when in certain cases the printer has its own memory that is storing the things it prints and keeps it there. it can simply be avoided if you empty that memory or if you do the right thing and print the encrypted key to not only protect it against cases where printer saves it but also protect it against the case when someone sees the paper you just printed.

You should back up wallet dat and also private keys if is possible and save them secure somewhere, and if you buy new pc then is possible to restore them after download wallets again.

My opinion same as you that I also won't recommend store sensitive file in the cloud, don't using the printer, exporting a private key from desktop wallet and direct write in by hand on a paper, another opinion is create a hidden partition on USB to protect your file away from virus and avoid accidentally deleted the wallet file.

Lots of interesting ideas here. The most practical plan for me, I think, is to do the following. Let me know what you think:

1. Purchase 2 USB flash drives (128gb each. Hopefully, this is enough capacity)

2. Thoroughly scan my computer with an antivirus and anti spyware program.

3. Transfer a small amount of crypto from Binance to one of my wallets (My OKCash wallet, which just finished synchronizing and has no funds in it yet).

4. Back up my OKCash wallet by copying and pasting the wallet.dat file into one of the USB flash drives. Then, on the other USB, back up the OKCash wallet by using the "backup wallet" function on the wallet's interface.

5. Delete all OKCash files on my PC. (this would simulate having a brand new PC, with no wallet files installed)

6. Reinstall my OKCash wallet on my PC from each USB (one at a time) to see which one properly restores my wallet.

7. Transfer some OKCash back to Binance to ensure I can "send" funds. Then, send those fund back to wallet to ensure I can "receive" funds.

8. If all goes well, transfer all funds from Binance to OKCash wallet.

9. Store USB's in a fireproof safe (also, if I can identify the private key, write it down, make copies of it, and save it in several places).

10. Repeat procedure for all wallets.

There are various ways of making this happen, one of the best way is to get the private key to the address you have the coin in, then you can then save the private key in a secured location on your flash drive to redeem it anytime you are in need of it, though it is good to still have another backup because it is possible that at the time the coin would be needed, the flash drive will no longer be functional, any method is to save all the wallet.dat file of the coin you want to backup and save it in a secured location in the flash drive.

two important things that you should remember and is not mentioned here when bag holding altcoins is that first of all there is a good chance that you are going to lose a lot of money as that coin drops in value but that is mostly a speculation related answer so i won't get into that so much.
another problem is that many of these altcoins have big changes which means you have to stay on top of everything if you don't want to miss anything. for example there has been cases where you had to go and convert your old tokens to new ones in a time frame and if you didn't do that, you would have lost all your funds!

That's a good point. A lot of these coins are a royal pain in the ass to manage because they constantly change. But, I would keep these altcoin wallets on my desktop PC (in addition to my USB) and check on them periodically.

Most importantly, you need to save backup files for access to the wallet and after that, of course, you can try installing the software and check if it fails, then just restore access to the wallet through backup phrases and if it works, just use it.

Very helpful advice, especially for the new users. Only a limited number of altcoins and tokens are supported in hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor (and this is despite the users paying significant amounts in purchasing them). As a result most of these coins are being stored in exchange wallets, which makes them vulnerable to hacks and robberies. This advice will reduce such incidents.

So, then, you're saying it's not enough to simply copy and paste the wallet.dat file into my USB in order to back up a wallet? I also have to also copy and paste all associated files into my USB (which could be quite sizable)?

I don't know how many of the users will be willing to go through all these steps. I have been in to this field for more than 2 years now, and even for me this sounds a bit complex. I still prefer storing my smaller altcoins in exchange wallets. I know that it is a risky option, but it is most suitable for lazy people like me, since we just need to remember the username and password.

True. You don't hear this kind of practical advice that much anymore. We used to hear it back in the earlier days of cryptocurrencies, but now people feel they're too advanced for that.

Yes that's the best way to do it for unsupported coins by hardware wallets just make sure you encrypt your wallet with password (there are many tools available for that) and have multiple backups so in case one gets corrupted, you still be fine. Better safe than sorry, eh?

Update: I did a test run with Reddcoin Core wallet. After it synchronized, I sent 10 RDD (a small amount) to it from an exchange. I then saved the wallet (reddcoin-qt.exe) in my USB flash drive & deleted all the other associated Reddcoin files from my desktop.

Restarted my desktop and inserted the flash drive. The wallet had to synchronize all over again. So, I had to wait a few days. After it finished synchronizing, my balance was 0. So, I lost my coins.

Had I not done this test run, and simply sent all my coins to the wallet, I would have lost my entire balance!
Saving just one file (.dat, .exe, etc.) in a USB DOES NOT WORK!! You probably need to save ALL the files associated with the wallet in the USB, but I'm not even so sure that will work. But, even if it did, that's going to require a lot of space! Not practical at all.

So, I'm back to square one. I still don't know where to store my altcoins. I regret ever buying them. If I had to do it all over again, I would only purchase coins that are supported by Ledger. If god forbid my desktop computer crashes, I will lose everything.