Bitcoin Forum

I want to know how a hardware wallet works, assuming I download the Electrum bitcoin wallet right now and I decide not to use the wallet again, I can just restart the wallet and get rid of the keys and the wallet will generate a new recovery seed for me, is this the same with hardware wallet?

* Can a Trezor or hardware wallet generate a new private key or recovery seed?

* Can a hardware wallet be formatted and start afresh?

Yes, you can generate another seed phrase entirely on reputed hardware wallets like Trezor and many others.

Trezor only generate seed phrase

Yes, you can reset your Trezor by wiping it.

You do not even need to delete the old wallet to generate a new pair of keys. You just need to create a new wallet and then create a new seed. This would allow different private keys operate on the same device.
And yes, this works on hardware wallets too.

Yes.

- Jay -

Yes you can generate a new seed phrase and refresh your trezor wallet seems like you want to start a new wallet, are you trying to connect this at your electrum too?.
That's the reason why there's a physical paper given to you when you bought your new trezor wallet.

Yes, and that's why if you're able to generate a private key and then used that to deposit some assets there, always save first the private key of your trezor. Because it's possible that you're wanting to generate a new one and forget the one that you generated before that contains the assets you've deposited. If so, it will completely be wiped and those assets are gone forever.

Yes, I did this to my Ledger and then just used my old private keys because it seems that some error had occurred but then, it's all good.

Yes, as far as I know, most popular hardware wallets can be reset to its factory settings, which will wipe all the data stored on it and allow it to start fresh. The exact process for resetting a hardware wallet may vary depending on the specific model and manufacturer. But, just in case, make sure you have a secure backup of your seed phrase before resetting the device.

Just a heads up that it might be better to not use the physical paper that's given by hardware wallet companies. Writing the backup down on a simple piece of paper can make it seem more 'unimportant' to thieves, compared to the paper given by hardware wallet companies that clearly indicates that it's a crypto wallet backup.

You can generate new wallet which will give you new seed phrase same as Electrum and for an address there you can find the private keys. And as others mentioned it can be factory reset and starts from new which means the only difference is the hardware wallet protect your crypto assets even when its connected with an infected device so don't complicate wallet cause its just same as others.

On the other hand, if a thief gains access to wherever you're storing it, a piece of paper with random words scribbled on it, might not be as notable to them, while a piece of paper which says BITCOIN BACKUP or something along those lines might appeal to them more.

Obviously, you don't want to be in that position in the first place, but it might be worth something considering. There's a whole discussion going on with steel washers, and how best to store them so they aren't immediately obvious to any intruders.

Personally, I prefer not writing down things as is, and like to prepare for most situations that can present themselves, i.e writing it down on a plain piece of paper instead of having it broadcast what it's used for. Obviously, there's other issues with that, if you ever experience memory loss you might not know what that piece of paper is for, and could potentially chuck it away. There's pros, and cons to both methods.

You don't really need to know how hardware wallets exactly work, in a same way you don't know how any other things in the world work.
I never heard anyone getting rid of keys from software wallet by restarting, you need to uninstall wallet and maybe delete few more files.
You can easily perform reset operation on most hardware wallets, and then import of generate news seed words, and everything is done offline, that is the difference from software wallets.   

You can't generate new private keys, but you can wipe the device and generate or import new seed words.

Yes.
It's not the same procedure for all hardware wallets, but it can be done.
I would even recommend doing this first time you buy hardware wallet, to be sure your generated seed words works correctly.