Bitcoin Forum

And how would it work? Can I burn Down the wallet files and a wallet program on the DVD and then keep the adress on my computer and keep sending bitcoins to my DVD under my matress?  :)

Yes, just make sure you dont break the dvd or that no one steals it.

I do not see a need to record wallet program files on a DVD. You will be not able to start this application from a DVD on some other device..

Anyway a compact disk is a not good data storage option.. as it can be broken/damaged very easy.

well, if it is made of bits, you can. Do not mean this is a good idea

In what way is a disc in its folder not a safer Storage than for example a USB memory-stick?


Ok so skip the wallet program. That was just stupid. :D

I trust DVDs over flash RAM.

Obviously you ain't gonna leave it kicking round on your desk to get scratched up. Yup copy the wallet files over and stash safe.

There are several reason why CD/DVD is a worse data storage than USB.

#1 You have to take more care. (Dont scratch, easier to break, heat, cold, sun, etc.)
#2 The data is burned into a chemical substance that decays over time and can no longer hold your data. Lifespan of a selfmade CD is ~5-10 years. Lifespan of data on an USB device 10-30 years

Only sources I could find are in german, but Im gonna post them anyway.

http://www.netzwelt.de/news/75456_2-haltbarkeit-speichermedien-daten-richtig-liegen.html
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langzeitarchivierung#Haltbarkeit_der_Tr.C3.A4germedien

Edit:

but yes you can just burn your wallet.dat on a CD. DVD would be a waste...

Don't just back it up to one medium once. Burn a few copies and have a back up on a USB or two.

I've got a back-up of my wallet on a CD. So far it works great.
Just make sure you have other mediums of back-up as well!

I doubt if some years later your CD/DVD players may not function well and you will find it difficult to buy a new CD/DVD player  ;D

You might have that problem with USB devices too, I doubt it though. You can still get floppy drives as well as old magnetic tapes.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Okona-GfhR-Bandlaufwerk.jpg

But when the next solar storm hits Earth and wipes out all Electronics and therewith bitcoins, I'm gonna be one of the few who's bitcoins survived.

How safe does that make you feel, if you saved it on an Electric unit?

Since when do solar storms wipe out all the electrics on earth forever?

it is not a good idea, better use flash card

Of course, you can burn your walllet data on a DVD but you should be careful.

Anecdotal if you like, but I have never failed to recover data from a writeable optical disk, and I have some that are 15 years old now. On the other hand I've had several flash memory devices fail on me.

Also, you don't need a solar magnetic storm of the 1 in a hundred years variety to damage flash, lightning strike on the same block, utility transformer on in the neighbourhood blowing up, your own microwave oven catastrophically  failing, all of those could create a local EMP event big enough to disrupt data on flash storage.

Additionally, they are prone to bit rot from cosmic ray damage, the chances of a single bit error on these larger capacity devices are becoming close to a yearly event rather than the 10-15 years that lower density SRAM was thought to have for a risk factor in the 80s and 90s. If the device is in use regularly the single bit error may be corrected, close to when it occurs, if you leave it in a drawer for 3 years and it accumulates several errors, it may be unrecoverable. There are also local radiation sources that may be locally intense enough to cause errors, such as xrays from static discharges nearby (Such as when pulling scotch tape off the roll) and careless static discharges to the device itself.

Recovery; off optical media, do-able, you can resurface it, resilver it, recover most data off a disk sawn in half, recovery off corrupt/dead flash memory... good luck with that.

As shorena said, cds and dvds can and do decay over time. Even if you leave it in a case protected from sunlight, temperature, scratching, etc it can simply lose data over a long period of time.

While you have many valid points, there is a big difference between self burned CD/DVD's and factory "printed"/"burned" CD/DVD's. Those you make yourself are usually of a very bad quality and the chemicals used dont last very long. They decay over time and there is no way to resurface the CD/DVD if the chemical layer below the plastic is "gone". Storing data electronically for a very long time is still a problem today and there are very limited possibilties for home use. Out of those flash based memory (flash cards, usb sticky, etc.) is the most reliable. They are not perfect. They also suffer from "decay" as the magnetic fields that hold the data lose power, but they decay at a slower rate compared to the chemicals used in CD's.

If you want something to hold your data for a very long time: use stone or metal. Even "home use" paper might not hold your data over 5-6 years depending on the pen / printer ink you used.

How much bits are flipped each year due to background radiation I cant tell, since I have never read any reliable information about that. ECC might prevent people from noticing the effect while the systems are in use though. Same with xrays from static electricity. Sounds like bogus to me, but what do I know.

Edit:

Searched a bit on google scholar and found a paper on the topic. Its not the one I read, but its the same basic information, so I might as well give this as a reference.


Basically: Dont store valueable data on CD/DVD's.

Full paper here: http://www.imaging.org/ist/publications/reporter/articles/REP26_3_4_ARCH2011_Lunt.pdf

You can burn into dvd, but you have to keep it safe if your wallet is having lots of BTCBTC

Best to store in multiple dvd's and places

I feel like this is really dumb, but I plan on backing up my wallet.dat file to both cd's and flash drives.

But how exactly do I burn them there? I have never burned a cd that I can ever remember (I'm on a Mac) so want to make sure I do it right. Last thing I need is to go to the cd or flash drive to recover my wallet and have nothing there cause I messed it up.  :D

So for example I go into my wallet now and click "backup wallet" from the drop down menu. Then I would just save it to the external usb drive? How do I save it to the blank cd? Currently I just saved it to my "downloads" folder as a test, but my computer can't read it. So how do I actually open the thing?

Thanks!

I engrave my wallet keys on a rock. I'm sure it will be there for a thousand years to come.

All you need to do is burn it or just drag the wallet.dat file to new cd. Don't need to open it.

thank you!

and btw, I have no idea why I just quoted myself, I thought I was editing my original post to be a little clearer. Whoops!

So after I drag it onto a blank cd, how would I go about using that data if, say, my computer was lost? If my computer can't ever 'find' the file, how do I get it to work?

You'll just need to import it in your wallet.

You mean like this ?
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/10/article-0-0F673D7300000578-930_634x422.jpg

Just hold it (after making a paper wallet) and stick to a dvd then put it on fire! (on a safe place to avoid any damage to properties)

It's actually a good idea to burn your wallet to the DVD and stash it somewhere. Going to use it for one of my wallets. Thank you for the idea :)

Yes you can burn but also make the backup in other forms also.

You can even store it on your playstation, but choose a more secure way instead.

3, 5''  disks should be perfect for that :-) or 5, 12'' even better..
I would not recommend cd as a storage for btc never.

Ok, cutting the crap...

http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/opticalmedialongevity.html


You may be better off, long long long term with CD-Rs, but if you don't intend to back your wallet up every 5 years at least then I suggest you hammer it into metal and bury it in a time capsule or something...

Hammer pvt keys into metal is great idea indeed :-) better than brain wallet imo :-)

I personally have experienced multiple CDs that, after sitting in storage for years, lost some data (it became corrupted and/or inaccessible.) I'm talking about multiple instances of this happening with different brands (and I don't buy the cheap crap media.) I have never had that happen with a USB drive or even a hard drive for that matter. YRMV.

dunno if it works but I do suppose you can burn a OS that contains your wallet

http://www.popularmechanics.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/data-storage.jpg

this is best storage idea that I have found! :)

Just need to check are those cds OK after travel ...

Same here. I used to put MP3s on CD-Rs for storage and some of them are inaccessible now. I wonder if BD-Rs work any better? I guess only time will tell.

Bluray disks has got longer durability but I am sure it is better to find other storage better for yours bitcoins.

Durability in what way?

In how ling you can keep them in your drawer :) and use them later again :)

CDs after 5 years are mostly rubbish (burned cds)

Have BD-Rs even been out five years yet? It's probably too early to tell how they'll actually fair with time.

Perhaps you are right - anyway I am sure better to use other data storage than any disk.

Makeuseof.com (http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/spend-store-bitcoins-safely-easily-free/) has a good article about how to safely store your Bitcoins using a combination of a hot wallet, a cold wallet, and a paper wallet to stay secure.


In answer to the original question, yes, it is possible to burn your wallet onto a dvd; but you should not rely on it as your only backup.

this wallet will still need to sync, except that since the last synchronization immediately used your money

No, the client needs syncing. The wallet contains the private keys and does not need syncing.

I dont think you can burn a wallet on DVD, its why bitcoin qt exist right.

No, bitcoin core is the client. The private keys (the money) is stored in the wallet. The wallet you can back-up wherever you want, even on a DVD.

Yes, but also keep a backup of the wallet, because if dvd breaks down you will loose your money.

it is one of the bad ideas that i ever heard

Make sure you have at least 4 copies of your wallet.