Bitcoin Forum

I have 4 copies in different locations but thats only for my cold storage wallet.

That is risky, because if one is in the wrong hand, others become useless. I'd prefer to have only one that is well secured.

They are all in secure places and I have got that many because of event of fires etc.

Depends on the coin, few of no copies, but i have these most valuable backuped on usb key.

is the usb encrypted? I want to look into the possibility of using a encrypted usb.

Just two copies.

One store as a paper wallet, the other on the usb drive.

Nope it isn't as i'm not dealing with big ammounts of bitcoins/altcoins at the moment it's summer so i try to have as little stress as possible.
But if you would be going to encrypt it then i recommend truecrypt.

Yeah I've looked into it and will probably use truecrypt if I ever decide on using a encrypted usb but I'm worried about hardware failure.

Three copies, but I wouldn't keep them on those piece of shit cheap usbs. Buy some decent ones.

What do you call decent? If it's plugged into a computer which is infected with a virus or is connected to the internet it's possible the Bitcoin might get stolen no matter how expensive the usb is unless it's encrypted.

Well, it may happen anytime so either buy some of more expensive and durable keys not the cheap ones or/and have an paper wallet and put it into that kind of plastic. 

Yeah, like 2 copies, depends how much bitcoins you have, if you have only few than you wont be making like 5 -7 copies :}

Here's what I recommend for large amounts of coin:

Go on eBay or Amazon or whatever and buy a 5 USB sticks. Should run you like $25. Buy different ones/brands.

Encrypt 3 of them with Truecrypt. Store each in a different location.
Leave 2 unencrypted and store them together in a safe and secure location. Your home is a fine bet, unless you are worried about the government breaking in and stealing your money. However, you can always destroy these in that worst case scenario and still have 3 other options, so you're probably safe keeping the 2 unencrypted USBs at home.

Also, if you have a CD or DVD, toss your private keys on their too. It's a good idea to have more than one type of storage.

Last, but not least: memorize your private key.

I have only one copy of my wallet and imo that's enough

Only have 1 copy because i don't have much btc in my wallet :D

same here. couple of encrypted usbs. only one copy is not a good choice.

You will be crying and blaming yourself later if you will loose your coins ;)

Finally someone who agrees I think just having one defeats the point of having a backup. It can be easily destroyed by natural disasters and so which often occur in some countries.

He has 5 posts. Doubt he has very much.

One more than I think I need.

I have 2 copies in different usb's, one copy in my phone, one copy in my offline laptop. Yes, I'm paranoid. I don't even have much BTC!

You can't vote on the poll. OP went straight from 3 to more than 5 LOL. :D

I voted for 3 copies.

The fact that he is new on these forums doesn't mean he is new to bitcoin, but yeah probably you are right.

I think you quoted wrong message.

Yeah, I can't vote. Where is 4 or 5 options? :)

I think you only need a 2 or 3 back ups of your main one. You could write the private keys down as well, just keep them secure.

6 backups at the moment, encrypted on USB's and SD cards. Two of them are stored in safe deposit boxes (two different companies), gave two out to some trusted friends and buried the others up a mountain (in two different locations)  ;D

Oh, yeah...i wanted to quote Bitcoins101's post from first page.

ahhh correct, i forgot my CDs  :D

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you gave it to friends? do you think this is a good idea? hopefully encrypted?

How many copies of my wallet you suggest me to have? Yeah,  i'm a newbie so that's why i'm asking

I store my wallet in a true crypt container with different password . So it will take more than thousand years to decrypt  even you can accidentally get my file. It is quite safe.

I'm using coinbase so I don't need copy :P

What preferences can coinbase give to you?

Trust  3rd party?
Never ever . 
TRUST NOBODY

none :o

Three, my VMware , usb stick and on my cellphone, all three are encrypted by unique phrase that i dont use anywhere else.

Dont have much funds tho, only 2 btc's , but im hoping they will be worth alot in a few years time.

2 backups both on secure systems!

7 copies :
- 5 USB key (with duplicate every when i add one ... corrupt 1 file is easy, corrupt all is impossible)
- 2 hard drive (with my others files like all users, i think)

No. You can have multiple layers of security.

For example:

1. Set a good walletpassword. A long string, 35+char with special signs.
2. PGP encrypt the wallet itself.
3. Use stenography to put it inside a picture.

What somebody peaking at your usb-stick would see would just be vacation001.jpeg etc, and no wallet.dat. They wouldn't even know it's there, and if they knew, they sure as hell would be unable to extract anything from it.

You can also rent a few VPS'es, and save the wallets there (password protected wallets that are also pgp encrypted), and name it like something innocent, like wifi-driver.bin or something.

So, even if your house burned down, you'd be safe.

Can a USB fail?

I use the Electrum wallet so my backup is a 12 word seed.  Actually seeds as I have multiple wallets.

2 copies are with people who I can trust my life with.  I have access to one of the sd boxes.  This also means if when I die my btc lives on.

1 copy is in a wall in my house.

You got me thinking.  I need to bury one at my summer home.

3 are enough I think

3 copies in separate areas.

I had 2 paper wallets but I accidentally opened one of them instead of another so I lost my backup.
I hope my house doesn't flood.

No if you don't use it.
Yes ... but always because of the software that it restore.  ;D

It can fail mechanicaly by too big moisture, by bad manipulation or by short circuit quite easily, you should rather go for more expensive and known brands.

on SD perhaps (contact are very cheap) ... but not with soldering memory on USB real plug.

It is generally best to keep multiple copies of your backup in various storage formats, eg, paper wallets, USB drive, flash drive (from different manufacturers). This would lessen the chances that you would have no access to your keys.

I have pendrives with truecrypt volumes and the wallet is encrypted itself. So I have two layers of encryption. There is no problem if someone gets one copy. Also I have a few copies and also memorized of the electrum seeds, which I have rewritten into some pages that only me knows how to interpret.

Only have 1 copy because i don't have much btc in my wallet

I remember someone had hundreds of wallets and he don't need a back up. If one of those wallets are compromised he will start to move the others, but to manage so many wallets, you must be a IT professional with good scripting skill

I have 3 copies, none on paper all 3 on different usb drives and I think it's enough.

I kinda like the stenography concept myself but the truth is that there are tools that easily detect such techniques. If an attacker is specifically targeting your bitcoins he will probably discover pretty fast in which files you are hiding something.


This is top security.


Top security, but probably overkill considering you already did 1.


Only 3 would be very bad security, combined with 1 (and/or 2) is OK but quite unnecessary IMO. The bad side of techniques like stenography is that they might seem like the most secure option to a non-savvy user - and a false sense of security is the mother of all hacks :)

Yeah all my backups are encrypted, the friends I gave a copy to are completely unaware what's stored on the USBs  ;)

It depends how much bitcoin you want to store.I have few bitcoin to store.so i have only one copy of my wallet.

okay, at least they dont have a clue. you should keep it that way.

How many copies I have?
I'm sorry, but that is confidential information
 ;D

Around 5 all being BIP-38 password-encrypted wallets. :-) I also have them on a couple of spare USBs that have never been connected to an internet enabled device.

2 copies, one on my table and one in my wardrobe..sufficient for me ..

Why would someone need 10+ copies?

I have three copies, stored in three different and unrelated places....