Best place to store bitcoin wallet?

[The Extreme]

Greetings-

I was wondering: is best to store your bitcoins in a wallet that is online (a hosted wallet or an exchange)?
Or is it better to run bitcoin software yourself locally and store them in a wallet on your own PC?

I ask because I see both sides and I'm not sure the best way to proceed.

In the former situation, your coins are "in the cloud" so they are less likely to be lost or deleted. Also, you have access to them from nearly any computer. Problem is, if said site is down for whatever reason (or worse, gets hacked!) you might lose your coins anyway.

In the later situation, you maintain control of the coins. It's more secure and with good protection for your computer and a backed-up, encrypted wallet, it would be difficult to lose access to your coins. The problem then is having to run a local bitcoin client and maintain the PC, plus have lots of copies of the wallet and such in case the worst were to happen. Plus, it's harder to access the coins from a remote location.

This newbie would love to hear your thoughts... thanks!

The Extreme

[Anon136]

Greetings-

I was wondering: is best to store your bitcoins in a wallet that is online (a hosted wallet or an exchange)?
Or is it better to run bitcoin software yourself locally and store them in a wallet on your own PC?

I ask because I see both sides and I'm not sure the best way to proceed.

In the former situation, your coins are "in the cloud" so they are less likely to be lost or deleted. Also, you have access to them from nearly any computer. Problem is, if said site is down for whatever reason (or worse, gets hacked!) you might lose your coins anyway.

In the later situation, you maintain control of the coins. It's more secure and with good protection for your computer and a backed-up, encrypted wallet, it would be difficult to lose access to your coins. The problem then is having to run a local bitcoin client and maintain the PC, plus have lots of copies of the wallet and such in case the worst were to happen. Plus, it's harder to access the coins from a remote location.

This newbie would love to hear your thoughts... thanks!

The Extreme

There isnt a "best" answer it all depends what you want to use your bitcoins for, and how much convenience you are personally willing to sacrifice for greater security.

How many bitcoins do you have and what do you plan to do with them?

[mjc]

There are a number of ways to do that.  One method is to store it on a true crypt volume.  I cover the step by step on how to do that in my Bitcoin Step by Step book.  See signature.

[Gabi]

Put the encrypted wallet on some webservices, like gmail, skydrive etc.
And do a paperwallet.

[elgreco]

Personally, I use blockchain.info for 'petty cash' and bitcoinarmory for my tiny savings account.

http://blockchain.info/address/1933phfhK3ZgFQNLGSDXvqCn32k2buXY8a

[Aahzman]

paperwallet, water-tight/air-tight capsule, surgically implant it in your abdominal cavity.  ultimate security. of course, it's a bitch if you ever want to access that wallet...

[Prefinem]

Hidden true crypt volume if you never want to do anything with them

[Rex_Heston]

paperwallet, water-tight/air-tight capsule, surgically implant it in your abdominal cavity.  ultimate security. of course, it's a bitch if you ever want to access that wallet...

Putting it in can't be too pleasant, either.

[Anon136]

paperwallet, water-tight/air-tight capsule, surgically implant it in your abdominal cavity.  ultimate security. of course, it's a bitch if you ever want to access that wallet...

Putting it in can't be too pleasant, either.

its not that bad ive done it before. It takes like 2 full minutes if that.

[SolidSnke]

just put it in a laptop and put the laptop under your mattress like the rest of america