Files to erase

[jubalix]

Having backed up 5 times and sent to 4 separate email addresses my (trucrutp) encrypted wallet.dat and private keys or addresses

I now want to know which files on my computer (OSX 10.8.2) do I have to erase to ensure security for bitcoin qt 0.8.0, and multibit.


In qt i see
obviously wallet.dat
but what

what about that log.000000001 files
and db.log
and peer.dat

In Multibit

I see, info, wallet, properties , gz file etc etc


ALSO where else on the Hard Drive/OS could anything be?

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[Stephen Gornick]

what about that log.000000001 files
and db.log
and peer.dat

The log files may be needed if the database was not shut down properly, so you probably don't want to delete those.
Peer.dat stores peer nodes, and while you can delete that your node will recreate it by discovering nodes.  There can be instances where not having the old peers.dat could be less secure than letting it access peers it has previously discovered.

ALSO where else on the Hard Drive/OS could anything be?

 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory#Directory_Contents

[jubalix]

what about that log.000000001 files
and db.log
and peer.dat

The log files may be needed if the database was not shut down properly, so you probably don't want to delete those.
Peer.dat stores peer nodes, and while you can delete that your node will recreate it by discovering nodes.  There can be instances where not having the old peers.dat could be less secure than letting it access peers it has previously discovered.

ALSO where else on the Hard Drive/OS could anything be?

 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory#Directory_Contents

So essentially just the wallet.dat has to go

[Stephen Gornick]

So essentially just the wallet.dat has to go

 

 

What is it that you are trying to do?

The wallet.dat is a needed file.  It should be backed up.  The wallet.dat backup will only be useful when it was backed up when the client has shut down properly first before the backup operation occurs.

You generally don't want to be deleting anything.

[jubalix]

So essentially just the wallet.dat has to go

 

 

What is it that you are trying to do?

The wallet.dat is a needed file.  It should be backed up.  The wallet.dat backup will only be useful when it was backed up when the client has shut down properly first before the backup operation occurs.

You generally don't want to be deleting anything.

I have made 20+ back ups of my wallet.dat, encrypted them in trucrypt containers made another 20 backup of that container, and emailed them to 5 different email accounts, and some other backup devices.

[Stephen Gornick]

I have made 20+ back ups of my wallet.dat, encrypted them in trucrypt containers made another 20 backup of that container, and emailed them to 5 different email accounts, and some other backup devices.

Great.  But why would you delete it then?

[jubalix]

I have made 20+ back ups of my wallet.dat, encrypted them in trucrypt containers made another 20 backup of that container, and emailed them to 5 different email accounts, and some other backup devices.

Great.  But why would you delete it then?

So if some one steals my computer they their is no wallet.dat for them to get!!!!! or use or see.

[Stephen Gornick]

So if some one steals my computer they their is no wallet.dat for them to get!!!!! or use or see.

Oh.  Minor detail.   

You are actually asking how to securely remove a bitcoin wallet from your system  (or the more extreme, remove any trace that Bitcoin was ever on a system ?)

Know that deleting a file does not necessarily delete the file (that's why they have "undelete" tools).    So if you had a wallet without passphrase encryption, and then you delete that wallet.dat, there are ways of still recovering the keys.  There's even a nice utility to scan your hard drive to find it:

Bitcoin private key/wallet.dat data recovery tool!
 - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=25091.0