WALLET.DAT or SEEDS - What is the safest

[ranman09]

Been in the search of best way to secure my future bits (if there will be ). And I came up with this clients that supports wallet.dat and clients that support SEEDS. What do you prefer? And Why?

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[Herbert2020]

both at the same time!
if you have a couple of backups then it is best (not too many that you lose track of and risk losing it to someone robbing you though).
you can write down the seed on a piece of paper and store the paper somewhere safe, possibly even laminate it. or you can even etch it on a piece of metal!
you can encrypt it with a strong password then paste the base64 string in a .txt file and store it on the cloud (good as long password is strong).

also you can store the wallet file, on a USB, DVD, on the cloud. again a strong encryption is suggested.

also remember being safe doesn't mean which one you chose, it means how you store them.

[PrinceCaspian]

It really depends on what kind of person you are,me i preffer using wallet.dat instead of seeds because i can easily misplace things that im using at the current stage so wallet.dat is more relevant for me

[MadGamer]

Been in the search of best way to secure my future bits (if there will be ). And I came up with this clients that supports wallet.dat and clients that support SEEDS. What do you prefer? And Why?

I would go with a seed myself, a file could get corrupted or get infected by a malware, Its easier to steal etc. I'd go with a printed seed and hide somewhere safe where no body could get access to and you are ready to go. If you only have the wallet.dat, you will need to remember the password as well otherwise you can't decrypt the file.

[crazyivan]

I do also go with seed combined with 2fa and possibly locked withdrawal address.

[Kizaki]

Seeds for me is the best and safest way of storing my wallet in my mobile.Because i can store seeds of my wallet everywhere from my phone without noticing that is a passs code for my wallet

[rooster2000bka]

I think is the same, but I like the wallet.dat file, more peace of mind!
 

[ranman09]

Does client that uses seeds also have wallet.dat? It would be easier to choose right knowing this haha. Thank for the replies

[buwaytress]

I go with both, but would always choose SEED if I had to. The only issue I can foresee for storing seeds is that someone else who might come across it would easily notice that it's a seed. So I store mine in a pattern only I would recognise (I throw in some red herring for example or use it in a paragraph of text) and send it as emails to several addresses to keep.

[ranman09]

I go with both, but would always choose SEED if I had to. The only issue I can foresee for storing seeds is that someone else who might come across it would easily notice that it's a seed. So I store mine in a pattern only I would recognise (I throw in some red herring for example or use it in a paragraph of text) and send it as emails to several addresses to keep.

Can I take electrum as a sample? It gives seeds does it have wallet.dat as well?? Or just seeds?

[amacar2]

I prefer seeds because it is easy to remember after some efforts so that you don't have to worry about storing them in secure place. I just memorize seed for my jaxx wallet where I can put almost anything like bitcoin, ethereum or litecoin for future.

[TravelMug]

Been in the search of best way to secure my future bits (if there will be ). And I came up with this clients that supports wallet.dat and clients that support SEEDS. What do you prefer? And Why?

I also like the SEEDS. It is much easier to store your seeds. You can write just it down or simple send it to your multiple email address as backup. And since I'm using Electrum, that is why I lean towards the seeds is the safest for me. We saw some members here backing up their wallet.dat and encrypted it. However, they have issue remembering their password. That's the only issue I saw with wallet.dat.

[BitcoinHodler]

Does client that uses seeds also have wallet.dat? It would be easier to choose right knowing this haha. Thank for the replies

yes it has!
all the wallet clients should store that seed, private keys, usually public key, and transaction details somewhere and that somewhere is a file called
- wallet.dat (bitcoin core)
- default_wallet (electrum)
- wallet.aes.json (blockchain.info)
- or any other possible similar names (other clients that i have never used so i don't know!)
and usually these files are human readable unless encrypted.
backing up the seed has the benefit that you will never need the wallet client to recover your funds, you can use any code (should be trusted source though) to recover them. but if you back up some of these wallet file types you have a harder time recovering your funds without the same wallet client.

[Kprawn]

A once off seed provided to you to restore your wallet when you create it, is the way to go. Any Malware can be created to target specific files, so

using wallet.dat files is a bit more risky for me. Some of these wallets really have poor security features and I would not trust online wallets with

large amounts. It is fun to play with and to have a backup... but it should not be your only option. 

[ranman09]

Does client that uses seeds also have wallet.dat? It would be easier to choose right knowing this haha. Thank for the replies

yes it has!
all the wallet clients should store that seed, private keys, usually public key, and transaction details somewhere and that somewhere is a file called
- wallet.dat (bitcoin core)
- default_wallet (electrum)
- wallet.aes.json (blockchain.info)
- or any other possible similar names (other clients that i have never used so i don't know!)
and usually these files are human readable unless encrypted.
backing up the seed has the benefit that you will never need the wallet client to recover your funds, you can use any code (should be trusted source though) to recover them. but if you back up some of these wallet file types you have a harder time recovering your funds without the same wallet client.

So this means they both are needed to be secured  Is this what you're trying to say?  Encrypt the wallet.dat against hack and secure the seed for the recovery.

[franky1]

a seed is better. because you can hide it much better. both in the electronic form and physical form
design a crossword
hide the words it as a grocery shopping list
a christmas wishlist

that seed is yours for life
..
wallet.dats can get corrupted. data loss, physical loss of usb memory stick, virus, electrical surges killing memory storage
and every time you use a new address or move funds to a new change address you usually end up needing to re-backup the wallet

[ranman09]

Im a bit confused   If clients have somewhere to store keys the wallet.dat and at the same time give seeds. What do i secure? The wallet.dat or the seed?

[franky1]

Im a bit confused   If clients have somewhere to store keys the wallet.dat and at the same time give seeds. What do i secure? The wallet.dat or the seed?

secure it all

its best to have your access to your funds secured in different formats incase one goes missing/lost/corrupted/forgotten.

but generally seeds are better to handle

[ranman09]

Im a bit confused   If clients have somewhere to store keys the wallet.dat and at the same time give seeds. What do i secure? The wallet.dat or the seed?

secure it all

its best to have your access to your funds secured in different formats incase one goes missing/lost/corrupted/forgotten.

but generally seeds are better to handle

Thanks, i come to think of creating a portues linux boot on my usb flashdrive and do the bitcoin wallet there, boot it whenever I will send bits to protect the wallet. Is this secure as I think it is? And secure the seed somewhere.

[franky1]

sounds good