WALLET.DAT or SEEDS - What is the safest

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Wallet.dat saved on multiple devices, hidden in different places to protect yourself. Bury a USB in a box in waterproof material etc.

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[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.

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.

any of them will be enough. but as franky said, secure them all. but you just need one of them to recover all your funds as long as that one is not damaged.
for example the wallet.dat file can be damaged over time because of hardware failure, ...
also the seed which you print on a paper can be damaged over time because of degradation of paper lets say in a couple of years.

best course of action is taking backups from your seed and wallet file and checking their health on intervals.

[gamerfan]

both at the same time!

I'd also say both.
With Electrum ,for example, you can have the seed and the default_wallet (you can rename this, of course). Just save the default_wallet and write the seed on a piece of paper and you'll have high safety.

[ranman09]

Yeah and I can  use this wallet right even if its not online?

Thanks guys so this is build up in my head, I will

Make USB os portues and install the wallet there
Get the seed and wallet address
Safe keep the usb and use it when sending bits

[BillyBobZorton]

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

But for the very paranoid there is also a good extra in wallet.dat = it cannot be generated with any seed, so only you own it.

With a seed, theres a chance someone somehow generates your same seed.. but with a wallet.dat, they would need to steal the file.

If you keep safe backups of your wallet.dat in various forms, I think it's a valid cold storage.

[Ayers]

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 like the first format because i can use it on core version, i like to use the original client and not third party client, what make your bitcoin really secure is the user behind the security of his coin not the way you do it, i like to secure with trezor or usd stick, which are portable and can be used everywhere, trezor for possible infected public pc is very good, usb on my home work great

[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?

i like the first format because i can use it on core version, i like to use the original client and not third party client, what make your bitcoin really secure is the user behind the security of his coin not the way you do it, i like to secure with trezor or usd stick, which are portable and can be used everywhere, trezor for possible infected public pc is very good, usb on my home work great

are you saying you can use your wallet.dat in trezor? or any hardware wallets?