bitcoin wallet backup

[kashish948]

hi
im a little new to the scene.
suppose i have 47 btc in my wallet, what happens if:

1. i have to format my computer
2. my computer gets lost

from what i know my bitcoin address is based on my computer and i can copy the wallet.dat and that is enough for backing up my bitcoins.

is there anything else i should do to safeguard the coins?

PS: i dont want to use online wallets

[1715114974]

1715114974

[1715114974]

1715114974

[1715114974]

1715114974

[1715114974]

1715114974

[1715114974]

1715114974

[DodoB]

store your wallet on a disk on key
use online wallets,there some good ones like coinbase and inputs.io

[kashish948]

store your wallet on a disk on key

sorry dint get you

[DannyHamilton]

Assuming you are using Bitcoin-Qt:

Your bitcoin address is not "based on your computer".  Your bitcoin addresses are generated completely at random.

All the information necessary to recover access to your bitcoins is stored in the wallet.dat file.

You should create backups of this file regularly and store the most recent few backups somewhere safe.

If your computer gets lost, hopefully you password protected your wallet so the person who finds it can't steal your bitcoins as well.

If your computer gets lost or you have to format your hard drive, you'll re-install Bitcoin-Qt.  Then you'll recover your wallet.dat from your backup copies to regain access to your bitcoins.

Copying the wallet.dat is enough as long as you do it often enough and you don't do it while Bitcoin-Qt is running.  (Always shut down Bitcoin-Qt before copying the wallet.dat file)

If you prefer to make backups without shutting down Bitcoin-Qt, you should use the "Backup Wallet" option in the drop-down menu.

[tspacepilot]

hi
im a little new to the scene.
suppose i have 47 btc in my wallet, what happens if:

1. i have to format my computer
2. my computer gets lost

from what i know my bitcoin address is based on my computer and i can copy the wallet.dat and that is enough for backing up my bitcoins.

is there anything else i should do to safeguard the coins?

PS: i dont want to use online wallets

Export your private keys in some plaintext format and store them offline.  On a usb key, on a piece of paper, whatever.  The crucial thing is to have your private keys (and your public addresses) in some accessible format (to you) which is inaccessible to the world (maybe it's in your sock drawer).  The other thing to remember is this: the LOCKSS rule: 'lots of copies keeps stuff safe'.

[hulk]

You only need to save your wallet.dat file. For security reason change the name and extension (example: thehulk.hulk) if you wanna keep it online.

[art]

To access your Bitcoins you need your private keys, these are stored in wallet.dat file on your computer. If you have a recent copy of this file you will be able to access your Bitcoins even if the main copy is lost.

To prepare for formatting your computer copy your wallet.dat file to a safe place, like USB stick or external hard drive or even burn it on a CD. After format, reinstall Bitcoin client and put your backed up wallet.dat file back in it's place.

To protect against loss/theft you need to backup wallet.dat file regularly to another computer, USB stick or some other place that is separate from your main computer - can't just copy onto USB stick that is plugged into your computer all the time. You also need to encrypt your wallet with a pretty strong password because if it falls into wrong hands they will transfer your money immediately and restoring from a backup will not help.

How often you need to backup depends on how many transactions you do, as a rule of thumb after a backup you are safe to do up to 100 transactions.

To create backup you should use your Bictoin client: File -> Backup Wallet (if you want to copy files on your own, make sure that Bitcoin client is not running).

[Valerian77]

Simply encrypt the wallet.dat with Bitcoin-QT. Then it may be stored anywhere in a cloud system.

[art]

This article is also worth reading: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

[DannyHamilton]

- snip -
as a rule of thumb after a backup you are safe to do up to 100 transactions.
- snip -

As a rule of thumb, after a backup you are safe until the sum of transactions you send and new addresses you create exceeds 100.  Since it is possible that you might backup a damaged wallet.dat, it is much safer if you backup more frequently and keep copies of a few of the most recent backups. I generally suggest backing up when the sum of transactions you send and new addresses you create exceeds 25 since the last backup, and keeping copies of the 3 most recent backups.

[odolvlobo]

Export your private keys in some plaintext format and store them offline.

That is less secure than simply storing a backup of your encrypted wallet offline.

[HyperBeam]

You can also just use an online wallet, such as inputs.io.