Overview of How to Back up Multibit Wallets

[monkeybars]

Hi all,

Due to the OS X bug in Bitcoin-qt, I decided to switch to Multibit.

The client works fine and is fast. Also, I like how you can have multiple wallets.

However, the instructions on how to back up wallets are extremely confusing at best.

There is a big page in the support site about how Multibit makes automated backups of wallets, but not where they are. Nowhere online have I been able to find where all these .wallet files etc. live.

One site recommended I simply export my private key to back up Multibit wallets. But somewhere else, I read that when you recover a wallet from a private key, all addresses are lost, which in my book means the wallet was not actually backed up.

Other wallet clients have a simple "Create Wallet Backup" menu choice that just saves a .dat file to a disk of your choice. But Multibit does not. This is extremely confusing and worrying, since after all security in digital money is perhaps the most vital type of technical security.

So, can anyone explain how to back up my Multibit wallet securely and thoroughly, in simple layman's terms?

[haos]

I'll appreciate a reply on this as well.

[Abdussamad]

It says on the multi bit site that the location of the wallet file is mentioned in multibit window title. Can you see it there?

[monkeybars]

It says on the multi bit site that the location of the wallet file is mentioned in multibit window title. Can you see it there?

I'm grateful and embarrassed now! Yes the path is there and I found the files!

I don't know exactly what to back up, so I suppose I'll back up that entire folder.

Thank you very much Abdussamad. If you have any suggestions about exactly which files to back up I would be thankful.

One more question, this time in regards to backing up the private key. Is there a security risk in doing this? In other words, can someone else import my private key and steal my bitcoins?

[scarsbergholden]

the only thing we need to back up is our .wallet file, right? that should include all keys and addresses as of the time of back up, correct?

thanks in advance for replies.

[rnoynet]

It says on the multi bit site that the location of the wallet file is mentioned in multibit window title. Can you see it there?

I´d like to make a backup to another computer, but cannot find any of the .wallet files in that title string... I have spanish windows.

The string is in english C:\Users\"Myname"\AppData\Roaming\Multibit\"Walletname".wallet . What might it be in spanish?

[jim618]

Gary has written a help page on backing up wallets here:

https://multibit.org/en/help/v0.5/help_walletBackups.html

[rnoynet]

Thanks jim618!

But I cannot find that string :
C:\Users\"Myname"\AppData\Roaming\Multibit\"Walletname".wallet in my computer at all.

I have two Multibit wallets. they both work fine, but I cannot solve this backup problem. Any help?

[monkeybars]

Your library is probably hidden, which is a stupid and terrible change Apple made in OS X in some recent version or other. Google how to unhide the Library folder and run that command in the terminal.