question about backing up and securing bitcoin qt wallet

[WwFree]

I have some coins on a website and I really want to get them off.  I've downloaded the bitcoin qt wallet and did a test transaction to make sure it works.  It worked.  I've had trouble finding info specific and detailed to these couple of questions.

I want to store some coins and leave a portion of it for me to use.
What is the best way to go about doing this? 

In order to back up the wallet, do I just have to go to: file > back up > save to?
- is the file that is saved really big, like the wallet?
- Where is the best place to store this?
- if I do have to restore this how do I do it?
- I read somewhere that you need to back it up after every 100 transactions, other people say 25.  Why is this?  Also, if I want to store some coins, that I wouldn't use regularly, and use some other coins should I have two wallets?
- Is there anything else I should be aware of?

I also haven't encrypted the wallet yet.
By doing this is it basically setting up a password to open the wallet or send/recieve coins or both or something else?
Does encrypting the wallet affect the back up?

I'm a little confused and just want to make sure that I do this right the 1st time.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[hilariousandco]

I have some coins on a website and I really want to get them off.  I've downloaded the bitcoin qt wallet and did a test transaction to make sure it works.  It worked.  I've had trouble finding info specific and detailed to these couple of questions.

I want to store some coins and leave a portion of it for me to use.
What is the best way to go about doing this?  

In order to back up the wallet, do I just have to go to: file > back up > save to?
- is the file that is saved really big, like the wallet?
- Where is the best place to store this?
- if I do have to restore this how do I do it?
- I read somewhere that you need to back it up after every 100 transactions, other people say 25.  Why is this?  Also, if I want to store some coins, that I wouldn't use regularly, and use some other coins should I have two wallets?
- Is there anything else I should be aware of?

I also haven't encrypted the wallet yet.
By doing this is it basically setting up a password to open the wallet or send/recieve coins or both or something else?
Does encrypting the wallet affect the back up?

I'm a little confused and just want to make sure that I do this right the 1st time.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Encrypt your wallet immediately then just make several copies of the wallet.dat file. Put them on USBs and other mediums and then keep them safe.

[CoinThinker]

First encrypt your wallet.

Then locate the file wallet.dat. Assuming you are using Windows it should be somewhere on C:\users\YOUR USERNAME\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin. Copy that wallet.dat in as many secure location as possible (you can even email it to yourself for example).

Of course before you backup the wallet don't forget to transfer the money to yourself so you don't back up an empty wallet 

[WwFree]

so I only need to backup/save the wallet.dat file which is only a few hundrend kilobytes in size?  I read somewhere that you should go directly into to folder and copy that file and make sure that the bitcoin qt client is closed, instead of using the in client back up feature.  Is this true and if so, why is that?

How often should I back it up?

And what should I do about wanting to save a few coins that I know I will not be spending for a long time, get two wallets?

Thanks

[RCSpades]

Also interested in this question.  If I have my wallet on my home pc, is it possible to mirror it on an android device.  Or do I need to backup, create new wallet on my phone, then stop using my pc wallet till I transfer the updated version of my phone wallet (assuming I used it and it now has a different total.

[hilariousandco]

Also interested in this question.  If I have my wallet on my home pc, is it possible to mirror it on an android device.  Or do I need to backup, create new wallet on my phone, then stop using my pc wallet till I transfer the updated version of my phone wallet (assuming I used it and it now has a different total.

I'm not sure about your situation, but you can do it with an online blockchain wallet and an Iphone ap.

[guybrushthreepwood]

What Bitcoin wallet do you use?  Maybe there's one with this feature.