How i keep my private keys safe without hardware wallet

[princerepon]

1. I have hard disk never used, When I try to use and connect to PC, my hard disk warn me to format it, I can't open my harddisk and lost my data.

you have to read this https://superuser.com/questions/284427/how-much-time-until-an-unused-hard-drive-loses-its-data

3. I think the same as a hard disk, be careful.

Recording book/Paper was good but when the water dries it or fire, so you lost it.

Good point though. So we can say that no matter which way we choose it's pretty difficult to safe our secret keys.  

I have a reference for you, Are you heard about the steel/metal wallet?, I think it's good for you.
You can write your seed and private key on steel, fire and waterproof for sure.
here for reference
- https://cryptosteel.com/product/cryptosteel/?attribute_letter-set=mnemonic
- https://medium.com/hackernoon/cryptosteel-is-out-of-beta-and-into-the-fire-7f5bf6368654

Wow.. It's really cool. I never seen like this before. Idea is really good and seems like it's a solution of those problem which you pointed above. I don't know how much costly it is or how much easy to use but i love to try once.  

[1714492692]

1714492692

[mdzahed134]

Very important topic about how to keep safe private key. Although i don't think without hardware wallet you will 100% protected. If you stored keys in your book it’s too much risky because book can be damage or it will possibility to public. Even Hard Disk stored isn’t enough safe i think. Suddenly it also may be lost or most possibility to be destroyed. Offline wallet is huge security to protect your wallet from hacking,pishing sites. No alternative effective ways to keep safe private key without hardware wallet.        

[pixie85]

Flash drives and sd cards should never be used as a primary backup. They get corrupt very easy. Like I had a flash drive that I had music on and had it in my car for a year. After a year in different weather, hot and cold but it wasn't damaged and had no contact with water, it started acting strange. Would skip tracks, jitter a lot. You could see it needs formatting.

If you have to use something don't use SSD too because it can't be recovered. Use a normal hard drive and best if it's a new one because it won't have any old data mixed.

[ned.ryerson]

I always recommend hardware wallet. But if you don't have the money to buy one. I would suggest you to to use a separate USB device to store all your key. Better if you use more than 2 and keep it in safe place.

if there is no money to buy a wallet for $ 60 then why do you need a wallet if there is nothing to store on it? very strange. when there is nothing to store - the wallet is not needed

[rodel caling]

Great and thanks for sharing a brilliant ideas to keep safe your private key, but everyone have an own style and strategy how to keep safe their private safe storing.
I share how I keep safe my private without any hassle buy expensive gadget, I sent my key at my email draft msgs and the back up at the my own messenger messages.

[Chikito]

I don't know how much costly it is or how much easy to use but i love to try once.  

Safety is expensive but accidentally your seed and the private key were broken are more expensive, right?
I was watching the video on how to use cryptosteel and write your secret there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyJjd46ADnM&feature=youtu.be

[GrayFullbuster]

This is how i keep my private keys safe since i can't afford to buy a hardware wallet.
1. A complete new harddisk
I bought a new harddisk and install window 7 on it and copy all my private keys in there, i don't bother to leave this harddisk in the pc, after the copy is completed i remove the harddisk and keep it.

2.My Recording book
I have a long hard shelled book that i use for keeping records of all the airdrops and bounties i promoted because sometimes i used to forget easily so i write down my recovery seeds in this book as well

3. Flash Drive
I have a good 8gig flash drive as well that i use to copy software and files from one pc to another so i format this flash drive and copy my private keys and recovery seeds in it.

At first no one knew i am into crypto stuffs and secondly i don't share my room with anyone cos i am living alone, those who have people around them with face problems like friends going behind your back checking through your stuffs or even stealing your things, hardware wallet is still the best though.

I keeping some of my altcoins and bitcoins in online wallets. I still not experiencing some bad service because the wallet that I am using is trusted and have high security. There is still a risks but it is only low so I know that my funds are secured.

[hdtqisg]

Using wallet software on an offline computer, not sharing information with anyone, the best security right now is like that! Good luck!

[cotton ball]

Only one way how to keep your private key of myetherwallet keep save without have hard ware wallet just use one browser in your laptop or your phone only access to myetherwallet, never use your browser for access to other website, you have two browser in your computer to keep your private key is save.

[zeze18]

Saving the utc files in google cloud or google drive is quite safe since you can add multiple factors authentication to secure your account

[Jorge158]

I don't copy and use my private keys because it is very delicate and if not handled with much care can lead to the breach in security of wallet. I prefer to use the Json file and password to login because it is very difficult for a third party to come into contacts with these two login details. Keeping them as backup on separate flashdrive is a good one.

[amonymous]

the way I store private keys
1. I use a web wallet (Myetherwallet)
2. Bookmark the web wallet site to avoid phishing attacks
3. copy on white paper, PC, MOBILE and flashdisk
4. I will not tell anyone and only I personally know about this.

We wallet doesn't safety your private key that's think you need use hardware wallet for fully safety your wallet. Before two years ago i was saving my private key in my phone book but i read many topics this not good safety, so now i only use hardware wallet for safety my private key.

[Bim abk]

I agree that it is better for us to keep the private key on a different hard disk to avoid damage to the computer that we use. Storing private keys in different places is important because there are many cases of hacking and data theft.

in this sense it is very useful for new users, usually they do things in an unstructured way and therefore a lot of hacking occurs. and I have a suggestion for data storage to always check every week and do backups when needed, in the case of data backup people may very rarely do it and therefore should be reminded of this important matter

[pieppiep]

I always recommend hardware wallet. But if you don't have the money to buy one. I would suggest you to to use a separate USB device to store all your key. Better if you use more than 2 and keep it in safe place.

USB devices don't always live long, i have 2 dead usb devices i bought at high price, the three can die on you before several years pass, the reason why i include paper wallet is because of this, only fire or water can destroy them but if keep in safe nothing will happen to them, i still have a book from 2012 with me which consist of some login details

USB wallets are bad. Just download a wallet and put the coins on there.

Using a wallet can be a good choice for people who cannot buy a hardware wallet. But I still prefer to use a hardware wallet because the hardware wallet can save so many types of coins.

But if you only want to save private keys, I think that will not difficult as you only need to save in a safe place which only you will know. Don't tell other people if you already save the coin in the wallet, so they don't try to ask you to check all of the coins you have.

[Jorge158]

I always recommend hardware wallet. But if you don't have the money to buy one. I would suggest you to to use a separate USB device to store all your key. Better if you use more than 2 and keep it in safe place.

Use a desktop wallet. That will make you more money because Hackers won't want it.

Desktop wallets are also susceptible to attacks because hackers can send malware through email and may get into the desktop wallet. Not all the desktop wallets have strong security and can be trusted. Getting a hard ware wallet is best but in the instance when it cannot be afforded, it is good to use the keystore/Json file and password as login details instead of the private keys. Using the two login combinations makes it very difficult to breach the security of ones wallet.

[meliodas]

If you don't have a hardware wallet and you still want to secure your wallet by keeping your private key safe then you should store it online. How? By just simply writing your private keys or a back up phrase in a piece of paper and if you want to add some protection to the paper then you can just laminate it and store it in a place where you know, no one can steal it.

[sergejs.veliky]

Why so much complexity. If you can't buy a hardware wallet, then you don't have a lot of money.You can just install a good antivirus and not crawl on bad sites.But you bought a new hard drive.It is not much cheaper than a hardware wallet.

[Bim abk]

Why so much complexity. If you can't buy a hardware wallet, then you don't have a lot of money.You can just install a good antivirus and not crawl on bad sites.But you bought a new hard drive.It is not much cheaper than a hardware wallet.

in fact there are so many ways to secure it and security always depends on the user of the wallet. so I think more about security depending on the user and how he can access it very carefully when he wants to open his wallet and backup data elsewhere

[akirasendo17]

Just make sure that the place where your keys store is safe, and the only one can access this file is yourself
at the same time , don't entrust the password of your computer, to other people because it will be a risk
because anyone can access your computer if the password is known to others,
encrypt your computer hard disk , if you really want to be safe, so that if your computer is stolen only you can open the files

[chanc3r]

I always recommend hardware wallet. But if you don't have the money to buy one. I would suggest you to to use a separate USB device to store all your key. Better if you use more than 2 and keep it in safe place.

USB devices don't always live long, i have 2 dead usb devices i bought at high price, the three can die on you before several years pass, the reason why i include paper wallet is because of this, only fire or water can destroy them but if keep in safe nothing will happen to them, i still have a book from 2012 with me which consist of some login details

USB wallets are bad. Just download a wallet and put the coins on there.

How can you say if that was a bad idea because if you can manage it properly and then USB can be used to create our own cold storage use paper wallet as the main wallet and then store it in the USB?
It doesn't make sense if you are saying if that was a very bad idea because that depends on how we can manage it.
Just try to look at some people have used it since long time ago and they never got a problem.