Should I switch to a hierarchical Deterministic wallet?

[KonstantinosM]

I'm concerned that if I don't make a backup of my wallet after receiving bitcoin I could lose everything that wasn't backed up.

When you have an HD wallet does that mean you're safe as long as you have your seed saved somewhere? Also how often do you have to extend the seed if at all?

I'm thinking of converting my wallet to an HD one, I'd probably have to pay a decent fee to consolidate my funds but I'm sure it's worth it for the extra peace of mind.

[ranochigo]

When you have an HD wallet does that mean you're safe as long as you have your seed saved somewhere? Also how often do you have to extend the seed if at all?

HD wallets allows for the generation of addresses from a single seed. As long as you have that seed, you just need to make a single backup. There should be virtually no limitations on the amount of keys that could be generated from a seed.

I'm thinking of converting my wallet to an HD one, I'd probably have to pay a decent fee to consolidate my funds but I'm sure it's worth it for the extra peace of mind.

You can always consolidate when the fees are lower. HD wallets do provide much more convenience over older wallets and you won't have to make frequent backups to your keys as well.

If there's an option for seed phrase, even better. Paper backups would be even easier.

What wallet are you using now?

[KonstantinosM]

When you have an HD wallet does that mean you're safe as long as you have your seed saved somewhere? Also how often do you have to extend the seed if at all?

HD wallets allows for the generation of addresses from a single seed. As long as you have that seed, you just need to make a single backup. There should be virtually no limitations on the amount of keys that could be generated from a seed.

I'm thinking of converting my wallet to an HD one, I'd probably have to pay a decent fee to consolidate my funds but I'm sure it's worth it for the extra peace of mind.

You can always consolidate when the fees are lower. HD wallets do provide much more convenience over older wallets and you won't have to make frequent backups to your keys as well.

If there's an option for seed phrase, even better. Paper backups would be even easier.

What wallet are you using now?

I'm using a Bitcoin Core wallet, a full node.

[ranochigo]

I'm using a Bitcoin Core wallet, a full node.

Then there isn't really a negative to this. You still need to secure the wallet.dat, just that you don't have to do it every 1000 transactions.

By running your client with upgradewallet flag, it will dump all the used addresses into the wallet.dat and future addresses will be generated from the seed. AFAIK, it doesn't automatically sends the funds to a new address generated using the HD seed so you shouldn't really need to transfer the funds.

[Wind_FURY]

OP, why not use both? You can just continue using your Bitcoin Core wallet, then set up an HD wallet for your more "active" Bitcoining.