how do I keep my private key safe?

[salad daging]

Many have explained how to store the correct private key in various ways offline, but it's not a good idea if you really store it in Gmail or paid cloud, all of which are dangerous and vulnerable to hacking.

I don't know how anyone still saves online while the sheets of paper for recording private keys are much better so you can store them safely or they can be made of steel with carvings made it is one where many use but I myself prefer on notes on paper and stored properly.

Back to each other if you take good care of it then it will be fine forever.

[jrrsparkles]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

Who is that genius? Gmail is the worst place to store anything sensitive cause its can be hacked easily in so many ways so never store anything which contains sensitive information including google drive.

Storing digitally itself not recommended so just keep them by writing down in a paper and keep the paper in water and fireproof container is the best possible solution.

[FatFork]

First and foremost, you should never store your private keys online. That's just asking for trouble. No matter how secure a service may claim to be, there's always a risk that it could be hacked or compromised in some other way. Instead, keep your private keys (or backup seed) offline, on a piece of paper or on a metal sheet. This way, they're not connected to the internet, which makes them much harder to hack.

It's really important to not only keep your private keys offline, but also to never store them electronically, even on your own device. This is because malware and other malicious software can still find its way onto your device, even if you think you've taken every precaution. For example, there's a type of malware called clipboard spyware that can monitor your device's clipboard and steal any data that you copy and paste, including your private keys. This means that even if you're careful about how you store your private keys, you could still be at risk if you're not using a properly secured and air-gapped device.

All in all, it's important to stay vigilant when it comes to keeping your private keys safe. With a little bit of caution and some common sense, you can protect your investments and keep your coins where they belong.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Who is that genius? Gmail is the worst place to store anything sensitive cause its can be hacked easily in so many ways so never store anything which contains sensitive information including google drive.

Indeed. Google practically puts profit above ethics. They've been leaked several times, and have been advertising scams in their search engine. Let alone their privacy policy which essentially reveals how much they focus on acquiring as much data as possible from you. They're being sued frequently now more. A little search in Hackernews, and you'll suddenly realize how you're being spied.

Not trustworthy.

[John Abraham]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

As everyone already said, It was the worst idea to store your private keys online.
You can simply write them down on a piece of paper and keep them in a safe place. If you have any offline device disconnected from the online, You can keep it there as well. Disconnect your computer from the internet. Copy your private key and make a txt file. You can encrypt it if you want and move it to a Pendrive. Remove the pen drive and it's safe. Don't encrypt the file if you don't know how to decrypt it.

[pawanjain]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

LMAO  Who was that person who told you to keep your keys on gmail. Stay way from that person.
Gmail is the worst place where anyone would keep their coins.

Your keeps should be kept in a place where only you have the access to it. Also, you should have multiple backups of your keys and store on different locations.
So that in case of emergency you can access one of those to get hold of your coins.

Some options for you are cold storage, hardware wallets, metal plates, phones without internet, paper (protected with metal) etc...

[leonair]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

keeping your private key on Gmail, drive or dropbox is not a good idea. Because all these depend on email Anyone who has access to emails can access them because there are thousands of stories of email hacks. So you can write down your private key in a diary and hide it or you can store it in a pen drive and hide that pen drive. Since memorizing a private key is almost impossible for a human being, storing your private key that way is the only way.

[mendace]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

keeping your private key on Gmail, drive or dropbox is not a good idea. Because all these depend on email Anyone who has access to emails can access them because there are thousands of stories of email hacks. So you can write down your private key in a diary and hide it or you can store it in a pen drive and hide that pen drive. Since memorizing a private key is almost impossible for a human being, storing your private key that way is the only way.

Actually, it's not a good idea to store it in a diary or a thumb drive because there are several problems. For instance, consider the earthquake in Turkey that destroyed everything. How would you find the pen drive among the rubble? Or what if a fire destroyed the diary? Instead, a solution to store it in the cloud could be to encode it into a trivial story where only you know the key, or to split it up and store it across multiple cloud services. This way, you could retrieve it at any time.

[CryptSafe]

Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked.

This should be the last thing you should think of doing with your passphrase or secret keys.  It is not ideal and not recommended to store such sensitive information to your Gmail account.  I have a friend who used to store his details online his Gmail account but the unfortunate happened, his account got hacked and the hackers accessed his secret keys to his wallets all and moved his funds till today those funds has not been recovered. So therefore, storing your wallet details online should not be a safe haven because anybody who has access to your Gmail account can undo you by stealing your funds. If you have noticed and from what I have read through here, you have been advised to write down your secret keys on a sheet of paper and store it where only you can access it secretly when ever you want it as it is the way to having access to your funds.

[Nheer]

To prevent asset theft you should  keep your privately key in a location that only you have access to and that is not too hidden so that you can readily find them. Its even better to save it  physically so you don't lose it and don’t hide it too far in order not to forget where it is kept. Its not secure to store it online, ur email is not a safe place as well, its best to write them down on a piece of paper and duplicate in different locations just incase of flood or fire outbreak.

[jossiel]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked.

That's not a good advise of keeping your private keys on your gmail or any cloud service. If you've lost your private keys then there's no way of recovering it again unless you do a back up and wrote is somewhere else that only you can access it.

Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

Rewriting it on many surface that only you can see it. The first is the typical one that writing it on a piece of paper and laminate it that no one knows if ever you've got a lamination machine. Others did it on a dog tag.

[freedomgo]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

These situations can be solved easily mate, you don't have to ask about it nor get some advice (although it's indeed advisable especially if you're new) as almost everything right now can be looked up on the web. Just do a simple search on Google on how to store your keys safely and voilà, problem solved!
Surely, storing them in the Gmail in the form of an email isn't the smartest thing to do with your keys as everything online is considered not safe. Making a hardcopy about your keys may do the trick and store them in a safe place where only you knows about it.

[Lanatsa]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

When you do have some coins which are tended to be holded for long term and the amount is really that significant then the best way is to have your own
ledger wallet or those known HW out there which you could really be making use of.Dont touch up custodial wallets which you dont possess the keys of your wallet. Storing up keys on cloud is never
been advisable on which on same you do said that it could be potentially be compromised and would expose those keys. Also, once you do lost your keys or you forgotten
then it is really that considered to be lost forever.

[panganib999]

Do not use your emails as repository for important files and documents. They are the easiest to phish and hack and once they do, it's over for you and all your hard-earned bitcoin savings. I would suggest you invest on a Cold Wallet or so that is completely shut off from the internet. That way you can rest assured that as long as you don't do anything stupid like connecting it on a hot wallet or something, your funds are secure and will not be vulnerable to hacks and attacks.

[mindrust]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

Depends.

There isn't one solution that's safe for every situation. It is not possible.

Let's say you memorized your seed words... your brain can always go dumb and then boom you are poor.
Let's say you wrote them on a piece of paper. That piece of paper might get burned, might get lost... Your dog could eat it.
Let's say you kept it inside an USB stick. That stick might get broken.
What if you keep it in your PC? Could get hacked.
What if you keep it in a bank safe? lol (don't do this)
...

What if I do all of these?

Then you will have lots of targets which could be attacked.

In my own experience, you should do 2 of these. (except for the bank safe thing) One of them should be your main preparation and the other one should be a backup.

[Nrcewker]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

If you love your hard earned money, then it’s better to avoid storing it online. It doesn’t matter whether you save it in a chat or gmail. The risk of getting it leaked or hacked will increase if you store it online. The best way to store the private keys is to write it down in a piece of paper, and lock it down safely where you can get access to it. And if you forget or misplace it somewhere, then my friend, there is no way of recovering back the wallet. So it’s better to occasionally check it, where you stored your private key.

[jeraldskie11]

I have wondered for long, if there is  anyway to recover my private keys when they get lost or when I don't remember them. Someone advised me to use Gmail and store them as mails then I taught again, what if my Gmail gets hacked. Is this actually the best way to store them or is there any other ways I can store or Keep them safe?

If you forget your private key, there is no way to get your wallet back. The only thing you need to open your wallet and keep it secure is your private key. Although many people use Gmail to maintain their accounts, we really don't advise it for cryptocurrency because anyone may still access your account if they want. If you hold tokens, I advise using MyEtherWallet; however, if you hold bitcoin, I advise Electrum because I haven't had any problems losing money with it.

[Solosanz]

There isn't one solution that's safe for every situation. It is not possible.

Let's say you memorized your seed words... your brain can always go dumb and then boom you are poor.
Let's say you wrote them on a piece of paper. That piece of paper might get burned, might get lost... Your dog could eat it.

It's not only become dumb, when you get older, there's no guarantee your brain is always good as before since brain injury could happen to every people, just like this thread Bitcoiners with Alzheimer's. How do you work it out?.

I don't think dog will eat your paper lol, but most likely bugs e.g. booklice, termites etc will eat it. There's also a chance you the ink will be blurry or your writing isn't really clear, it might make you mistakenly missing for few words.

The best way is using stainless steel plate where it's immunable against fire, corrosion, etc. It will be good if you teach your kids or someone you love about Bitcoin and tell where you leave your seed phrase.

[HajiBagi]

As already mentioned by OmegaStarScream, it's a very bad idea to keep your private keys online. Any centralized service and any online device is prone to hacking.
You should keep your private keys offline, on a piece of paper or even better on a metal sheet.

You speak well, mate, every online device has to be hacked, but you see a sheet of paper will never be hacked because he is not a device or any other online stuff and that can only be a secret by yourself, another way, I think Gmail is also safe for keeping your secret needs for a future because I have seen many people who have been in that method and up to date nothing has happened to their Gmail or anyone got their secret stuff even when they sold their phones, that makes me feel that Gmail is also safe to keeps your secret stuffs.

[hosseinimr93]

I think Gmail is also safe for keeping your secret needs for a future because I have seen many people who have been in that method and up to date nothing has happened to their Gmail or anyone got their secret stuff even when they sold their phones, that makes me feel that Gmail is also safe to keeps your secret stuffs.

You should never trust centralized services with your sensitive data.
Just because you haven't ever heard of anyone having security issue with gmail doesn't mean you can keep your sensitive data on gmail safely. As I already said, any centralized service is prone to hacking.