how do I keep my private key safe?

[BenCodie]

You should under no circumstances store your private key inside your email or any online service. This is probably a more vulnerable approach than just using an online wallet or keeping the coins in a desktop client like electrum.

If you want to store private keys or seed phrases, write them down or print them off and store them in a safe place. Or if you prefer digital storage, encrypt a USB storage device or two with strong passwords that you will remember, store your private keys/seeds on their in encrypted text documents and keep those devices in safe places. This is probably the most ideal and practical solution.

[Mahanton]

You should under no circumstances store your private key inside your email or any online service. This is probably a more vulnerable approach than just using an online wallet or keeping the coins in a desktop client like electrum.

If you want to store private keys or seed phrases, write them down or print them off and store them in a safe place. Or if you prefer digital storage, encrypt a USB storage device or two with strong passwords that you will remember, store your private keys/seeds on their in encrypted text documents and keep those devices in safe places. This is probably the most ideal and practical solution.

This is right!

You should never store up your seeds or private key on any digital manner or aspect on which it is really that prone to hacking and been seen by other people if ever there would really be having the opportunity to access.This is why it is really just that right you should really be that dead serious when it comes to storing up your seed that you are the only one who do really knows.
This is why you should avoid on storing it even on your own pc because you cant be sure about 100% safety of your funds since it could be possibly malwared and infected.
Lots of situations similar to this and its better to be prepared than on regretting for the rest of your life.

[romero121]

You should under no circumstances store your private key inside your email or any online service. This is probably a more vulnerable approach than just using an online wallet or keeping the coins in a desktop client like electrum.

If you want to store private keys or seed phrases, write them down or print them off and store them in a safe place. Or if you prefer digital storage, encrypt a USB storage device or two with strong passwords that you will remember, store your private keys/seeds on their in encrypted text documents and keep those devices in safe places. This is probably the most ideal and practical solution.

How about the private key being backed by the Google account that use separate password to view the private key. I saw this feature avialed on trust wallet. We were asked to which the wallet private key needs to be backed, manually or to Google. In which we get access to our Google account and there we were requested to create a separate password. Does this serves to be secure.

[BenCodie]

You should under no circumstances store your private key inside your email or any online service. This is probably a more vulnerable approach than just using an online wallet or keeping the coins in a desktop client like electrum.

If you want to store private keys or seed phrases, write them down or print them off and store them in a safe place. Or if you prefer digital storage, encrypt a USB storage device or two with strong passwords that you will remember, store your private keys/seeds on their in encrypted text documents and keep those devices in safe places. This is probably the most ideal and practical solution.

How about the private key being backed by the Google account that use separate password to view the private key. I saw this feature avialed on trust wallet. We were asked to which the wallet private key needs to be backed, manually or to Google. In which we get access to our Google account and there we were requested to create a separate password. Does this serves to be secure.

Why store your private keys or information with a service like Google who are known to harvest data and overall betray the user as a service, when instead you can be in complete control of your keys/seeds with the peace of mind of physical control, no online exposure and encryption?

I am heavily biased against Google and big tech, though this aside I believe that storing any information with google (let alone your private keys or seeds) is unwise at the very least and unsafe otherwise, no matter how you go about it.

[kamvreto]

You should under no circumstances store your private key inside your email or any online service. This is probably a more vulnerable approach than just using an online wallet or keeping the coins in a desktop client like electrum.

If you want to store private keys or seed phrases, write them down or print them off and store them in a safe place. Or if you prefer digital storage, encrypt a USB storage device or two with strong passwords that you will remember, store your private keys/seeds on their in encrypted text documents and keep those devices in safe places. This is probably the most ideal and practical solution.

How about the private key being backed by the Google account that use separate password to view the private key. I saw this feature avialed on trust wallet. We were asked to which the wallet private key needs to be backed, manually or to Google. In which we get access to our Google account and there we were requested to create a separate password. Does this serves to be secure.

Why store your private keys or information with a service like Google who are known to harvest data and overall betray the user as a service, when instead you can be in complete control of your keys/seeds with the peace of mind of physical control, no online exposure and encryption?

I am heavily biased against Google and big tech, though this aside I believe that storing any information with google (let alone your private keys or seeds) is unwise at the very least and unsafe otherwise, no matter how you go about it.

then that way no one will be safe as long as they still store private keys or whatever in services like google and other online storage. We don't know what they do with the data we upload, but in that way the best way is to save it offline with the device we have such as a flash drive, writing on a steel plate or another way that has full access without any third parties. But risks will also occur such as loss, damage and the like.
and what becomes dangerous is the internet, because the internet will connect all devices easily. When you store the private key on a device that is not connected to the internet at all, it's even better. no one will be able to hack the device, and the possibility of being attacked by malware also will not exist, unless you connect the device to several devices that have previously been infected with malware.

[Cantsay]

I think two ways to keep your private key and/or seed phrase - to write it on paper and keep it somewhere safe, and to keep a screenshot somewhere deep in your PC and not upload it anywhere, that way you'll keep it in 2 places and if one will be lost you'll be able to recover it.

Saving your private key in your system makes it prone to malwares and since you'll constantly be using the system to access the internet that even makes is more unsafe, while for the paper it's actually better than the keeping but still the paper could get destroyed by fluid or perhaps you could laminate the paper to make it more water proof that way you can increase the safety of your key.

But still I'll love to go with the one I suggested early that is writing the private key on a steel plate and keeping it in a safe location a place no body will ever think of searching.

[GiftedMAN]

Good question op despite that the question have been asked several times here and I believe good answers have been given too.

Just to add to what other members have said, just as the name implies,it is your private keys meaning your privacy, you are the only one that has the permission to have access to so storing it should be in a secret and secured place that can not easily be wiped nor forgotten by you. The most appropriate way for me is writing them down in a metallic plate and keeping them safe where only you can have access to it.

[darkangel11]

There are a few options to safely store your private key or a seed phrase. Some people have mentioned hardware wallets, but these also require you to store the seed as backup.
Here's a few ideas:
Use a steel wallet. They don't cost much and are almost indestructible. You'll have to hide it well though, so it don't get stolen.
A paper wallet inside a waterproof metal container, so it doesn't get damaged easily.
Use an encrypted file, stored on a thumb drive. Pretty easy to make and to store.
A text file renamed as something else, like a .dll file. Easy to make, easy to hide on your computer.

I've used an offline hard drive to store all my backups. It contains all my pictures from the last 20 years, all my important files, wallet backups, seed phrases, all in hidden files. The drive is never online, when I forget something I turn on an offline PC that I use to access the information. If I ever need to move coins stored on that computer, I'll copy a wallet file onto a thumb drive and move it to my online electrum wallet.  

[Godday]

The private key has a function like a password that can be used to access the account that we have.  The private key will translate the information intended for us and sent to the Blockchain, so that we will get access to data or crypto funds.  Here are some tips from me that you can use: This time I will share tips so that the private key is safe even if it is lost.   

 1. Save it to File.txt with a name that's easy to remember
 saving the Private Key to a txt file whose file name is easy to remember is much better than putting it in an arbitrary file.

 2. (Double File) That is, save the txt file earlier in the encoded rar file, then save it again in the password-coded rar file
 This is so that the txt file cannot be penetrated by anyone if the file falls into the hands of someone else.

[FinneysTrueVision]

The level of security that is necessary depends on the amount you intend to store. If it's a few hundred dollars then an encrypted software wallet should be enough. If you want to store thousands then you might want to invest in a hardware wallet or a cold storage solution.

[xSkylarx]

I remember before that it was okay to store your private key online since hacking was not that rampant, but now it is evolving. Anything where you store your private key online is not safe; it would be better to store it offline, where you can physically touch it. I've read somewhere here in the forum that he wrote it on a steel plate and stored it in a vault, and the other one is that he put it somewhere that can't be easily seen because sometimes if you put it on paper, it gets erased.

[Kakmakr]

I would slap that person who suggested that, because email web access is definitely not even an option to secure your Private keys.

You should get a computer and printer that will never connect to the Internet again and then print your Private keys. (several copies) ... then you have to laminate them to protect them from the elements (water & heat) and then you have to hide them in two or three separate geographical locations.

This is crucial, because we saw what happened in Turkey with the earthquake .....almost all the structures were destroyed.  

[AicecreaME]

No, storing them online is definitely not recommended. Instead, you can create a paper wallet (make sure to encrypt the private key), print it, and then hide it.

I agree.

Also OP can add up riddles, unique and hard ones that only he can figure so just in case someone accidentally found his keys on wherever he stores it, they will not think it is a private key and probably will just ignore it because they think it's just some kind of worthless piece of paper. Me, personally do the same thing but I don't use riddles, I made up my own tricks so that I can always make sure that my private keys are completely safe.

[pgbit]

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?

Storing your private keys in an email account or any other online storage service can be risky, as these platforms may be vulnerable to hacks or security breaches. If your email account is compromised, your private keys could be accessed by an attacker, potentially leading to the loss of your funds.
A safer way to store your private keys is to use a hardware wallet or a software wallet that offers a recovery phrase
Hardware wallets, such as Trezor or Ledger, provide an added layer of security by storing your private keys offline and requiring physical confirmation to authorize transactions. Software wallets, such as Exodus or Electrum, can be more convenient to use but may not offer the same level of security as hardware wallets.

[hosseinimr93]

Software wallets, such as Exodus or Electrum, can be more convenient to use but may not offer the same level of security as hardware wallets.

Electrum (if it is used as a cold wallet) can provide same security as a hardware wallet.
Exodus is a close-source wallet and there is no way to know how the keys are generated and whether the keys are stored on their server or not. You should avoid any close-source wallet.

[Faisal2202]

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 want to store your privates key more safety that you do not want to compromise the security of your assets in any conditions. then i must say, writing them down and keeping somewhere safe is the only option that you have got. otherwise nothing is safe on digital world. no doubt how much you try not to fall prey to scam and phishing sites. But, knowledge and act of think before doing something or following someone's step. Is the main key to save your private keys. I hope you got my point.

You can read some of the following discussion to get better idea because same question has been dealt before

• How best to secure your Private Keys and/or Seed phrase
• Why are private keys safe?
• Quick advice for making secure private and public bitcoin keys for micro QR code
• How do you keep your private keys safe?
• Crypto Security - Additional Protection For Your Seed/Private Keys.
• Why would anyone want to use a paper wallet with raw private key?
• Storing private keys on servers
• How safe is to storage private keys in the cloud?
• How to safely encrypt your Private Key!!
• Encrypt private keys yourself
• Lost Half of Private Key - Are Bitcoins Safe?

From the above list i must say, you should try to encrypt your private key on your own by using some encryption methods. like Caesar etc. but that is not recommended until you have intermediate knowledge of Data security and Encryption. You should read some books to get idea and to broad your knowledge circle.

[Mauser]

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?

Don't store your private keys online, the risk of getting hacked is way too big. When it comes security we shouldn't trust the internet, better to store our private keys offline in a physical form. It depends a bit on where you live and how many people have access to your home. The easiest way would be to keep your private key on a piece of paper at home, preferably in a fireproof box where only you have the key. The problem is if you live with other people or have a lot of visitors at home, then I would advice against it. Let's say your parents have their own house with a garden, then the best way would be to write your key on a metal plate and dig a hole in the garden to hide it. Just make sure only you know where your key is hidden.

[AnonBitCoiner]

A person cannot remember whole informations as brain are not active for prolong time so saving method is easy but I think that you should not save your private information in desktop or mobile phone because they they easily be hacked by another person. If you want to save your private information then just take a paper and write all the information related to your economic system or any other private sector so in this way they cannot be hacked.

By saving your personal information in online form this mean that you are offering hackers to hack your data because these days hacking is very easy. My friend's wallets regularly hacked by hackers because he saved data in mobile or desktop.

[posi]

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?

Don't store your private keys online, the risk of getting hacked is way too big. When it comes security we shouldn't trust the internet, better to store our private keys offline in a physical form. It depends a bit on where you live and how many people have access to your home. The easiest way would be to keep your private key on a piece of paper at home, preferably in a fireproof box where only you have the key. The problem is if you live with other people or have a lot of visitors at home, then I would advice against it. Let's say your parents have their own house with a garden, then the best way would be to write your key on a metal plate and dig a hole in the garden to hide it. Just make sure only you know where your key is hidden.

No solution is 100% perfect, writing the phrase on a metal plate and then burying it in the back garden can also be lost due to natural disasters or earthquakes like what happened in Turkey.

In my opinion, the best way is to split the original phrase into several parts and then store them on different online platforms. If we are hit by a hacker, we cannot get our seed phrases, and we can easily get them back at any time. Or we need multiple copies and give them to the people closest to us to hold onto.

[crypticj]

I think one of the safest ways is to remember them by heart. But there is a risk that you will forget them. I think the optimal decision will be to memorize some words and write other ones down so that even if someone will see them, they won't know what words are lacking.