Why can't regular flash drives store Bitcoin

[Crypt jnr]

In most part of Africa hardware wallets are not only difficult but expensive to get apart form using custodian wallets like trust wallet and metamask is there an alternative software that can help hodl Bitcoin in a flash drive. or otherwise

[OgNasty]

In most part of Africa hardware wallets are not only difficult but expensive to get apart form using custodian wallets like trust wallet and metamask is there an alternative software that can help hodl Bitcoin in a flash drive. or otherwise

All you need is a text file containing your private key and you can store it on any medium.  Some people engrave their private keys onto metal slabs and hide them as a way to have an offline and fireproof solution.  Other people write down their private keys on pieces of paper and secure them underneath door hinges or other hiding spots in their house.  It all depends on your risk tolerance and what you're protecting from.  Anywhere you can store text (flash drive, paper, metal, etc.) would all work fine.  There is no need to have any sort of wallet so long as you have your private key.  That string of characters is all you need.

[BitMaxz]

You can store your Bitcoin on a flash drive but it depends on you how you protect your wallet.
There is no problem with storing BTC in a flash drive just make sure that you know how to protect your wallets from any attacks.

Anyway, there is a known OS to secure and protect your BTC wallet that you can install into your USB flash drive. Meaning you will need to make a bootable flash drive with Tails OS then you can install your Bitcoin wallet. There is a guide here that you can follow check this "How to Install Tails OS on USB flash drive for Wallet Purpose"

[mk4]

You can do this, but you're going to need to have to ample knowledge on how to setup an air-gapped device using a secure and privacy OS(like tails, as mentioned above).

If you think you have the knowledge, then go ahead. Just take note that setting one up in a secure manner is definitely not for everyone — hence why hardware wallets are made as to make the process far easier for the masses.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

In most part of Africa hardware wallets are not only difficult but expensive to get apart form using custodian wallets like trust wallet and metamask is there an alternative software that can help hodl Bitcoin in a flash drive. or otherwise

Trust wallet is a non-custodian wallet and not a custodian wallet per say, and other good examples of non-custodian wallets include Electrum, Exodus, Ledger Nano X, and Trezor One, while the first two are software wallets and last two hardware wallets. And the reason why regular flash drives can't be used to store Bitcoin is simply because it wasn't designed to do that, of which if you intend to store your BTC on a hardware wallet such as "Ledger Nano X, and Trezor One", all you need to do is to just buy from it's official website, and not buying from a third party site, as it's likely to be a scam, where you could lose your fund.

[Upgrade00]

Trust wallet is a non-custodian wallet and not a custodian wallet per say,

They claim to be non custodian, but there is no way we can actually verify whether they are or not since they are closed source. You only have to take them by their word which goes against the principle of verifying and not trusting.

You can only comfortably comment on a wallet or  software, if it is fully open source and you have verified its codes.

[Z390]

Recovery seeds are words, you can write them down in a book, or use a sharp object to carve the words on a silver steel, there is also an OS that you can run on the USB stick and keep your wallet on the OS, I've also seen friends using Linux OS on USB stick to keep their recovery seed and private keys.

I prefer writing the seeds down somewhere safe, I am a very private person and I use my room alone so there is no one coming into my room, also its better to keep quiet about your wallet because there is no need for someone coming into your room to search for something unless you are the one responsible for their curiosity.

[tabas]

I think that you get the idea from the hardware wallets are like USB drives. Actually, you don't think a USB drive for you to store your bitcoin, what you need are the private keys or the seeds that you need to save in text form and that's it, you're all good.
So, you can actually store your text file into a USB/flash drive but I don't recommend that as files are likely not safe if you'll store it into that.
Since you've got access to a PC, just install Electrum and keep the seeds for that wallet of yours and never show it to anyone and store your written seeds on a very safe place where you can only access it or you're the only one that knows that it's your seeds.

[mendace]

In most part of Africa hardware wallets are not only difficult but expensive to get apart form using custodian wallets like trust wallet and metamask is there an alternative software that can help hodl Bitcoin in a flash drive. or otherwise

Yes, of course you can use a simple USB stick to install the Linux distribution of Tails which remains the safest to use if you have a PC available, everything stays on the stick and leaves no trace of its use on the PC.  Otherwise you can take a look at this thread.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5450647.msg62169741#msg62169741

[suzanne5223]

A regular flash drive is not advisable to store Bitcoin because they mostly work for some years before it won't work again and to prevent the lost ones Bitcoin holding it is better not to use a flash drive.
I wonder why you said getting a hardware wallet is expensive for most parts of Africa when the price of Ledger Nano S it around $50-60 and I don't consider that to be expensive if you care about the security of your crypto.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Genuinely surprised by how even some established members of bitcointalk still suggest backing up wallets in digital format, completely ignoring the enormous mountain of incidents with lost coins due to the corresponded security risks of backing up likewise.

We now have seed phrases. Best option in terms of human readability, and if written down in paper eliminates every such concern.

[stompix]

Genuinely surprised by how even some established members of bitcointalk still suggest backing up wallets in digital format, completely ignoring the enormous mountain of incidents with lost coins due to the corresponded security risks of backing up likewise.

Well, it's OP who wanted a cheap portable wallet made out of a flash drive so most went along with his scenario. The utility of having an entire working wallet on a flash drive and not just the encrypted seeds you can extract when in need and import into the laptop or computer you would anyhow need to actually use the coins kind of fails to impress me.

But still, I assume most looked at it from the point of having around easy access to spendable coins, not about securing life savings, if the second I would 100% agree with you.

[Z-tight]

In most part of Africa hardware wallets are not only difficult but expensive to get apart form using custodian wallets like trust wallet and metamask is there an alternative software that can help hodl Bitcoin in a flash drive. or otherwise

You can use Electrum wallet instead of custodial ones, it is a recommended BTC wallet that is open source and safe to use, just download Electrum and verify it to be sure everything is safe and secure.

Electrum will give you your seed phrase as you set it up, make sure you write it down and have more than one backup in two different locations. If you do everything correctly in a safe enviroment, you don't need a flash drive anymore, you can even delete the software from your device as long as you have your seed phrase backup and you repeat this process again to import your funds with your seed phrase whenever you want to spend, but only do this if you are holding a large amount of BTC and for a very long time. But if you want to be viewing your wallet balance regularly and for the best security, then you have to set up Electrum in an air-gapped device and use another one for watching-only, but this process may be difficult for a newbie.

[BlackHatCoiner]

Well, it's OP who wanted a cheap portable wallet made out of a flash drive so most went along with his scenario.

He is just a newbie, who as far as I can tell isn't very much competent around crypto. Instead of guiding him best, and suggesting him the practices experts repeatedly put forward, we have OgNasty suggesting to store private key in text file. OP probably doesn't even know why a hardware wallet is considered secure, but established, decade-old user merely recommended him to back it up on a USB, and equate that with writing down on paper. Ridiculous.

[smartbitcoininvestor]

If you're considering storing your Bitcoin on a flash drive then I recommend acquiring a cold storage wallet to save your keys and keep your seeds safe.

[serjent05]

In most part of Africa hardware wallets are not only difficult but expensive to get apart form using custodian wallets like trust wallet and metamask is there an alternative software that can help hodl Bitcoin in a flash drive. or otherwise

Notepad, Words, anything that enable you to write down your passphrase or private key and save it to a flash drive but do take note that it is not as safe as hardware wallets so you need to exercise extra precaution when saving your data in flash drive.

Well, it's OP who wanted a cheap portable wallet made out of a flash drive so most went along with his scenario.

He is just a newbie, who as far as I can tell isn't very much competent around crypto. Instead of guiding him best, and suggesting him the practices experts repeatedly put forward, we have OgNasty suggesting to store private key in text file. OP probably doesn't even know why a hardware wallet is considered secure, but established, decade-old user merely recommended him to back it up on a USB, and equate that with writing down on paper. Ridiculous.

True so we should remind him that such action as keeping the private key to the flash drive isn't as secure as keeping the BTC in hardware wallets.   I think we can give him precautionary measures if ever he can't afford hardware wallets and chose to use a flash disk as an alternative.

This article gives a good alternative in storing BTC privatekey if ever the person don't have hardware wallet yet.

3. Offline Flash drive
If you don’t have a hardware wallet, you can temporarily keep your private keys or seed in an offline flash drive or HDD. But these options are only safe as long as they aren’t in the hands of an attacker. One can also use offline drives that encrypt the data stored on them. This way you can add one more security layer for accessing your coins.

4. Cryptosteel
Another effective way to store your private keys is to record them over a Cryptosteel. Cryptosteel is stainless steel tool that allows you to store up to 96 characters worth of confidential information. And in this case, this confidential information can also be your private key which is always less than 96 characters. This is a very secure way to handle your private keys because Cryptosteel is fire and waterproof. But this level of security doesn’t come free. Cryptosteel costs about $100.

Though the article stated saving your private key in cryptoart, I will not suggest to use any online application in storing your privatekey for security reason.

[Lanatsa]

In most part of Africa hardware wallets are not only difficult but expensive to get apart form using custodian wallets like trust wallet and metamask is there an alternative software that can help hodl Bitcoin in a flash drive. or otherwise

You dont need to actually and if you do find that Hardware wallets like Trezor and the rest then you could still able to hold up your wallet but not on the same where these HW does.
Honestly, after all the years i've been around on this space which i didnt able to buy one even if im capable on doing so. I do make out some storage on a non-custodial wallet
like Electrum since we are talking on Bitcoin on here and some keys on Trustwallet or Myetherwallet which i do make some list on a notepad and saving up those keys
but of course you should really be that mindful on where you do put up those usb sticks or flash drive because on the time that
it would be exposed to other people and plugged it in, then say goodbye into your funds.

We could be able to differentiate on what are the advantage on having that HW though but since you cant really be able to afford then having that USB storage of keys
would be that sufficient but if you do have the chance on buying one then its better to do so.

[Yaunfitda]

In most part of Africa hardware wallets are not only difficult but expensive to get apart form using custodian wallets like trust wallet and metamask is there an alternative software that can help hodl Bitcoin in a flash drive. or otherwise

Well you can created a bootable OS on a flash drives, like Linux or Windows.

You can verify the IOS version of trust wallet here: https://github.com/TrustWallet/trust-wallet-ios. But as far as I know it's not fully open source so just be careful on using it.

And we all know that storing private keys in plaint text specially in flash drives is not a save security practices in my opinion.

[Myleschetty]

The main reason why regular flash drives cannot store bitcoins is that flash drives do not have built-in security measures that make them vulnerable to hacking, data breaches, and limited lifetimes that can easily lead to data corruption or loss.
Hardware wallets, on the other hand, have built-in security that protects the digital assets stored in them safely and securely.

[The Cryptovator]

To use a flash drive, it's crucial to ensure the safety of your seed phrase and private keys. When making online transactions using a flash drive, it's equivalent to using a non-custodial wallet software, but it's not as secure as hardware wallets. However, if you're experienced in signing offline transactions and broadcasting them, using a flash drive is acceptable. The key lies in how you secure your device.