Have You Made This Seed Phrase Mistake?

[KiaKia]

Ive done more than just misplacing the phrases simply because they are twin words, I remember when I opened a coinomi wallet and while writing the recovery seeds down in a book I mistakenly took my eye off a word.

This happened because I have almost identical words sitting next to one another, for example Two and Too, another reason why it escaped me was a uninvited guest that came knocking while I was writing.

That was the day I learnt to never do anything after someone have altered your attention, sit back and let it take some time before you continue where you left, or just ignore the attention seeking events till you are done writing your seeds down completely.

[vapourminer]

I was struck with horror when I counted them and they were eleven words instead of twelve.

I wondered how I missed a word, a seed.

Days later after fixing my laptop, I accessed the wallet and quickly checked up the seed phrase. The issue was that I misses a word that was consecutively repeated.

ive not done this particular mistake as i number the wordlists on anything important. then i restore to another separate device (dedicated airgaped computer or hardware wallet) that are kept JUST for that kind of testing. if all goes well then i wipe the test/second copy.

[Emjay24]

milk honey truffles anger woman kings seed seed bananas oranges action event

I've not seen a seed format like this before and before now, I almost wouldn't believe seeds request itself in concession, you're lucky your hard drive is still intact, it could've been worse.
Hope you removed and kept your hard drive before taking it for repairs? If you didn't I recommend you create a new wallet in another device and transfer out the funds, then reinstall the OS of the computer. You never can tell what was introduced into the PC at the point of repair.

Have you made a mistake such as this?

Nope, I learned from the onset that you can't call something a backup until verified. Before I store a backup, I always import another instance of the wallet in the same device, place the two windows side by side and compare the addresses, if it matches, then the seeds are correct.

[ruykeri]

When backing up the seed phrase, when it is written on a piece of paper, you should check several times that all the words are correct. And when backing up the seed phrase, you should make several copies and keep them in different places. Because if the seed phrase is written in only one place, if it happens that you forget where you put it, then you will lose access to the BTC in the wallet. And for security, you should never save it as a file on your mobile or laptop.

[bitgolden]

I didn't make this mistake, but I did forget to keep the seed when I first started out. Because I started out way before any of these seed things were common, so my very first ever electrum, I forgot to take it.

I was lucky enough that it didn't had much money in it, even after so many years, it is still like seven dollars in it or something last I checked, probably much lower now that the price went down so lot. But if I had any decent money in it, I would not have any way to get in and that would be terrible.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

I didn't make this mistake, but I did forget to keep the seed when I first started out. Because I started out way before any of these seed things were common, so my very first ever electrum, I forgot to take it.

I was lucky enough that it didn't had much money in it, even after so many years, it is still like seven dollars in it or something last I checked, probably much lower now that the price went down so lot. But if I had any decent money in it, I would not have any way to get in and that would be terrible.

Before latest changes from Electrum wallet software, it was possible to screenshot the wallet, from wallet seed phrase to balance, transaction history but now it is impossible. This change is good in security for users but I only want to say about your post, like did you not fully describe about it well in details.

Like you actually wrote down the seed or made a screenshot but later you threw it away and lost the wallet backup. Because in any version of Electrum wallet, you will have to confirm the wallet seed phrase when creating a wallet. I am sure that it's impossible for most people to remember 12 words without writing them down or making a screenshot.
https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#my-electrum-window-is-black-why-can-t-i-see-anything

Electrum windows can appear black in screenshots and virtual desktops on Windows due to a built-in screenshot protection feature that intends to prevent screen capture tools and Microsoft Recall from recording your wallet activity and secrets.

[alastantiger]

Backing up your seed phrase may just be a normal routine, but a slight oversight could be costly, very costly. I once wrote down my seed phrases and put the paper safely away. Months later, my laptop had an issue and I tried using the seedphrase to recover my wallet but couldn't. All efforts to import the old wallet didn't work, so I decided to take a closer look at the seed phrases I wrote down. I was struck with horror when I counted them and they were eleven words instead of twelve.

Omitting a word from your seed phrase is a very costly mistake and this can make you lose all your bitcoin, I have not made such mistake before because I always review my seed phrase before storing them in a safe place. I will repeatedly read what I wrote down so as not to make mistake, i also take note of every word so I do not spell them wrongly, this is also a mistake people make as they spell the words wrong instead of copying exactly what is written as their seed phrase. There is no way to recover from this hence it is a mistake I will not want to happen to me and as such I will always do everything possible not to experience this and hope that I really do not experience it.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

All efforts to import the old wallet didn't work, so I decided to take a closer look at the seed phrases I wrote down. I was struck with horror when I counted them and they were eleven words instead of twelve.

Two points to note
Firstly you were lucky that the missing word did not appear on the screen in a step of reconfirmation your wallet seed words. This step depends on wallet softwares as some wallet softwares for example Electrum will require you typing all wallet seed words, and do it correctly before moving to a next step. Other wallets can only show you some random words, and you have to type these random seed words accurately. I guess it was your case, so you were lucky when creating the wallet but unlucky later when recovered your wallet.

Secondly, you made big mistake: don't test your wallet backup to recover that wallet before funding it and using it.

Omitting a word from your seed phrase is a very costly mistake and this can make you lose all your bitcoin, I have not made such mistake before because I always review my seed phrase before storing them in a safe place.

Reviewing is only about looking at these words, counting them like whether there are 12 words, but also using these words for recovering that wallet.
If the testing recovery is well, you already do everything accurately.

Loss due to complexity / not being able to restore from backup

Test Your Backup
Regardless of which backup scheme you choose, if you don't actually do a test run of restoring a wallet from it, you can't be confident that it will work when you actually need it.

[Hatchy]

I will repeatedly read what I wrote down so as not to make mistake, i also take note of every word so I do not spell them wrongly, this is also a mistake people make as they spell the words wrong instead of copying exactly what is written as their seed phrase. There is no way to recover from this hence it is a mistake I will not want to happen to me and as such I will always do everything possible not to experience this and hope that I really do not experience it.

Such mistakes can be avoided and that's why when writing down your seedphrase you should do it with due diligence. Or better still, as someone smart, have more than one back up of your seedphrase written down and stored in different locations. In the case of op, it wouldn't even have been a problem if he did have different backups written down. He simply would have gone straight to find the second backup and use it to access his funds. We all know that the worst part in our crypto journey is losing access to your funds and no one wants that. That's why you have to do anything that concerns your keys without making mistakes. Even if there are few ways to recovering your seedphrase, the chances are normally slim, so it's better to be careful..