Cold Storage: Laptop?

[H122G]

I've done some research on what USB to get for Cold Storage, but am actually finding it difficult to find the right kind of laptop.. Oh, a cheap one is no problem, even first hand (which is safest), it's just that nobody seems to sell them without Wi-Fi any more!

Imagine asking Asus or Compaq (he he) for a laptop without a modem in, yea, imagine!

So, it seems that some tinkering will be required?


I really wanted something small and portable, especially for confirming transaction face-to-face, something like a Mini Laptop from Asus or Acer e.g.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/Acer-Aspire-One-Netbook_Laptop_review
http://www.tlbhd.com/asus-1018p-eee-pc-review-white-version-what-a-mini-laptop-4157/


But even if they had a physical "off" switch, could I rely on that?


Has anybody got a solution to this, I think it's overlooked, too much focus on the USB side of things from what I've found.


Thanks in advance.

[roslinpl]

I've done some research on what USB to get for Cold Storage, but am actually finding it difficult to find the right kind of laptop.. Oh, a cheap one is no problem, even first hand (which is safest), it's just that nobody seems to sell them without Wi-Fi any more!

Imagine asking Asus or Compaq (he he) for a laptop without a modem in, yea, imagine!

So, it seems that some tinkering will be required?


I really wanted something small and portable, especially for confirming transaction face-to-face, something like a Mini Laptop from Asus or Acer e.g.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/Acer-Aspire-One-Netbook_Laptop_review
http://www.tlbhd.com/asus-1018p-eee-pc-review-white-version-what-a-mini-laptop-4157/


But even if they had a physical "off" switch, could I rely on that?


Has anybody got a solution to this, I think it's overlooked, too much focus on the USB side of things from what I've found.


Thanks in advance.

do you think laptop is good device for cold storage?? I think it is not.

[dreamspark]

Further to the fact that for long term cold storage a physical medium is likely better it is very trivial to remove the laptops wifi card and can easily be put back in if it is no longer needed for cold storage.

[roslinpl]

Further to the fact that for long term cold storage a physical medium is likely better it is very trivial to remove the laptops wifi card and can easily be put back in if it is no longer needed for cold storage.

And what you will do if your HDD fails in your laptop? Which is happening every day to many users?

[dreamspark]

Further to the fact that for long term cold storage a physical medium is likely better it is very trivial to remove the laptops wifi card and can easily be put back in if it is no longer needed for cold storage.

And what you will do if your HDD fails in your laptop? Which is happening every day to many users?

Have back ups...

[roslinpl]

Further to the fact that for long term cold storage a physical medium is likely better it is very trivial to remove the laptops wifi card and can easily be put back in if it is no longer needed for cold storage.

And what you will do if your HDD fails in your laptop? Which is happening every day to many users?

Have back ups...

So backups you can keep without your laptop

And IMO it would be safer to buy 10 usb memory sticks and backup wallets than put them on an laptop.

[Light]

So backups you can keep without your laptop

And IMO it would be safer to buy 10 usb memory sticks and backup wallets than put them on an laptop.

Yes, but without an actual permanent offline solution you can't really consider it to be cold storage anymore. The whole thing works on the premise of signing the transaction offline and then transferring the transaction to an online computer to broadcast. By doing so you avoid connecting to the internet with your wallet and hence significantly reduce the probability of your coins being stolen. Don't get me wrong - USBs are fine for storing an encrypted version of your wallet however it doesn't constitute cold storage.

[dreamspark]

Further to the fact that for long term cold storage a physical medium is likely better it is very trivial to remove the laptops wifi card and can easily be put back in if it is no longer needed for cold storage.

And what you will do if your HDD fails in your laptop? Which is happening every day to many users?

Have back ups...

So backups you can keep without your laptop

And IMO it would be safer to buy 10 usb memory sticks and backup wallets than put them on an laptop.

Yes but how are you going to create them? Use an online computer ? Defeats the whole point of cold storage...

Anyways, OP clearly doesnt really want cold storage as he talks about wanting it to be small and portable to take places and to confirm transactions face to face.

Maybe OP can clarify what they want?

[roslinpl]

So backups you can keep without your laptop

And IMO it would be safer to buy 10 usb memory sticks and backup wallets than put them on an laptop.

Yes, but without an actual permanent offline solution you can't really consider it to be cold storage anymore. The whole thing works on the premise of signing the transaction offline and then transferring the transaction to an online computer to broadcast. By doing so you avoid connecting to the internet with your wallet and hence significantly reduce the probability of your coins being stolen. Don't get me wrong - USBs are fine for storing an encrypted version of your wallet however it doesn't constitute cold storage.

I understand ... but you can always sign a transaction offline and later from same offline device make an USB backups?
And it will be a cold storage? or not?

[dreamspark]

So backups you can keep without your laptop

And IMO it would be safer to buy 10 usb memory sticks and backup wallets than put them on an laptop.

Yes, but without an actual permanent offline solution you can't really consider it to be cold storage anymore. The whole thing works on the premise of signing the transaction offline and then transferring the transaction to an online computer to broadcast. By doing so you avoid connecting to the internet with your wallet and hence significantly reduce the probability of your coins being stolen. Don't get me wrong - USBs are fine for storing an encrypted version of your wallet however it doesn't constitute cold storage.

I understand ... but you can always sign a transaction offline and later from same offline device make an USB backups?
And it will be a cold storage? or not?

Which you need a laptop or similar to do, hence you have no point really. Your first post said "You wouldnt consider a laptop a good cold storage method", yet to create cold storage you generally need a laptop that is offline.

[escrow.ms]

Buy a pi and make a cheap cold storage with armory or generate a key offline and make paperwallets.

[roslinpl]

Buy a pi and make a cheap cold storage with armory or generate a key offline and make paperwallets.

Pi is overpriced IMO... but it is good device indeed.

[dreamspark]

Buy a pi and make a cheap cold storage with armory or generate a key offline and make paperwallets.

Pi is overpriced IMO... but it is good device indeed.

$40 

Exactly what is overpriced about that lol ?

[roslinpl]

Buy a pi and make a cheap cold storage with armory or generate a key offline and make paperwallets.

Pi is overpriced IMO... but it is good device indeed.

$40  

Exactly what is overpriced about that lol ?

is it $40 now???

Iw was more expensive when I was looking at it

Now it is only $40??? Good price not overpriced sorry

Ok ... to download Pi is 30 euros ... but to buy a device is 124 euro - still overpriced

[dreamspark]

Buy a pi and make a cheap cold storage with armory or generate a key offline and make paperwallets.

Pi is overpriced IMO... but it is good device indeed.

$40  

Exactly what is overpriced about that lol ?

is it $40 now???

Iw was more expensive when I was looking at it

Now it is only $40??? Good price not overpriced sorry

Ok ... to download Pi is 30 euros ... but to buy a device is 124 euro - still overpriced

I'm not sure you have any idea what your talking about, there is no polish amazon but the first result on German amazon is this

http://www.amazon.de/Raspberry-Pi-RBCA000-Mainboard-1176JZF-S/dp/B008PT4GGC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397045287&sr=8-1&keywords=raspberry+pi

Where are you looking...

[Light]

Buy a pi and make a cheap cold storage with armory or generate a key offline and make paperwallets.

This would really be the most cost effective solution.

I understand ... but you can always sign a transaction offline and later from same offline device make an USB backups?
And it will be a cold storage? or not?

Technically speaking you could boot a liveCD version of your favourite Linus distro on the same computer and make sure you have you internet disconnected and sign it there, making sure that the files are on your USB at all times, but I'm not too sure whether it would exactly constitute cold storage. Buying a Pi is really the best way if you want to do it cheaply yet somewhat properly.

[H122G]

Oh, this thread's run away with itself. Thank you all for your replies.

I meant that in order to access my data, from a USB stick (of which I intent to keep the wallet and OS on), I would need a visual interface to do so i.e. a laptop, one which does not connect to the internet.

So I rather fancied one of those mini-laptops, but was not sure about removing the modem, what with everything being SoC these days.


Thanks again.

[dreamspark]

Oh, this thread's run away with itself. Thank you all for your replies.

I meant that in order to access my data, from a USB stick (of which I intent to keep the wallet and OS on), I would need a visual interface to do so i.e. a laptop, one which does not connect to the internet.

So I rather fancied one of those mini-laptops, but was not sure about removing the modem, what with everything being SoC these days.


Thanks again.

In that case then my original point still stands and it is trivial to remove the wifi card.

You mentioned liking the look of the aspire one...

Here's how simple it is to remove the wifi card

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Acer+Aspire+One+ZG5+Internal+Wireless+Card+Replacement/3778

[H122G]

Just the ticket.