Wallet questions / security / mobility

[TheShoura]

Okay so I just got into this whole bitcoin scene... I got a couple Q's after my first few days

1: I notice all BTC so far is stored either in balance on my pool miner site (deepbit.net) or on my PC client.
Q: Lets say my computer HDD crashes/dies or my PC is stolen. Is this like losing my wallet with cash in it? Or can I retrieve those BTC?

2: Is there some kind of form of redundancy in the event there's a problem with my client for protecting my BTC?

3:I received two payments (one a donation, one a payment from deepbit.net)... both have a number/unconfirmed. The numbers are changing. I haven't yet found in the WiKi what is happening here.

4: if I copy/move the directory of bitcoin to another PC, is all info transferred?

Thank you for your time to answer my questions!

[1714923349]

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[1714923349]

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[1714923349]

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[1714923349]

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[1714923349]

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[1714923349]

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[Ricochet]

I'll reply, as I just had a similarly frightening situation occur (the laptop with most of my funds died completely).  I had to do some juggling of wallet files to ensure I still had all my funds.

If you have a backup of your wallet.dat file that's fewer than 100 transactions old, your money is safe.  You might need to use the "-rescan" option when launching the Bitcoin GUI, but in the end you'll be okay.  Of course, it's your job to make sure you have this backup in the first place.  With Bitcoin, you are your own bank, and you are in charge of ensuring that your wallet.dat file is safe and unique.

"Unconfirmed" will appear when there are fewer than 6 confirmations, which should theoretically take about 1 hour (one block per 10 minutes).  It's generally accepted that after 6 confirmations, there's no chance of double-spending.  Many websites will use even a single confirmation (~10 minutes).