Which offline wallet do you use, and why?

[cp1]

I got another question tho. I saw on a guide on how to import private keys in electrum, but when I tried to do it, electrum said: Warning! imported keys are not recoverable from a seed. If you ever need to restore your wallet from its seed, these keys will be lost. Are you sure you understand what you are doing?

I don't understand much about import private keys and what that warning message is meaning. A bit of explain would be highly appriciated.

Also, is it ok to have the portable verision of electrum on an external harddrive, instead of the PC? And with a few copies of the wallet.data of course.

The seed won't be able to generate your random private key, so you'll need to keep a backup of the seed and also of that private key you want to import.  It's better if you just send (sweep) the BTC associated with that private key to an address in your electrum wallet, rather than importing the private key itself.  That way it's backed up by the seed.

[graves]

is blockchain is offline?

[Wusolini]

is blockchain is offline?

can be, but then it became out of date and have to synchronize when you connect to the internet 

[Salmon1989]

I need a good and reliable offline wallet. I've heard and read on electrum and bitcoin core, the one that is the original one if I am not wrong. I also read good things about armory. But which one to use, and why?

I need something that is simple to use but with good security, and something that I don't need to update the software each and every day.

Both Electrum and Armory are good.
Electrum is more simple to use, while Armory offers better security.
You don't need to worry about software update much, as backward compatibility is taken very seriously in bitcoin software.

[Salmon1989]

is blockchain is offline?

If you are talking about the blockchain.info wallet, then it is not.
You could create a paper wallet with it, but still it shouldn't be considered an offline wallet as you must be connecting to the site to create the address.

[goldsun]

I got another question tho. I saw on a guide on how to import private keys in electrum, but when I tried to do it, electrum said: Warning! imported keys are not recoverable from a seed. If you ever need to restore your wallet from its seed, these keys will be lost. Are you sure you understand what you are doing?

I don't understand much about import private keys and what that warning message is meaning. A bit of explain would be highly appriciated.

Also, is it ok to have the portable verision of electrum on an external harddrive, instead of the PC? And with a few copies of the wallet.data of course.

The seed won't be able to generate your random private key, so you'll need to keep a backup of the seed and also of that private key you want to import.  It's better if you just send (sweep) the BTC associated with that private key to an address in your electrum wallet, rather than importing the private key itself.  That way it's backed up by the seed.

Thanks a lot of explaining this to me man!

[goldsun]

I need a good and reliable offline wallet. I've heard and read on electrum and bitcoin core, the one that is the original one if I am not wrong. I also read good things about armory. But which one to use, and why?

I need something that is simple to use but with good security, and something that I don't need to update the software each and every day.

Both Electrum and Armory are good.
Electrum is more simple to use, while Armory offers better security.
You don't need to worry about software update much, as backward compatibility is taken very seriously in bitcoin software.

Sounds good. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.

Is there many people here who use two wallets? Just in case something happens to one?

[etihstaf]

I'm considering using an Electrum wallet. Any risks or downsides I should take into consideration with this particular wallet?

[goldsun]

When transfering BTC to my electrum wallet, can I shut down the computer or does it have to run with the electrum software on?

After I transferd some BTC to my electrum wallet, do I have to save and make a new copy of my wallet, each time? Or will the file automatically be updated with all the btc I get? I mean if I have a few backup files on some different places, do I need to touch them or are they automatically updating them self?

[cp1]

I'm considering using an Electrum wallet. Any risks or downsides I should take into consideration with this particular wallet?

When transfering BTC to my electrum wallet, can I shut down the computer or does it have to run with the electrum software on?

After I transferd some BTC to my electrum wallet, do I have to save and make a new copy of my wallet, each time? Or will the file automatically be updated with all the btc I get? I mean if I have a few backup files on some different places, do I need to touch them or are they automatically updating them self?

The risk lies in the fact that you're trusting the electrum servers to not lie to you about your balance.  They can't steal any BTC, but you get your balance information from them, that's why you don't have to download the blockchain.

The only backup you need to do is write down your seed when creating the wallet.

[MikeCorleone]

Electrum due to its simplicity and armory too

[goldsun]

I'm considering using an Electrum wallet. Any risks or downsides I should take into consideration with this particular wallet?

When transfering BTC to my electrum wallet, can I shut down the computer or does it have to run with the electrum software on?

After I transferd some BTC to my electrum wallet, do I have to save and make a new copy of my wallet, each time? Or will the file automatically be updated with all the btc I get? I mean if I have a few backup files on some different places, do I need to touch them or are they automatically updating them self?

The risk lies in the fact that you're trusting the electrum servers to not lie to you about your balance.  They can't steal any BTC, but you get your balance information from them, that's why you don't have to download the blockchain.

The only backup you need to do is write down your seed when creating the wallet.

Yeah I did write down the seed. But I was just thinking of backing up my wallet file to a few places. So I can shut down the computer and electrum and the transactions are working until they are verified and completed?

[cp1]

All transactions happen on the blockchain, not on your computer.  So you don't need to do anything or have anything on to receive coins.

[aronnov]

I prefer to use an online wallet like blockchain.info, safer, more familiar, and quickly receive and send bitcoin, I hope you enjoy the facilities provided by blockchain.info, hopefully ... 

[Mobius7]

I prefer to use an online wallet like blockchain.info, safer, more familiar, and quickly receive and send bitcoin, I hope you enjoy the facilities provided by blockchain.info, hopefully ... 

I don't think it is right to call blockchain.info wallet safer, but it is definitely a very user-friendly wallet for new bitcoiners and for handling a small amount of bitcoin. It is better to use an offline wallet to keep the majority of your bitcoin safe.

[bvsale]

you can use bitcoin QT its good, its easy to use and you have the security.

[goldsun]

All transactions happen on the blockchain, not on your computer.  So you don't need to do anything or have anything on to receive coins.

Yeah you are right. Not sure why I thought I had to have my computer on while doing transactions in electrum. Its strange that electrum download was smooth, but for bitcoincore it had to download the whole blockchain. Why was it like that?

Many questions, I know, but I am trying to learn. Thanks!

[cp1]

All transactions happen on the blockchain, not on your computer.  So you don't need to do anything or have anything on to receive coins.

Yeah you are right. Not sure why I thought I had to have my computer on while doing transactions in electrum. Its strange that electrum download was smooth, but for bitcoincore it had to download the whole blockchain. Why was it like that?

Many questions, I know, but I am trying to learn. Thanks!

The blockchain is kept on electrum's servers.  All your electrum client does is contact the electrum servers and get your balance.  It's the same as typing your address into blockchain.info, it'll tell you your balance without you having to download the blockchain.  The bitcoin core software doesn't contact anyone, it does everything on your computer, so you need to have the blockchain.

[kewmccool]

Dogecoin desktop wallet. Small size for my small drive space.

[Shogen]

All transactions happen on the blockchain, not on your computer.  So you don't need to do anything or have anything on to receive coins.

Yeah you are right. Not sure why I thought I had to have my computer on while doing transactions in electrum. Its strange that electrum download was smooth, but for bitcoincore it had to download the whole blockchain. Why was it like that?

Many questions, I know, but I am trying to learn. Thanks!

The blockchain is kept on electrum's servers.  All your electrum client does is contact the electrum servers and get your balance.  It's the same as typing your address into blockchain.info, it'll tell you your balance without you having to download the blockchain.  The bitcoin core software doesn't contact anyone, it does everything on your computer, so you need to have the blockchain.

Or in order words, when you use Electrum, you need to trust the Electrum server isn't giving you some incomplete transcations data. But with Bitcoin core, you don't need to.