Trying to get my head around something that I can't find addressed any where

[duffmanhb]

Okay, this involves saving my earned Bitcoins:

So, say, I have 20 coins saved up on my laptop and 10 on my PC. Where exactly is this file that stores my Bitcoins? How do I save them? I read the savings account thread, but it doesn't address how to actually make a savings account. Say if I want to reformat my HDD, how do I save it all? I know I can send it from one PC to another via transfers, but That is the part I don't understand. At first I thought the coins where stored in a permenent wallet that was the Address, but found that is common to change. Where are my bitcoins? What file do I save to hold my coins? How do I load that file to transfer them to my savings?

 I can't find anything ANYWHERE on the subject. I'm sorry it sounds noobish, but I did look all over the place before posting this. I am clearly missing something, possibly obvious, but it is definitely discouraging trying to get in on this hopefully future of currency but not having it laid out in clear terms. It's little things like this that need clarifying.

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[FooDSt4mP]

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

[duffmanhb]

Hey thanks Yrall! That is definitely a step in the right direction. I really wish this forum had a sticky that went over the simple things like this. It seems that there is a lot of already presumed knowledge with little to no direction on these sorts of things.

Could you or some one else point me in the direction of how this wallet is utilized? How exactly do I load this wallet to transfer money to and from it? Again, sounds dumb, I know, but I really can't find a decent step-by-step any where.

[kwukduck]

Did you seriously read the link provided before?

the wallet.dat file contains your private keys (used to verify which bitcoins are yours), the actual bitcoin blocks are all over the network, the wallet.dat file just points out which ones you own...

Quote from the site above:

Locating BitCoin's data directory

The data directory is the location where Bitcoin's data files are stored, including the wallet data file.
[edit] Windows

Go to Start -> Run (or press WinKey+R) and run this:

explorer %APPDATA%\BitCoin

BitCoin's data folder will open. For most users, this is the following locations:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application data\BitCoin (XP)

C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\BitCoin (Vista and 7)

"AppData" and "Application data" are hidden by default.
[edit] Linux

By default BitCoin will put its data here:

~/.bitcoin/

You need to do a "ls -a" to see directories that start with a dot.

If that's not it, you can do a search like this:

find / -name wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null

[edit] Mac

By default BitCoin will put its data here:

~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

[edit] Backup

The only file you need to back up is "wallet.dat". Ensure that BitCoin is closed, copy this file somewhere else, encrypt it, and put it somewhere safe. Ideally, you would put this file in two places: one nearby, and one 100+ miles away.

You can use the backupwallet JSON-RPC command to back up without shutting down Bitcoin.

[PiGames]

I personally keep my savings wallet on a USB drive with another bitCoin client running on it (run it using a dat file).
I do most of my bitcoin stuff on my laptop. So I collect coins from mining on my 'native' install of BitCoin, than when its time to transfer to savings, I send some coins to my 'offline' wallet file on the USB drive.
Once a week or so I load up the USB drive, decrypt it, and sync down the block chain.
Once my balance is up to date I encrypt, eject, and stash it away again.

[theboos]

I personally keep my savings wallet on a USB drive with another bitCoin client running on it (run it using a dat file).
I do most of my bitcoin stuff on my laptop. So I collect coins from mining on my 'native' install of BitCoin, than when its time to transfer to savings, I send some coins to my 'offline' wallet file on the USB drive.
Once a week or so I load up the USB drive, decrypt it, and sync down the block chain.
Once my balance is up to date I encrypt, eject, and stash it away again.

Why is it necessary to occasionally load up the copy of bitcoin on the USB stick? Your client doesn't have to be running to accept transactions.