Backup question

[Quirlich]

Hello at all,
I have a question about the backup of my wallet.
Should I backup all files in the bitcoin folder or is it only necessary to backup the wallet.dat?
Thanks for your answers
Cheers,
Quirlich

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[Meni Rosenfeld]

You only need to backup wallet.dat, it's the only file with critical information.

Though, backing up the entire directory can help you get up to speed faster after a crash by removing the need to download the blockchain.

[Kazimir]

Also, if your wallet is not encrypted already (it should be!) then make sure to store it in some encrypted format, such as a truecrypt drive or a password-protected rar/7zip archive etc. So that anyone who might get access to your backup cannot steal your coins

[RodeoX]

It is also helpful to have more than one backup. I like one on a USB stick and an encrypted copy stored hidden online.
Personally I think a site like dropbox is not secure enough. There are a million creative solutions however. For example you could use stegonography to conceal your wallet in a photo and hide it in plain sight.

[Quirlich]

Thanks for your information
I wanted to know this because my internet connection isn't really fast, so uploading more than 2GB to my FTP server would take a while.
Of course I'll encrypt my wallet.dat with truecrypt.
@RodeoX the idea with stegonography sound very interesting. Can you explain more? How it works? How can I do it?

[RodeoX]

Thanks for your information
I wanted to know this because my internet connection isn't really fast, so uploading more than 2GB to my FTP server would take a while.
Of course I'll encrypt my wallet.dat with truecrypt.
@RodeoX the idea with stegonography sound very interesting. Can you explain more? How it works? How can I do it?

Sure.
"Steggo" includes things like watermarks or other ways of hiding one file in another. Say I take your picture and the picture in 765kb in size. I also have some submarine plans that I need to send back to my handlers, that file is 121kb. By embedding the sub plans using steggo software i produce a picture of you that is about 877kb. It looks just like the picture I took but contains the additional information.
When I email back to the U.S. I attach the picture. Anyone reading my mail will just see a typical vacation email. But for anyone with the right key both pictures can be viewed.

The weakness in this is that the file is suspiciously long. You would not want to use a small picture and mix it with a large file or it may be noticeable. Here is the wiki on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography

Other options include mixing techniques. Here is one. take your wallet.dat and encrypt it. Now it's wallet.dat.pgp. Rename the file property_zoning_permit.xlz. What is an .xlz file? I duno?? But it looks boring to me.