Which Offline Wallet

[eurekamazda]

Hi, I'm a bit of a newb with BTC although I've done a bit of research.

I've decided to use Kraken as the exchange (first on google rank!) and so I guess they must have some credibility.

The bigger question is that of an offline wallet?

According to: https://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet, there are 6 to choose from:

Bitcoin Core, Armory, Electrum, mSIGNA, MultiBit, Green Address - all of which have a weakness of some sort.

(My general approach for BTC is to just buy a few and hold them.  If BTC goes global, I'll be happy, if not, and BTC becomes obsolete, no big loss.)

So, let's suppose I chose Electrum, which seems to be one of the easier ones to use.

If I download the wallet to a computer, can I then move the BTCs to an external HDD?  Or, do I have to store them only on the computer?  It's just that I have a netbook I don't use much with Windows 7 starter and thought I could use that.  The question is, what happens if the HDD on the netbook fails, do I lose the BTCs?

I'm also a bit unclear about BTC addresses?  When I buy the the BTCs on Kraken, for example, I have to give an address from my offline wallet?  How is the address generated?

Thanks in advance.

[jjacob]

(My general approach for BTC is to just buy a few and hold them.  If BTC goes global, I'll be happy, if not, and BTC becomes obsolete, no big loss.)

So, let's suppose I chose Electrum, which seems to be one of the easier ones to use.

If I download the wallet to a computer, can I then move the BTCs to an external HDD?  Or, do I have to store them only on the computer?  It's just that I have a netbook I don't use much with Windows 7 starter and thought I could use that.  The question is, what happens if the HDD on the netbook fails, do I lose the BTCs?

Electrum is a great choice. Not only is it easy to use, it is a deterministic wallet.
A seed is initially generated and you can restore your wallet from that. You do not have to worry about your HDD failing.

[Slaxt]

(My general approach for BTC is to just buy a few and hold them.  If BTC goes global, I'll be happy, if not, and BTC becomes obsolete, no big loss.)

So, let's suppose I chose Electrum, which seems to be one of the easier ones to use.

If I download the wallet to a computer, can I then move the BTCs to an external HDD?  Or, do I have to store them only on the computer?  It's just that I have a netbook I don't use much with Windows 7 starter and thought I could use that.  The question is, what happens if the HDD on the netbook fails, do I lose the BTCs?

Electrum is a great choice. Not only is it easy to use, it is a deterministic wallet.
A seed is initially generated and you can restore your wallet from that. You do not have to worry about your HDD failing.

Is electrum an offline wallet though because i never thought it was, trezor or ledger is the top 2 wallets i would recommend  but for what you want i would lean towards the ledger wallet, take a look

Welcome and good luck

[notlist3d]

(My general approach for BTC is to just buy a few and hold them.  If BTC goes global, I'll be happy, if not, and BTC becomes obsolete, no big loss.)

So, let's suppose I chose Electrum, which seems to be one of the easier ones to use.

If I download the wallet to a computer, can I then move the BTCs to an external HDD?  Or, do I have to store them only on the computer?  It's just that I have a netbook I don't use much with Windows 7 starter and thought I could use that.  The question is, what happens if the HDD on the netbook fails, do I lose the BTCs?

Electrum is a great choice. Not only is it easy to use, it is a deterministic wallet.
A seed is initially generated and you can restore your wallet from that. You do not have to worry about your HDD failing.

Is electrum an offline wallet though because i never thought it was, trezor or ledger is the top 2 wallets i would recommend  but for what you want i would lean towards the ledger wallet, take a look

Welcome and good luck

I would agree with trezor and ledger being popular for your cold storage. 

Just be careful where you keep the recovery words.

[Slaxt]

(My general approach for BTC is to just buy a few and hold them.  If BTC goes global, I'll be happy, if not, and BTC becomes obsolete, no big loss.)

So, let's suppose I chose Electrum, which seems to be one of the easier ones to use.

If I download the wallet to a computer, can I then move the BTCs to an external HDD?  Or, do I have to store them only on the computer?  It's just that I have a netbook I don't use much with Windows 7 starter and thought I could use that.  The question is, what happens if the HDD on the netbook fails, do I lose the BTCs?

Electrum is a great choice. Not only is it easy to use, it is a deterministic wallet.
A seed is initially generated and you can restore your wallet from that. You do not have to worry about your HDD failing.

Is electrum an offline wallet though because i never thought it was, trezor or ledger is the top 2 wallets i would recommend  but for what you want i would lean towards the ledger wallet, take a look

Welcome and good luck

I would agree with trezor and ledger being popular for your cold storage. 

Just be careful where you keep the recovery words.

I am terrible with mine i send them to emails and certain accounts that i really should not, where would you recommend keeping them which is safe enough for the average user?

I don't have many so i am kind of lax but i would prefer better practices for obvious reasons maybe one day i will have enough to be worth stealing at the moment i don't though lol 

[yeponlyone]

(My general approach for BTC is to just buy a few and hold them.  If BTC goes global, I'll be happy, if not, and BTC becomes obsolete, no big loss.)

So, let's suppose I chose Electrum, which seems to be one of the easier ones to use.

If I download the wallet to a computer, can I then move the BTCs to an external HDD?  Or, do I have to store them only on the computer?  It's just that I have a netbook I don't use much with Windows 7 starter and thought I could use that.  The question is, what happens if the HDD on the netbook fails, do I lose the BTCs?

Electrum is a great choice. Not only is it easy to use, it is a deterministic wallet.
A seed is initially generated and you can restore your wallet from that. You do not have to worry about your HDD failing.

Is electrum an offline wallet though because i never thought it was, trezor or ledger is the top 2 wallets i would recommend  but for what you want i would lean towards the ledger wallet, take a look

Welcome and good luck

I would agree with trezor and ledger being popular for your cold storage. 

Just be careful where you keep the recovery words.

I am terrible with mine i send them to emails and certain accounts that i really should not, where would you recommend keeping them which is safe enough for the average user?

I don't have many so i am kind of lax but i would prefer better practices for obvious reasons maybe one day i will have enough to be worth stealing at the moment i don't though lol 

Trezor is extremely expensive and thus is not a viable choice for most Bitcoin holders. Use an opensourced paper wallet generator instead.

To store them properly, print it out or preferably, write it out and store it inside a safe. Don't forget to laminate it and make copies of it and store it at different geographical locations.

[favdesu]

I'd go with electrum or a paper wallet.

[spidergoat]

Myceilum has recently released a cheap hardware wallet. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mycelium-entropy It sounds promising and it is pretty cheap.

[zetaray]

Electrum is a light wallet. It means is does not need to download 20G of blockchain. You do not need to move Electrum to an external hd. You need to backup the wallet file or restore from your Electrum seed which is only 12 English words

[favdesu]

Myceilum has recently released a cheap hardware wallet. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mycelium-entropy It sounds promising and it is pretty cheap.

it's only $40? sounds interesting... they're not shipping yet, right?

[lite]

Myceilum has recently released a cheap hardware wallet. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mycelium-entropy It sounds promising and it is pretty cheap.

it's only $40? sounds interesting... they're not shipping yet, right?

That hardware wallet isn't for sale yet . hope they will be available soon to us..

[clubsofsteel]

yes stick with Electrum...Electrum is the best choice. it is easy to use, and its a deterministic wallet.
A seed is initially generated and you can restore your wallet from that!
so Electrum is a safe bet

[ikydesu]

I personally used electrum, especially with version 2, more security like 2fa and then you dont need to download the data. Multibit too, but i prefer to electrum.


~iki

[emrebey]

agreed w/ electrum option.

just make sure you will remember your seed.

[LiteCoinGuy]

i wolud not choose Bitcoin Core, Armory as a beginner. the rest is more user-friendly. just try and only use pocket money.

[guitarplinker]

i wolud not choose Bitcoin Core, Armory as a beginner. the rest is more user-friendly. just try and only use pocket money.

I think Bitcoin-Qt would be one of the worst option for offline wallets when there are alternatives like Electrum and Armory. Either of those alternatives seem to be much more user friendly compared to Bitcoin-Qt. Plus the seed-based wallet idea in Electrum is a great concept too, because if your hard drive ever failed without a backup, you should at least have your seed backed up somewhere.

[Amph]

i find it better for newbies, the classic bitcoin core, i know it's a pain to download the whole blockchain, but it's more intuitive and secure than multibit, others client seeems too complicated

[guitarplinker]

i find it better for newbiew, the classic bitcoin core, i know it's a paint to download the whole blockchain, but it's more intuitive and secure than multibit, others client seeems too complicated

Electrum is a great wallet for newbies too, it's fairly easy to navigate around in, plus the one massive advantage is that one doesn't need to download the entire blockchain to use it. To me, Electrum seems much easier to use than Bitcoin Core. I run a node with Core, and once and awhile I take a look at the interface, and it seems like it can be really confusing for newbies. Addresses don't show up on any of the main pages, unless you create a payment request. To see addresses, one must go to File > Addresses (labelled something like that) to see their receiving addresses.

[yeponlyone]

i find it better for newbiew, the classic bitcoin core, i know it's a paint to download the whole blockchain, but it's more intuitive and secure than multibit, others client seeems too complicated

Electrum is a great wallet for newbies too, it's fairly easy to navigate around in, plus the one massive advantage is that one doesn't need to download the entire blockchain to use it. To me, Electrum seems much easier to use than Bitcoin Core. I run a node with Core, and once and awhile I take a look at the interface, and it seems like it can be really confusing for newbies. Addresses don't show up on any of the main pages, unless you create a payment request. To see addresses, one must go to File > Addresses (labelled something like that) to see their receiving addresses.

Not for people who cares about privacy. You have to trust the central Electrum server to give you the correct info about your address and if the server gets hacked, you would most likely also be exposed to a potential double spend attack that the attacker may execute. Bitcoin core doesn't need central server and is more secure.

[eurekamazda]

OK, thanks for all the replies.  I guess I'm not far from the point of actually buying the damn BTCs.

"A seed is initially generated and you can restore your wallet from that. You do not have to worry about your HDD failing."

OK, that sounds good, but I don't really understand it.

Given that there's a distinct possibility a HDD could fail, how would BTCs be retrieved from it?  Can I make a written note of my public and private BTC addresses?

Also, can I store the BTCs on an external HDD?  Obviously, that'd be preferable to putting them on a netbook which I'd then have to maintain; given that one has to go online constantly to update software on the netbook, that's not necessarily good for protecting the BTCs.

I am of course assuming the worst case scenarios here; that people are watching my purchase of BTCs and checking my vulnerabilities.

Oh, so Electrum is potentially vulnerable too?  That's just what I wanted to hear!

****!, the only sure way is a paper wallet isn't it?