I can't speak for all Bitcoin clients but its my understanding that if you tell your Bitcoin client to print a paper wallet it won't move any coins. Your wallet.dat file will still have all the keys.
You can copy/paste your wallet.dat file as many times as you like. You can copy/paste it to CDs/DVDs/USB sticks/micro usb cards, each one will work.
Even if someone sends you coins after you put your wallet in cold storage you will have the keys for all the new coins that come in.
Plz someone correct me if I'm wrong but the wallet.dat file also includes 100 new address (adjustable) so even if you continue to use your client with the same wallet and generate new addresses (up to 100) your backup will already include the keys to these new receiving addresses.
Topic: Do not use USB sticks for long term storage! Its not safe! - page 7. (Read 5135 times)
Just a reminder
Its not safe to use USB sticks or SSDs for long term storage they lose data over time if they are not powered!
You can't just stick your private keys on a few USB sticks or SSD and box them up for 4 - 8 years you will lose all your coins.
For long term storage have at least 3 backups paper wallets or HDDs. You can even use something like DropBox But be sure to encrypt your wallet and change the name.
You can even hide your wallet inside a image file.
How does that help us if we already know this. Could you enlist some more ideal information
yeah hardware wallets are just USB sticks with some extra logic bits right? So if they lost power for more then a few years they could become corrupted to. I wouldn't trust them, just more crap that could break.
Oh wow I really had no idea that that would happen over time. I use a ledger wallet which is pretty much a USB with add ons. Now I'm going to consider moving to a paper wallet. Thanks. yeah hardware wallets are just USB sticks with some extra logic bits right? So if they lost power for more then a few years they could become corrupted to. I wouldn't trust them, just more crap that could break.
interesting, i did not know this, especially this part about the hardware wallets. although i am already using USB sticks for my cold storage i am also keeping a paper backup printed too.
Just a reminder
Its not safe to use USB sticks or SSDs for long term storage they lose data over time if they are not powered!
You can't just stick your private keys on a few USB sticks or SSD and box them up for 4 - 8 years you will lose all your coins.
For long term storage have at least 3 backups paper wallets or HDDs. You can even use something like DropBox But be sure to encrypt your wallet and change the name.
You can even hide your wallet inside a image file.
Its not safe to use USB sticks or SSDs for long term storage they lose data over time if they are not powered!
You can't just stick your private keys on a few USB sticks or SSD and box them up for 4 - 8 years you will lose all your coins.
For long term storage have at least 3 backups paper wallets or HDDs. You can even use something like DropBox But be sure to encrypt your wallet and change the name.
You can even hide your wallet inside a image file.
I've said this a few times, but not this clear, so I'd add a well done here.
My usual advice is to keep the private keys in (laminated) paper wallets. This would be the safest copy, the primary copy.
For commodity you can still keep a secondary copy on USB sticks, just after some 1-2 years you should move the data on another stick, else you can lose it.
Since dropbox also came into discussion, I'd advise for tresorit.com or similar cloud storage providers: the ones that offer end-to-end encryption, which (at least on paper) means that whoever reads their server cannot see your data plainly (like in the case of dropbox).
Just a reminder
Its not safe to use USB sticks or SSDs for long term storage they lose data over time if they are not powered!
You can't just stick your private keys on a few USB sticks or SSD and box them up for 4 - 8 years you will lose all your coins.
For long term storage have at least 3 backups paper wallets or HDDs. You can even use something like DropBox But be sure to encrypt your wallet and change the name.
You can even hide your wallet inside a image file.
How does that help us if we already know this. Could you enlist some more ideal information
yeah hardware wallets are just USB sticks with some extra logic bits right? So if they lost power for more then a few years they could become corrupted to. I wouldn't trust them, just more crap that could break.
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Just a reminder
Its not safe to use USB sticks or SSDs for long term storage they lose data over time if they are not powered!
You can't just stick your private keys on a few USB sticks or SSD and box them up for 4 - 8 years you will lose all your coins.
For long term storage have at least 3 backups paper wallets or HDDs. You can even use something like DropBox But be sure to encrypt your wallet and change the name.
You can even hide your wallet inside a image file.
thats great info.
Just a reminder
Its not safe to use USB sticks or SSDs for long term storage they lose data over time if they are not powered!
You can't just stick your private keys on a few USB sticks or SSD and box them up for 4 - 8 years you will lose all your coins.
For long term storage have at least 3 backups paper wallets or HDDs. You can even use something like DropBox But be sure to encrypt your wallet and change the name.
You can even hide your wallet inside a image file.
Thanks for the advice... I never tought about an usb stick losing it's data.
How about hardware wallet tough? Most of them have seed words to restore your wallet, but i'm pretty sure the device itself won't last forever either, so you might want to add them to your list?
Just a reminder
Its not safe to use USB sticks or SSDs for long term storage they lose data over time if they are not powered!
You can't just stick your private keys on a few USB sticks or SSD and box them up for 4 - 8 years you will lose all your coins.
For long term storage have at least 3 backups paper wallets or HDDs. You can even use something like DropBox But be sure to encrypt your wallet and change the name.
You can even hide your wallet inside a image file.
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