[Solved] Back up your wallet to a USB flash drive - Super easy! Super Important!
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How to back up your wallet to a USB flash drive . .super easy! Super Important!
For the purposes of this post I will assume you have already downloaded the client and set up a wallet. The block chain has finished loading and you have possibly even encrypted your wallet? If you have not encrypted your wallet, lets start there. Open your wallet, it should look something like this:
[img]http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/7332/65q2.png[/img]
now click on the “settings” tab and then click “Encrypt Wallet” Like this but I already Encrypted mine so the option is greyed out:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/BbViivf.png[/img]
You will be asked to create a “Passphrase” Whatever you type here be sure you will remember it, because if not you can go from rich to poor in a blink of an eye (assuming you ever get rich of course). Try to use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols to make it difficult to crack. This is your wallet security:
Now onto backing the wallet up! Next we will use a typical USB flash drive or micro SD card in USB reader like this:
[img]http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4856/zsnk.png[/img]
Place it in a USB port on the computer your wallet is on. Then in your wallet you simply click on “file” (upper left corner) and then “Backup Wallet” like this:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/QAJvzzZ.png[/img]
It will bring up this screen:
[img]http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/4046/3nr1.png[/img]
Of course your wallet will be called whatever you named it. As will your USB Flash Drive. In this example my flash drive is “Jack Micro8 (F:)” on the left and my wallet is “Jack Wallet.dat” on right. Click on the “Jack Micro8 (F:)” (whatever yours is called) and note the file name and edit to your liking with “.dat” being left alone. It should now look something like this:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/EmxHS6u.png[/img]
I happen to have a few folders named “songs” “movies” etc on my Micro SD card, don’t let that confuse you. last click “Save” and you should see this little pop up lower right corner of task bar on your screen:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/fLWerzc.png[/img]
That’s it, you can click on the “Safely Remove Hardware” button like this:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/he2ETlx.png[/img]
And you should see this final screen telling you you can remove and pocket the USB flash drive or SD Card:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/bF3dfJ1.png[/img]
And that is it! Easy as that! Your wallet is now safely stored on both your computer and backed up on your flash drive in your pocket or safe or wherever you keep it. You should repeat this process every time you make a new transaction on your wallet till it becomes second nature and you don’t even have to think about it. NEVER EVER become one of those people who tells the story of having once had 10,000 BTC on their hard drive and the computer was stolen or hard drive failed and they went from being a millionaire to broke in milliseconds. It is way to easy to prevent. Hope this helps?
peace
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Hello
Sometimes we get lost in the crowd. I just noticed that there were not any reply’s to your very good
work on showing how to save wallet information.
I want to believe that I am not the only one that was helped by your instructions. I love repeat instructions.
Gives me more confidence. I have problems even now, trying to open a document. Must be add ons…
And, as new computer users come on board, yes, there are those, (older?), who do not use computers.
They will need to see your information. If the crypto currency world grows the way we all want it to.
Thank you
fkimbe -
Great guide! Thanks for making this.
I would ask that you make one change though.
When talking about passphrases, you say, “Try to use a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols to make it difficult to crack.”
But I can’t suggest that.
Here’s why:
[img]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/password_strength.png[/img]
Instead I suggest this great website: [url=http://correcthorsebatterystaple.net/]http://correcthorsebatterystaple.net/[/url]
It helps you generate random passphrases that are easy to remember yet hard to crack. Like “The Regard Somebody Load Officer Fate”.
Thanks again for doing this! Keep up the great work!
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That correct horse stable battery cartoon is awesome!
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We need to be careful here. Because just because the password has entropy doesn’t make it unguessable. Which is also one of the aims of a strong passphrase.
What’s important is that we don’t try and enforce such stringent rules on passwords that people get lazy but at the same time people are responsible and know what makes for good security.
Basically I see it as a sliding scale, there’s no such thing as absolute security you’re just trying to make your Wallet less profitable than any neighbouring opportunity for a would be attacker.
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Also there is this page too: [url=http://preshing.com/20110811/xkcd-password-generator/]http://preshing.com/20110811/xkcd-password-generator/[/url]
I do use them for non tech people when I help them set accounts up and stuff because I know two things:
[list type=decimal]
[*]It will be memorable for them and they won’t default to something like “Manchester United”!
[*]It will be way better than anything they could come up with given a set of rules
[/list]