Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: SleepingMind on June 29, 2012, 11:46 am
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Is it safe to keep balance in the SR wallet?
What do you guys do?
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As long as computer don't crash. Back up wallet.dat.
BB
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you're an idiot
Shannon, what's the point of insulting people? Especially when you don't explain anything.
For the record, I also think if the computer crashes when the bitcoin client is working, there could be repercussions in the amount of bitcoins stored in the wallet. Backing up the wallet.dat seems like a reasonable thing to do.
It would be nice if a REAL expert chimed in on this, since I for one am happy to admit I am not.
MockFrog
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you're an idiot
Shannon, what's the point of insulting people? Especially when you don't explain anything.
For the record, I also think if the computer crashes when the bitcoin client is working, there could be repercussions in the amount of bitcoins stored in the wallet. Backing up the wallet.dat seems like a reasonable thing to do.
I think there might be some confusion on this thread as to what constitutes an SR wallet. From my reading of it SleepingMind and Shannon were referring to the wallet that is accessed when you log into SR (or TA for that matter). Boris, however, appears to have interpreted it as a wallet accessed via the Bitcoin client, perhaps one dedicated solely to managing SR funds.
A Bitcoin client can backup the wallet.dat file, as can many online wallet services (e.g. blockchain.info accounts). The wallet built into SR accounts, however, cannot be backed up. Instead SR has a setting for an external Bitcoin address as a backup to send any account funds to if things go horribly wrong.
It would be nice if a REAL expert chimed in on this, since I for one am happy to admit I am not.
I'm not an expert either, just applying a little logic.
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I also believe MockFrog and Boris are referring to the bitcoin client on one's computer. If you have coins in it, and something happens to your computer, naturally there is a danger that you may lose some or all of the coins. That goes without saying.
I see where they misinterpreted what the OP was saying, however. Probably just misread it. Mock, Boris, the SR wallet is beyond one's control obviously. I don't think anyone's ever lost coins that were in it or they'd be screaming bloody murder. But anyone can make a mistake in reading, so good show you guys for giving what is essentially good advice. +1 for both of you.
goblin
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Is it safe to keep balance in the SR wallet?
What do you guys do?
Hi SleepingMind,
With all due respect for Shannon's technical know how I thought I'd give a more comprehensive answer.
There are several types of wallets you can use to store Bitcoins. I assume you're referring to a Bitcoin client of the kind you can download from Bitcoin.org?
Software wallets are safe to store Bitcoins provided you take some sensible precautions.
If you're using the QT Bitcoin client (the one available for download on the main page of bitcoin.org by default) in the first instance you should encrypt your wallet with a strong password. This protects the crucial "wallet.dat" file which contains your private keys and therefore allows you to acces your own coins. Just go to Settings > Encrypt Wallet
The wallet.dat file can (and should!) be backed up regularly, you can find instructions on how to do this here:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet#Making_a_secure_workspace
I would also suggest you read through the steps for securing your workspace as it contains some important information.
If you run a Linux/Windows based OS it's possible to run a Bitcoin wallet entirely from a USB stick (preferably encrypted!) - this is how I store my emergency reserve of Bitcoins.
Needless to say you shouldn't keep your wallet.dat backup on the same machine as your wallet itself!
V.
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Hi SleepingMind,
With all due respect for Shannon's technical know how I thought I'd give a more comprehensive answer.
There are several types of wallets you can use to store Bitcoins. I assume you're referring to a Bitcoin client of the kind you can download from Bitcoin.org?
V.
I am referring to the built-in wallet with the SR account.
My fear is that I might loose all my money if SR goes down forever or I am unable to access it anymore due to some reason. Is there anyway one can pull/transfer the BTCs stored in the SR wallet? What information I would need in order to transfer the balance to another BTC/Wallet address?
Thanks,
SM
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all you need is one of your own wallets' receiving addresses, which looks something like 1HB5XMLmzFVj8ALj6mfBsbifRoD4miY36v. go to your account page, type in your address into the withdrawal form, and bang the "go" button.
What you described is the push mechanism (from SR wallet). I am looking for pull mechanism. Pull is the way to get the balance if I am unable to access my SR account.
If it can be done then I will not have to worry about creating another wallet now as I can create one later on and transfer/pull the balance. I just do not want to create multiple wallets/accounts for maintaining my BTCs.
Thanks,
SM
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all you need is one of your own wallets' receiving addresses, which looks something like 1HB5XMLmzFVj8ALj6mfBsbifRoD4miY36v. go to your account page, type in your address into the withdrawal form, and bang the "go" button.
If it can be done then I will not have to worry about creating another wallet now as I can create one later on and transfer/pull the balance. I just do not want to create multiple wallets/accounts for maintaining my BTCs.
Thanks,
AMS
..And yet this is precisely what you need to do in order to keep your BTC safe!
My suggestion if you have a large amount of BTC is to have a Bitcoin client as I outlined above which you can back up regularly and only send as many BTC to SR as you need for each order.
I'm not overly worried about this as there's no obvious road to take down the Silk Road and it's obviously in the owner's interests to keep it going but of course there are technical problems / Acts of God to contend with so it can't hurt to be safe.
V.
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I also believe MockFrog and Boris are referring to the bitcoin client on one's computer. If you have coins in it, and something happens to your computer, naturally there is a danger that you may lose some or all of the coins. That goes without saying.
I see where they misinterpreted what the OP was saying, however. Probably just misread it. Mock, Boris, the SR wallet is beyond one's control obviously. I don't think anyone's ever lost coins that were in it or they'd be screaming bloody murder. But anyone can make a mistake in reading, so good show you guys for giving what is essentially good advice. +1 for both of you.
goblin
Good for you, goblin.
soyyo
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Good info vlad1m1r. Thanks.
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If you have coins in your SR wallet and SR goes down, your coins will be lost forever as i've been told from another member.
Try keep SR wallet empty when your not ordering for awhile.
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heh, vlad1m1r is a guest account because he's a banned scammer.
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I had this same question about how safe the built in wallet is on SR. I've noticed on the settings page you can have a back up wallet address just incase the road goes down. Then supposedly the balance will be sent to the back up address.