Quote from: RyanRed on October 04, 2012, 09:37:09 PM

Thanks everyone! Everyone's reply was very helpful. While I knew the coins didn't actually get stored inside the .dat file, I was still very unware of how the mechanics worked. Thank for answering all my questions there!

The wallet is fairly new. Its only been on my main computer since I started it. I've encrypted it, and have a great system in place to reference my pass-phrase.

As for the idea of using different wallets per PC/Laptop, I like that idea, but I can also see it causing confusion later down the road. Maybe in 6 months or so. Get my .dat files mixed up or something. It would be easy to just uses different media sources per backup, but it still could cause simple user error in the long haul. Though, I think when dealing with something like this I would be extra careful, but I still can't always fore see simple user error in the future. For now. Keeping it as simple, and as linear as possible is a plus too me

. I will just keep my 1 wallet, and lock that baby down

Keep a daily backup, and a weekly one that never leaves my house.

Again, thank you all for the very helpful information! Very appreciated!!

-Ryan

I install the bitcoin client on every computer I use (except for my work machines, which don't belong to me), and routinely transfer funds between them. That way, I distribute my risk around multiple points of failure, so I can never lose my BTC. And I always backup the wallets on each machine to both an external storage device and cloud storage, so if one or more machines die for any reason, I can restore the wallet to a different client. Of course, all wallets are encrypted, so if any copy is stolen, the thief will find it worthless.