Quote from: Title12USC§411 on July 06, 2011, 02:32:52 PM

Quote from: cocodapuf on July 06, 2011, 02:26:06 PM

Hey guys, I've got a question for you. How big is the block chain going to get? I ask because I want to make sure the usb drive I use is actually large enough to encrypt an entire client indefinitely. So I know that as blocks get very old they're no longer saved, but aren't the new blocks larger than the old blocks? Meaning, won't the size of a full install always increase?

Or then there's the other option, of just using a 8 or 16 GB drive and using it as a full OS+bitcoin client.

So I take it you could have two or more of these usb drives (even full OS+bitcoin client as you say) and if one of them craps you dont lose your BTCs?

Not all all, actually that's why security is such a big deal. "Wallet" is a bit of a misnomer, it's really more like a key to your online wallet. Anyone who has access to your bitcoin wallet has full access to your account, even if it's just a copy (just like if someone had a copy of your vault key). That's why it's so important to make multiple copies, just make sure they're always encrypted, so only you can access those multiple copies.