Having a recovery phrase is the only way to ensure that in the future you can still access it, whatever happens to the wallet you currently use. There is no guarantee that every device created by humans can be used forever (nothing is eternal). You need to take good care of it and store it in a safe place, this is one of the best ways to protect your assets by keeping your hardware wallet in good condition. You also need to care for it with proper handling. Hardware will last a little longer if used regularly.
Because of the importance of a wallet mnemonic seed or private key, any Bitcoin user who are using a non-custodial wallet, must back up a wallet and make sure the backups will work for recovery later.
Back up can be done with
- A wallet file (encrypted or non encrypted, should be encrypted). With an encrypted wallet file, a wallet password will be needed to access that file.
- A wallet mnemonic seed backup or a private key backup.
A wallet file can not be used later too so a second back up type (mnemonic seed, private key backup) is more important for wallet recovery later.
How to back up a seed phrase?