user102978: Lesson learned the hard way: I lost a small value of bitcoins due to foolishly  backing up private keys to a file which was uploaded to a cloud server. My wallet used to be bitcoin core.
Right now my keys are in electrum with an air gapped laptop wallet and a watching wallet.
I'd prefer to use bitcoin core because having my own blockchain is preferable.
I know you can use bitkey, but as a Windows user, but it seems too complex. 
I'm considering the following solution, and would welcome comments.
Currently, I still run bitcoin core with an empty wallet, on my desktop PC connected to the internet. The blockchain is on a separate SSD disk and I run the empty wallet to keep the blockchain up to date. 
I would then keep a core wallet holding the keys to my coins, on the air gapped laptop. When I want to send or receive bitcoins I would move the SSD to the laptop. The SSD would use a SATA to USB connector, so it would be an easy plug in. As soon as I'd done the send or receive I would move the SSD back to the internet PC.
I assume that the blockchain on the SSD would resynch the send and receive transactions.
I could use Electrum Personal Server, but this means running other stuff which I don't understand. Armory is another option, but I'd prefer to stick with core.
Is my approach feasible? Secure? Overkill?

user102978: The approach does work. 
From the offline setup I sent myself a small amount of BTC.
When the SSD was returned to the online computer, it caught up. The sent coins have been sent and subsequently received.
Apart from the potential inconvenience of moving the disk containing the blockchain between the 2 computers, it's very simple, and it works.

102978: <p><strong>Lesson learned the hard way</strong>: I lost a small value of bitcoins due to foolishly  backing up private keys to a file which was uploaded to a cloud server. My wallet used to be bitcoin core.</p>

<p>Right now my keys are in electrum with an air gapped laptop wallet and a watching wallet.</p>

<p>I'd prefer to use bitcoin core because having my own blockchain is preferable.</p>

<p>I know you can use bitkey, but as a Windows user, but it seems too complex. </p>

<p>I'm considering the following solution, and would welcome comments.</p>

<p>Currently, I still run bitcoin core with an empty wallet, on my desktop PC connected to the internet. The blockchain is on a separate SSD disk and I run the empty wallet to keep the blockchain up to date. </p>

<p>I would then keep a core wallet holding the keys to my coins, on the air gapped laptop. When I want to send or receive bitcoins I would move the SSD to the laptop. The SSD would use a SATA to USB connector, so it would be an easy plug in. As soon as I'd done the send or receive I would move the SSD back to the internet PC.</p>

<p>I assume that the blockchain on the SSD would resynch the send and receive transactions.</p>

<p>I could use Electrum Personal Server, but this means running other stuff which I don't understand. Armory is another option, but I'd prefer to stick with core.</p>

<p>Is my approach feasible? Secure? Overkill?</p>
 102978: <p>The approach does work. </p>

<p>From the offline setup I sent myself a small amount of BTC.</p>

<p>When the SSD was returned to the online computer, it caught up. The sent coins have been sent and subsequently received.</p>

<p>Apart from the potential inconvenience of moving the disk containing the blockchain between the 2 computers, it's very simple, and it works.</p>
