user542: What is the safest medium on which to store my wallet/private keys?
I avoid eWallets like the plague.
I have my wallet on my computer at the moment with the Bitcoin passphrase encryption and I have a few backups on different harddrives/USB drives.
But USB drives don't seem to be the most reliable thing to store wallets on, and I want to move my wallet off my computer for improved safety, so I was looking at paper wallets and they seem good apart from if they deteriorate over time, or from things like water damage etc.
CDs seem okay to use but they can also get scratched and can't be updated once burnt.
I'd also rather avoid cloud file services.
A plastic card that I could print my public/private keys on seemed like a good idea, but this would have to be printed by a third party as card printers are expensive, unless there's somewhere I can go to do it myself.
Any recommendations on the safest medium to store Bitcoins on?

user11648: IMO, as a complete beginner, paper wallet with 2-3 copies sounds best. All stored in secure places!
I also like the thumb drives, but some of these answers seem ludicrous even to the geeky set, such as "using this tutorial" 2 posts above. 

user13751: I don't understand why people overlook the simplest and cheapest option. I personally just hand-write the keys on paper, and for verification purpose,  type the private key back into an offline wallet software to ensure the generated address matches.

user701: I used this tutorial to backup my Bitcoins for long-term storage. The basic steps are as follows:

Create a Linux LiveCD
Put a TrueCrypt installer on a USB key (or embed it in the above installation)
Boot the live CD and install TrueCrypt
Create two TrueCrypt volumes, one 4 GB with an easy password, another smaller one with a unique ultra-long password
Mount the large volume and install Bitcoin in it
Start Bitcoin and let the blockchain populate and the Wallet.dat be created
Copy down some of the public addresses
Close Bitcoin and move the wallet.dat into the smaller ultra-secure volume
Unmount both volumes, store the smaller volume in the cloud or on physical media

The advantages of this method are as follows:

With a static live-cd you are guaranteed an un-corrupted/virus-free operating system
Your un-encrypted Bitcoin wallet is never stored to physical media (that's just the way TrueCrypt volumes work)
You can backup the small volume containing your wallet anywhere you want because it's tiny and protected by an ultra-secure password
You can send Bitcoins to this backup wallet any time you want with the addresses you saved

To access the Bitcoins in the future:

Boot the live CD/install TruCrypt
Mount both volumes, and copy the Wallet.dat into the large volume
Start Bitcoin and then you have access to your Bitcoins
Remember to delete the Wallet.dat from the larger volume before shutting down


user558: my personal choice to have a secure online bitcoin wallet is :

having a very secure dedicated server ( gentoo hardened, grsecurity kernel . . . ) 
having my wallet on a ssh account ( with a very secure password, lowercase, uppercase and numbers in the password ) on that secure dedicated server
having backups of my wallet on other dedicated servers
using ssh from everywhere ( now even martphones have ssh client apps ) to connect and use my wallet


user323: You probably should ask this question on other Stack Exchanges, like Super User, as the question is not specific to Bitcoins really.
Safest place to store your wallet key would be in your memory, if you are a type that can recall a long string of digits many years later. You could try using some mnemonic tricks, like encoding the numbers in a poem with number of letters in each word corresponding to a given number.
If you want something tangible, you should look into putting the key on some medium that does not deteriorate over a long period of time. You can try scratching it into a sheet of plastic, or using some soldering iron to melt it in. You could also go for carving it in stone or cement block, but that would start to get a bit excessive. You can always get a laminating device, print your wallet as a QR code and laminate it, should work well enough while not being too expensive.
It all boils down to how much time and money you want to spend securing your wallet and what hazards you want to protect it from.

user701: Print out your private keys to a Paper Wallet and print the keys on Archival Quality Paper. Those should last until the year 2211. They are however un-encrypted so you should store them in a bank safety-deposit-box or somewhere just as safe.

542: <p>What is the safest medium on which to store my wallet/private keys?</p>

<p>I avoid eWallets like the plague.</p>

<p>I have my wallet on my computer at the moment with the Bitcoin passphrase encryption and I have a few backups on different harddrives/USB drives.</p>

<p>But USB drives don't seem to be the most reliable thing to store wallets on, and I want to move my wallet off my computer for improved safety, so I was looking at paper wallets and they seem good apart from if they deteriorate over time, or from things like water damage etc.</p>

<p>CDs seem okay to use but they can also get scratched and can't be updated once burnt.</p>

<p>I'd also rather avoid cloud file services.</p>

<p>A plastic card that I could print my public/private keys on seemed like a good idea, but this would have to be printed by a third party as card printers are expensive, unless there's somewhere I can go to do it myself.</p>

<p>Any recommendations on the safest medium to store Bitcoins on?</p>
 11648: <p>IMO, as a complete beginner, paper wallet with 2-3 copies sounds best. All stored in secure places!
I also like the thumb drives, but some of these answers seem ludicrous even to the geeky set, such as "using this tutorial" 2 posts above. </p>
 13751: <p>I don't understand why people overlook the simplest and cheapest option. I personally just <strong>hand-write</strong> the keys on paper, and for verification purpose,  type the private key back into an offline wallet software to ensure the generated address matches.</p>
 701: <p>I used <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/61649663/Bitcoin-Safe-Usage-v05" rel="nofollow">this tutorial</a> to backup my Bitcoins for long-term storage. The basic steps are as follows:</p>

<ul>
<li>Create a Linux LiveCD</li>
<li>Put a TrueCrypt installer on a USB key (or embed it in the above installation)</li>
<li>Boot the live CD and install TrueCrypt</li>
<li>Create two TrueCrypt volumes, one 4 GB with an easy password, another smaller one with a unique ultra-long password</li>
<li>Mount the large volume and install Bitcoin in it</li>
<li>Start Bitcoin and let the blockchain populate and the Wallet.dat be created</li>
<li>Copy down some of the public addresses</li>
<li>Close Bitcoin and <em>move</em> the wallet.dat into the smaller ultra-secure volume</li>
<li>Unmount both volumes, store the smaller volume in the cloud or on physical media</li>
</ul>

<p>The advantages of this method are as follows:</p>

<ul>
<li>With a static live-cd you are guaranteed an un-corrupted/virus-free operating system</li>
<li>Your un-encrypted Bitcoin wallet is <em>never</em> stored to physical media (that's just the way TrueCrypt volumes work)</li>
<li>You can backup the small volume containing your wallet anywhere you want because it's tiny and protected by an ultra-secure password</li>
<li>You can send Bitcoins to this backup wallet any time you want with the addresses you saved</li>
</ul>

<p>To access the Bitcoins in the future:</p>

<ul>
<li>Boot the live CD/install TruCrypt</li>
<li>Mount both volumes, and copy the Wallet.dat into the large volume</li>
<li>Start Bitcoin and then you have access to your Bitcoins</li>
<li>Remember to delete the Wallet.dat from the larger volume before shutting down</li>
</ul>
 558: <p>my personal choice to have a secure online bitcoin wallet is :</p>

<ul>
<li>having a very secure dedicated server ( gentoo hardened, grsecurity kernel . . . ) </li>
<li>having my wallet on a ssh account ( with a very secure password, lowercase, uppercase and numbers in the password ) on that secure dedicated server</li>
<li>having backups of my wallet on other dedicated servers</li>
<li>using ssh from everywhere ( now even martphones have ssh client apps ) to connect and use my wallet</li>
</ul>
 323: <p>You probably should ask this question on other Stack Exchanges, like Super User, as the question is not specific to Bitcoins really.</p>

<p>Safest place to store your wallet key would be in your memory, if you are a type that can recall a long string of digits many years later. You could try using some mnemonic tricks, like encoding the numbers in a poem with number of letters in each word corresponding to a given number.</p>

<p>If you want something tangible, you should look into putting the key on some medium that does not deteriorate over a long period of time. You can try scratching it into a sheet of plastic, or using some soldering iron to melt it in. You could also go for carving it in stone or cement block, but that would start to get a bit excessive. You can always get a laminating device, print your wallet as a QR code and laminate it, should work well enough while not being too expensive.</p>

<p>It all boils down to how much time and money you want to spend securing your wallet and what hazards you want to protect it from.</p>
 701: <p>Print out your private keys to a <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet#Paper_Wallets">Paper Wallet</a> and print the keys on <a href="http://www.my-history.co.uk/acatalog/Archive_Quality_Papers.html">Archival Quality Paper</a>. Those should last until the year 2211. They are however un-encrypted so you should store them in a bank safety-deposit-box or somewhere just as safe.</p>
