Community post
Tech Support...
Help? I'm still not conceptually getting how exactly the Steemit wallet works. In short, my computer is failing and I'm going to wipe this OS and start over fresh, but I want to make sure anything I've earned so far stays intact.
I vaguely remember, when creating this account, something about the wallet being stored in the browser?
I also have this bts_blahblahblah.bin file that I think was created when I made this account.
And yes, I have my private keys written down.
So I should be able to fully restore on a new machine, right?
Also, I have STEEM, STEEM POWER, STEEM DOLLARS, as well as unclaimed SBD and SP. Does it matter if I claim that now or will that all transfer over?
Thank you to anyone who can help me with this. I've already read through the FAQ and I'm still not quite getting it.
Replies (5)
All you will need is your username and private keys. You will just login in your new computer the same way you would log into your email. All of your funds will be secure.
^ This. You should have backed up your master key somewhere. You shouldn't use that to log in except on the odd occassion you need to reset all your keys. You should back up ALL your keys. The wallet itself is in the blockchain, but if you lose your keys there will be no way to recover access. So long as your keys are backed up you'll be fine.
Your wallet is NOT stored on your computer, but in the blockchain. So long as you have backed up your keys, especially your master key, somewhere that is secure, inaccessible to anyone but yourself, and recoverable to you once you change the OS, you will still be able to access your account and your wallet. You can claim rewards anytime, it makes no difference. If you lose your keys, you lose your wallet, and your rewards, claimed or not.
Thank you to everyone reassuring me. I was very careful to record my master key, pen & paper style where it is not saved anywhere online or even digital format. I got that much at least. So, guess I'm good!
That .BTS file is a bitshares wallet backup, keep it too