Your recovery phrase is the only backup your wallet has, and it needs to survive years of ordinary life. A good backup is less about clever tricks and more about avoiding a few common failures. This is part of Crypto secrets.
What a good backup does
A backup has to do two jobs that pull in opposite directions. It must stay available to you and unavailable to everyone else. It has to survive fire, flood and forgetfulness, as well as curious visitors and thieves.
No single method covers everything, so each choice below is a trade-off.
| Method | Fire | Water | Theft | Remote hack |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper at home | Poor | Poor | Depends | Good |
| Paper in a fire safe | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good |
| Stamped steel | Good | Good | Depends | Good |
| Two copies, two places | Good | Good | Fair | Good |
| Photo or cloud note | Good | Good | Poor | Poor |
Step one: write it down correctly
Almost everyone should start with a handwritten copy. Follow our guide on how to write down a seed phrase correctly, which also covers testing your backup and avoiding the most common mistakes.
Keep it offline
Never store your words digitally, whether in a photo, a notes app, an email, a cloud drive or a screenshot. Any of those can reach your phrase from anywhere in the world, which removes the main advantage of holding your own keys.
A hardware wallet protects your keys from your computer. A photo of your words puts them straight back on it.
Choose your material
Paper is cheap, private and easy, but it burns and gets wet. If you hold more than you could comfortably lose, stamped or engraved steel will survive much more. Whichever you use, the words still have to be guarded, because a thief can read steel just as easily as paper.
Choose your location
Read where to store a seed phrase in full. In brief, think about what each place protects against:
| Place | Good for | Weak against |
|---|---|---|
| Hidden at home | Quick access, privacy | Fire, flood, burglary |
| Home fire safe | Short fires, casual thieves | A safe can draw attention, and it can be carried off |
| Trusted relative's home | Disasters at your home | Depends on their discretion and security |
| Bank deposit box | Fire, burglary | Limited access, harder for heirs |
How many, and how to check them
Decide how many backups you need, test them without exposing them, and run through our backup checklist. Avoid two common traps: splitting a phrase in half and folklore hiding methods.
Plan for what happens later
A backup that only you can find may die with you. Tell someone you trust that a backup exists and how to find help, without showing them the words. If something does go wrong, see what happens if you lose your seed phrase.