Backup and Recovery: Verified Backup vs. No Backup

Plenty of people set up a self-custody wallet and never test whether they could actually get back in if a device died tomorrow. A backupis a separately stored copy of whatever's required to restore access (commonly a recovery phrase, but depending on the setup it could be key shares or another architecture-specific mechanism) kept independently of the primary device.

No Backup

• Single Copy Storage: the recovery material exists in only one place.
• Device-Dependent Access: losing or damaging the device removes all access.
• Untested Recovery: the restore process has never actually been verified.

Verified Backup

• Independent Storage: the recovery material is stored separately from the primary device.
• Deliberate Redundancy: copies exist in more than one location, weighed against the fact that each additional copy is also another place it could be found or stolen.
• Tested Restoration: the recovery process has been verified to actually work.

Backup and recovery is the practical complement to distributed key signing. Distributing signing authority protects against any one device failing; a verified backup protects against storage failing the same way.