Inside Bitcoin Core, go to Help > Debug Window > Console.
Type:
backupwallet "C:\MyBackups\wallet_backup_2025.dat"
This is the safest method because it tells the Bitcoin Core daemon to flush all memory caches to disk and lock the wallet momentarily, ensuring a crash-consistent copy.
If you are running a full node using the original Bitcoin software—Bitcoin Core—your entire financial sovereignty sits inside a single, small file.
It is called wallet.dat.
While modern hardware wallets and complex seed phrases have become the standard for new users, the wallet.dat file remains the heart of the original Bitcoin experience. Understanding this file is the difference between being your own bank and losing your fortune to a hard drive failure.
Here is everything you need to know about the most important file in your Bitcoin directory. Bitcoin Core Wallet.dat
wallet.dat is the default wallet file for Bitcoin Core (formerly Bitcoin-Qt). Unlike lightweight or web wallets that outsource key management, Bitcoin Core stores everything locally. The file is an SQLite database (since v22.0) or a Berkeley DB (BDB) file in older versions.
It contains:
Crucially, wallet.dat does not store the blockchain. It stores your slice of the blockchain—only transactions that involve your addresses.