It&#x27;s not really something that can be made &quot;consumer friendly&quot; as far as I can tell (But I&#x27;d love to be proven wrong!). How do you securely store the key to your securely stored data?<p>Admittedly, there <i>are</i> some recommendations on the Tarsnap site (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tarsnap.com&#x2F;gettingstarted.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.tarsnap.com&#x2F;gettingstarted.html</a>):<p>&quot;5. Keep your key file safe<p>Store your &#x2F;root&#x2F;tarsnap.key somewhere safe.
If you lose tarsnap.key, you will not be able to access your archived data.
The same encryption which ensures your data security also means that there is no way for anybody (including Tarsnap Backup Inc.) to restore your data without this key.
There are many ways to keep it safe:
Copy it to a different system.
Put it on a USB disk.
Give it to a friend.
Print it out (it is printable text).
Store it in a bank vault.
Pick at least one and do it!&quot;<p>The only other way I can think of to keep the key even safer would be to use Shamir&#x27;s Secret Sharing to divide the key up and share it among trusted friends and family. (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Shamir%27s_Secret_Sharing</a>).