The backup is, by every account, extremely safe. It is also, by two-thirds, missing.
Sarah M., having split her seed backup into three pieces and hidden each in a clever location, confirmed on Thursday that she could presently remember exactly one of them.
The scheme itself was sound: no single piece reveals anything on its own, so each could be hidden boldly and separately. The flaw was entirely human — she hid them so well, and so long ago, that two now exist in a state best described as theoretical.
"One's in the safe. The other two are… safe," she said, gesturing vaguely at the general concept of her home. A simple record of where each piece lived would have spared her the afternoon.
A backup split for safety is only safe if you can still find the pieces.
Everything above is satire. Here is how it actually goes when you fix it.
What it does
The assistant records where each backup piece is stored — the locations only, never the secret share itself — so a backup split for safety doesn't quietly become a backup you've lost. It remembers the map; it never holds the treasure. The split keeps your seed safe from any single thief; the record keeps it findable by you.
Sarah: I split my backup into pieces and hid them. Now I can't find two.
Assistant: I can keep a record of where each piece lives — just the locations, never the shares themselves. The split keeps them safe; the record keeps them findable. I never see the secret, only your note of where it is.
Splitting a backup protects it from any one thief. Writing down where the pieces are protects it from you, a year later, with no memory of your own cleverness.