how do i even begin to cope. i switched operating systems and i thought i backed up EVERYTHING but apparently I didn't :(

i think i actually fucking hate the idea of password managers now. hate it to the point where I've now come to this conclusion:
use a formula using a 'keyword', which we'll say is horse. my second keyword is the first word that comes to mind for me for that particular site.
My passwords for all sites are: Horse {2ndKeyWord}3#
IE, facebook would be: Horse book3#

for alternative accounts, the first keyword can be different

using this method i can have a complex and different password for every site that i dont want to save in the PW manager and i can store it in my head. i have changed my keyword over the years so that if my formula and keyword are ever discovered then every account i have created are not compromised. i combine this with 5 different emails, each one used for a different level of concern. i have an outlook email for my personal business in the format Firstname_Lastname@outlook.com. this i use for paypal, amazon etc, things that already have my name attached to them. i then have 4 more emails that are used on the level of anonymity i wish to have on that particular site. 1 for spam sites (pintrest, facebook etc) 1 for webforums (spiceworks et al) one for mailing lists and one for other. the email for 'other' is hosted on a private mail server out of the country and has only ever been logged into using either temp web proxys, or tor.

i would not worry about 'giant data leaks' because generally i would be immune either way.

i could write a shell script that even automatically generates a password for me based on the needs of this account (is this personal? is this a throwaway? what's the general level of concern etc), and then save this shell script EVERYWHERE with zero context as to what it does, maybe spread it across the internet.. and then I would have my passwords all over the internet but nobody knows what they are or who they belong to which makes this as reliable as possible. no fucking fallbacks.

pros:
i can remember without needing a shell script or a file because it's pretty self explanatory in my head as to what a password would be for a certain account on a certain site
over the 8 character limit requirement
meets the unique symbol requirement
cons:
not encrypted or something (whatever. my disk is LUKS2 encrypted)
some sites HATE spaces (just use a _ or get rid of the space altogether)

as for my crypto wallets, i'm screwed but not really, because i didn't have any money on 'em.. but it scares me :(

This just sounds like a lot of extra work for coming up with passwords that are less secure than random characters generated by a password manager. Does it suck you lost your database file? Yes, but one screw up like this shouldn't dissuade the use of a password manager. Instead take it as a lesson to learn from for backing up important files.

What type of storage medium was it on? You might be able to recover it with photorec. You might want to shutdown (maybe hard power off) the system to prevent any more writes to the drive.

>>10184
>less secure than random characters generated by a password manager.
Unless you're autistic, you can't remember these random characters if you lose your database or can't access it. What are you going to do if you're using someone else's laptop and you need to temporarily sign into an account that you secured using your password manager? Work laptop and work accounts, you'd have to expose your entire database file and risk them keylogging the password in order to get into your work accounts. You could have a separate database for your work accounts, but these work accounts could also not be related to whatever job you're doing unless you separate by job too. It's a hassle to maintain and keep up with. If you make backups across storage mediums and devices, it's going to be a huge pain in the ass to synchronize across ALL of them unless they're all actively connected to the Internet and happen to have a synchronization daemon running in the background. You also would need to take mobile devices into consideration and ensure that you'd be able to use the database to log into accounts on there, too. What will you do when you encounter a restricted device that doesn't allow you to install your password manager on it that you must use? What if the previously mentioned work laptop prevents you from installing it?

All of this versus the formula:
1 - You accept that your passwords would be inherently weaker in a technical standpoint
2 - In exchange for this, you get rememberable passwords that do not require a file on your computer to use
3 - very minor parts of the password can be changed and switched for renewed security
4 - Nobody is going to figure out that the password to your bank account is Meat money3# because they found out that your Facebook account was Horse book3#