good practices when using gpg --symmetric?

[julio baltazar]

Dear Robert, David,

Thank you both for your advice.

Not really, but I wonder why you're using --symmetric rather than the
> regular public-key mode.  There is no significant difference in security,
> but it might be more convenient for you if you have many files.


It is very possible that I have been using --symmetric for no good reason. I
thought of this choice as 'being able to access my files by having access to
the encrypted files and knowing the passphrase' vs 'additionally needing
another piece of data which must be kept separately from the encrypted
files'. The second option might be more secure, but also increases the risk
of me not being able to access my stuff when need arises.

Does this make sense or should I be using a key pair isntead of --symmetric?

Gratefully

Julio
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