[AccessD] apocalypse someday...

John W Colby jwcolby at gmail.com
Sat Mar 8 10:23:51 CST 2014


Boxcryptor creates an encrypted container in dropbox.  It then mounts that container as a drive so 
that you can see the files contained in the encrypted file. Changes to files in the mounted drive 
cause the boxcryptor container file in DropBox to change, and are therefore automatically synced by 
Dropbox.  The biggest problem (there is no free lunch) is that it is the boxcryptor file that is 
synced, not the individual files inside of the boxcryptor file.  Thus the overhead of the sync is 
greater, i.e. one large file is synced (the boxcryptor container), not one small file (the document 
you edited).

However it is not intended for encrypting your music, pictures and videos, only business (sensitive) 
information.

Dropbox really needs to do a better job of syncing just changed parts of files.  ATM (AFAICT) they 
resend the whole file, even if you just change a single character.

John W. Colby

Reality is what refuses to go away
when you do not believe in it

On 3/8/2014 10:47 AM, Doug Steele wrote:
> Hi John:
>
> I had a look at BoxCryptor and their video.  That makes it sound like the
> BoxCryptor software doesn't track changes to files in the BoxCryptor drive.
>   They only mention copying files to BoxCryptor.  Does that mean that you
> lose real-time syncing of changes?  If you open a Word document that is
> stored in BoxCryptor, edit, then do a File/Save, does the new file version
> get re-encrypted automatically?
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Mar 8, 2014 at 7:30 AM, John W Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Another problem with Dropbox is security, the stored contents are not
>> encrypted.  I use BoxCryptor to encrypt sensitive files up on drop box.
>>
>>
>> John W. Colby
>>
>> Reality is what refuses to go away
>> when you do not believe in it
>>
>> On 3/8/2014 10:24 AM, Doug Steele wrote:
>>
>>> I have a desktop at home and use a laptop when I'm away.  I use Dropbox
>>> for
>>> syncing - all my working files are in my Dropbox folder.  That syncs
>>> continuously on any file changes when I'm connected to the Internet, and
>>> also means I have three identical copies of every file - one on each
>>> computer and one in the cloud.
>>>
>>> The only gotcha is if you open a file on the two computers simultaneously
>>> and make changes to both.  You end up with two copies of the file - one
>>> labelled 'Conflicted Copy'.  That's happened to me a few times when I've
>>> made changes at home, then forgotten to close the file and later made
>>> changes on the laptop away from home.
>>>
>>> Doug
>>>
>>> PS Speaking of backing up different hardware configurations, here's one
>>> distinct advantage to Macs, where Apple controls the hardware with an iron
>>> fist.  Both my computers are Macs (I run Windows on Parallels).  A full
>>> backup of either of my computers will restore to either machine just fine.
>>>    As well as the standard Time Capsule continuous backup that Apple
>>> provides, I use a program called Super Duper for regular, offline backups
>>> to USB drives.  The drives are fully bootable - this has saved my bacon a
>>> couple of times.  I had a hard drive failure recently, so all I did was
>>> plug in a backup drive, boot to it, recover the files I needed, install a
>>> new HD, restore the system with the last good Time Capsule backup, then
>>> copy my recovered files back.  The whole process took less than an hour,
>>> not counting the HD replacement.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 10:33 PM, Bill Benson <bensonforums at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>   I use a DELL laptop with port replicator and dual monitors, external
>>>> kb/trackball... and this in general gives me all the look and feel and
>>>> performance of a desktop machine. However we developers need to build for
>>>> lesser performing client (customer) systems anyway, so that if a solution
>>>> is fast for us, we know it will be at least almost-fast for our customer,
>>>> and not the other way around. That said, there are some reasons to use a
>>>> desktop machine, and that is durability... If you are like me, you may
>>>> have
>>>> lost a laptop HD a time or two. Having a desktop running dual drives with
>>>> RAID 3 would have been nice at such times. Also, the faster spin and huge
>>>> capacities of desktop HDDs is a plus, as are the plethora of ports and
>>>> (generally) better ports. Laptops are, due to form factor and nature,
>>>> skimpy on ports.
>>>>
>>>> If I knew of a simple way to keep dual systems in synch in terms of
>>>> programs and OS and data, there is no way I would use a laptop as a home
>>>> system, I would use it only when moving around the house to "run" my
>>>> desktop remotely, if for no other reason than data protection. But the
>>>> time
>>>> cost of keeping everything I want in two places is prohibitive, and I
>>>> live
>>>> with the risk of data shock with everything on one system (laptop). I
>>>> compensate by regular full system backups, but if my laptop becomes
>>>> obsolete, that multi-partition backup probably will not be able to get
>>>> recovered to a new one. Happened just last year, my E6510 could not be
>>>> recovered to a E6530... although I have heard that with the 2014 edition
>>>> of
>>>> Acronis True Image one can recover from one hardware configuration to
>>>> another. I have my doubts.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Mar 7, 2014 at 11:31 PM, John W Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>   LOL, my HP laptop has the worst keyboard I have EVER run into.  I use a
>>>>> wireless keyboard and mouse.  The laptop is propped up against the wall
>>>>>
>>>> at
>>>>
>>>>> the edge of the table, completely out of the way.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> John W. Colby
>>>>>
>>>>> Reality is what refuses to go away
>>>>> when you do not believe in it
>>>>>
>>>>> On 3/7/2014 11:23 PM, Stuart McLachlan wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>   I'm the same.  I do all of my work on a laptop with external mouse
>>>>>> (wireless) and second
>>>>>> monitor attached   (the laptop primary screen is 15.6in - 1366 x 768).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I don't bother with an external keyboard since the laptop has a full
>>>>>> keyboard with numeric
>>>>>> keypad.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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