I am still getting used to Cryptomator and I have been wondering about the meta data that I sync with Google Drive. Does Google have any idea what kind of files I store on the cloud? I see that the file sizes are not encrypted, so even if they cannot see the file I assume they can easily assume what kind of file they are.
Also as much as I would like to encrypt everything and then upload to Google Drive, I would also like to access them whenever I want to and that means I have to create separate folders for the vaults on Google Drive to see which files are which but doesn`t that kind of defeat the purpose? If I name my folders as what they contain inside, then even if they are encrypted it will be obvious what is inside. But if I do not name my folders then how would I know what is inside?
Well, they can see the file size, but I don’t think it’s „easily“ assumeable what type of file a big file is. It could be a zip container, a video file, or nearly anything else that results in big files.
To be honest, I don’t get why you want to do that. If you open your vault, you’ll see the files and folders in cleartext and can see which files has what format.
Well, I would like to encrypt ALL my data and upload it to Drive as a backup. It’s about 1.5 TB, so there’s no way I can upload it all at once in a single vault with the upload speed I have, it would literally take months (assuming it’s non-stop). So I thought I would upload it in parts folder by folder and if I don’t give my folders the real names then I would have no idea what is inside unless I download that vault.
Understand. But you don’t need to download the vault to see what’s inside. The mobile apps just list the file name and Download only the file you want to open. And the desktop version keeps the files lokal in you sync folder anyway. And even if you have „on demand“ enabled in your sync client, the Sync Client would only trigger a download for the files you want to open. Cryptomator encryption and decryption is file based (in opposite to eg veracrypt). You don’t have to download a complete vault if you just want to open one file.
Okay that`s true. I was thinking that I would keep the encrypted data only on the cloud and keep the original (unencrypted) data locally but I will delete the original and keep them encrypted locally as well.
What exactly do you mean by “on demand”? Could you please explain this part?
The sync client of Microsoft OneDrive and Google Backup and Sync offer a „Files on demand“ function to save local space. Means they delete the local files and keep only a link of it, and download it again on demand, when a file is needed. That works well with Cryptomator also. Of course you’ll have download time if you are using this with very big files and a poor connection. But if we are talking about documents, pictures etc, this might be a decent option for you.
But if you want to use Cryptomator for online backup purposes only (and have local space issues), cyberduck might be an option for you as well.
Thanks a lot Michael! I appreciate it. Cyberduck is going to be really useful for me I think.
Just one last thing…
For example if I upload movies or series etc. I would have to make separate vaults for each of them since they’re big files and if I make a folder on cloud and name it the name of the movie, serie and then upload the movie in there Google would basically “know” what’s inside but of course they couldn’t acces or see it.
Would that render my encryption useless or Google couldn’t do anything since it’s just a folder name?
We’ll, I dont want to say anything about “what google can do”
So, speaking in a general way:
If you name your vault “pictures of betty”, than yes, as the (unencrypted) folder where the vault files are actually located is named like your vault, then google knows that your vault might contain pictures of something called betty :).
Therefore it does not make sense at all to expose the content of a vault by describing it in the vaults name.
Question: why dont you just create a vault online with cyberduck (with a not “speaking” name), and then place your files/folders in it (means upload) piece by piece.
I assume that you still are believing that you have to upload all your files at one time. But that is not the case. You can do it step by step without having tons of vaults created.
then place your files/folders in it (means upload) piece by piece.
I assume that you still are believing that you have to upload all your files at one time. But that is not the case. You can do it step by step without having tons of vaults created.
Now I understand… I didn`t know I could do that with Cyberduck. I was just thinking uploading files directly to Drive on the browser.