Changes to file contents don't sync properly with shared Dropbox folders

Colin Bowen

Hi, I have an odd bug to report (I think).

I have a Win7 laptop, a Dropbox Pro account, and a Boxcryptor Unlimited Personal account.
My wife has WinXP, a Dropbox Pro account, and a Boxcryptor Unlimited Personal account.
I have a Boxcryptor folder in Dropbox that is shared with my wife. New files, renamed files, and deleted files all sync correctly.

The problem I have is when one of us edits the contents of a file and then saves it. The edited file appears to sync between the two computers, but the contents of the file don't sync properly.

Here is an example:
I create a text file in Boxcryptor called 'Test', I open it and add the text "Husband", and save the changes. My Dropbox icon spins and the tick appears. My wife's Dropbox icon spins and Dropbox confirms that the file was updated to the latest version. But when I open the file on my Wife's PC the "Husband" text I added on my PC is not there.
Oddly, if I add a lot of text in the file on my wife's computer then close and save the file, only part of that text appears in the version of the file on my computer; the edit is truncated.

I also tested this by going to the Dropbox folder that contains the encrypted Boxcryptor folder, and did the same testing with unencrypted files, and that worked fine. It's only a problem with edits to files in Boxcryptor.

Exiting and restarting Boxcryptor solves the problem and the full contents of the file are visible.

I have Dropbox 1.4.7 and Boxcryptor Unlimited 1.5 on both computers. I am using filename encryption.

Good luck.

David R.

Hello Colin,
thank you for your precise report! I'll forward this to our windows developers, and also try to provoke the same behavior here. I have one more question: If you hit refresh in the windows explorer, in the drive, are all updates visible? Or only after restarting

Best regards,

David

Colin Bowen

Hi David, thanks.

No, hitting refresh in Windows Explorer in the drive doesn't help. It's only by exiting Boxcryptor then restarting it that the full edit is visible.

I thought that it might be some sort of caching problem, that's why I tried the same testing by editing unencrypted files in the same Boxcryptor.bc folder directly (rather than through the Boxcryptor drive). The edits work fine unencrypted files, so maybe it's not a cache problem.

Just to confirm, the problem is there whether I edit the document on Win7 or WinXP.

Yours,

Colin.

David R.

Hello Colin,

one more question, it's still a mystery to me/us. Does this behavior happens on both ends or "only" if you change the text on the win7 machine. Or does it also occur if the file is changed on the pc of your wife and then synced to you?

Could you please provide us with a debug log? You can create it by entering "boxcryptor.exe /debug" in the run prompt. It's located on the desktop.

Best regadrs

David

Colin Bowen

Hello David.

I am away from my computers today. I might be able to do it tonight, or it might have to wait a couple of days, sorry.

I hope this isn't a stupid mistake on my part.

Yes, it happens both ends, whether the edits are made on the WinXP or the Win7 PC.

I will supply the log as soon as I can. I also want to try a couple of things. I will compare the size of the files on both PCs in the dropbax folder and the Boxcryptor folder to see if there are any differences. I will also test the editing both ways using Boxcryptor for Android.

Please let me know if there's anything else I can do too.

Colin.

Colin Bowen

If Start, Run, boxcryptor.exe /debug it won't work. I have to exit Boxcryptor, then do Start, Run, boxcryptor.exe /debug. This works fine on my WinXP PC, but when I do it on my Win7 PC and try to access the Boxcryptor drives, I get a Windows error "You need to format the disk in drive J: before you can use it. Do you want to format it?". I cancelled, of course.

Colin Bowen

I tried to do the testing, but I don't think I was very successful. This is an explanation of what I have done to test Boxcryptor. I have the debug file for WinXP but it is very long. I can post it here if you like, or email it to you, or send you a link to it in Dropbox.

If it would help, and if you use Crossloop, you can remote in to both PCs if you like, and I can demonstrate it in real-time. We just need to set up a date and time, and I can share the access code with you in private somehow.

Sorry that this has turned into a long process. Here's what I did during my test...

PCs are on different networks for this test, through different ISPs (although I get the same regarding missing text from edited files when both PCs are on the same network/ISP).

Note, the time shown by the Windows clock is different on the two PCs; the Win7 clock being 17 seconds ahead of the WinXP clock.

On both PCs. Reboot. Wait for Dropbox to finish syncing.

On WinXP exit Boxcryptor, Start, Run, boxcryptor.exe /debug

WinXP PC, Open Boxcryptor Drive "J: BBFS WIP". Create folder "Test".

I did some testing with a file TestFile.txt, then decided to start again with a new file as follows.

On WinXP, create a file TestFile2.txt, open, and add the text "Added on XP". Close and save. Dropbox syncs it. Properties say the file is 11 bytes on both WinXP and Win7.

Win7 PC, open the file and the text input on WinXP is visible. Add text "This text added on Win7", close and save. Dropbox syncs, and both PCs show the file size is 28 bytes.

Close the window on XP, and re-open the J: drive, navigate to the folder. Properties say 28 bytes. Open the file, and the text added on the Win7 PC is not there.

Added more text "Second addition to TestFile2 on WinXP". Save the file, dropbox syncs it to Win7. Properties in WinXP say 52 bytes. Properties on Win7 say 52 bytes. Open the file on Win7, and only this text has been added "Second additi".

Close the file on Win7, there is no Dropbox activity. Re-open the file on Win XP and the full text is there. I add a "." to the end of the text, close and save the file. Dropbox syncs. WinXP says the file is 53bytes. Win7 says the file is 53 bytes, but no text is added; it still says "Second additi".

On Win7, between the text "This text added on Win7" and "Second additi", I add "More text added on Win7". Close and save. File size is now 51 bytes on Win7.

Windows Explorer on WinXP appears to crash, with folder "Test" not responding. I have to ctrl-alt-del. End Task for "Test" does not work. I have to End Task Boxcryptor to get my desktop icons back. J: is not available (obviously). I have the log file, but it's very long. What should I do?

billpwright

Any word on this issue? I'm seeing the same thing but on my iPhone. If I make a change to a text file on my computer, then check the same text file on my iPhone using the Boxcryptor app, it sees that the file was modified, but when I open the file it doesn't show the new content.