Cannot decrypt!

prof694

Hi: I am a new BoxCryptor user (but not a computer novice). I installed the sw for dropbox using default settings. Everything installed fine. I dragged a folder ("Folder 1") within dropbox into the BoxCryptor.bc folder contained within dropbox. Everything is fine. I can see "Folder 1" inside BoxCryptor.bc; when I open BoxCryptor.bc/Folder 1, I see file names, but cannot open any file (they are encrypted, as they should be). I go to Computer/BoxCryptor(Z): Drive, open "Folder 1", all files are decrypted. Great! So everything works so far. I was excited it is working.

Now, I open my dropbox, and start dragging-in additional folders (let's say Folder 2, Folder 3 and so on) into the BoxCryptor.bc. Problem! Files in Folder 2 or Folder 3 do NOT appear to be encrypted! So, I drag them back to dropbox. Panic! Folder 2, now residing in dropbox (but oustside BoxCryptor.bc), is now encrypted! I cannot read the files. Dragging them back into BoxCryptor.bc or into drive Z: directly do not help!

How do I recover this folder? Please help. Thank you!

prof694

Follow Up: I restored my original folder by using Windows RESTORE function. In this case, there was no data loss because the previous version I used for the RESTORE action was recent. But this episode tells me that a user can easily make dangerous mistakes with BoxCryptor.

Robert

Hi,

BoxCryptor has a fundamental concept: All files need to be written or read to/from the BoxCryptor Drive (in your case Z:) to be encrypted or decrypted. If you save files to the BoxCryptor Folder (e.g. Dropbox\BoxCryptor.bc) BoxCryptor does not modify these files in any way and they are NOT encrypted. You should never directly work within the BoxCryptor Folder!

If you drag a file to the BoxCryptor.bc folder, the file is not encrypted. If you then try to open this file in Z:, BoxCryptor "decrypts" a plaintext file and the result is non-sense data which looks like it was encrypted (but it's not).

I'm sorry that you've been confused in how to use BoxCryptor. We always try to make BoxCryptor as easy to use as possible and will continue to think how me can minimize this confusion in the future.

Best,
Robert

timbyts

I accidentally deleted the files from my boxcryptor.bc folder. I was not concerned as I back up each night. Unfortunately when I restore the files to the original folder (boxcryptor.bc the files remain encrypted. I read the above post and tried restoring the files directly to the x:drive (boxcryptor folder) but the results were the same. How can I restore my back up? Your help is appreciated. I am using Macrium reflect as my backup agent.

Cheers,

Timbys

Robert

Hello Timbyts,

If you have created the backup directly from the Boxcryptor Classic Folder (e.g. Dropbox\Boxcryptor.bc), you should be able to restore the files by copying them directly into the Boxcryptor Classic Folder again. If you then open them via the Boxcryptor Drive (e.g. X:\) they should then be decrypted again.

Best regards,
Robert

timbyts

tried that but everything still appears to be encrypted. Looks like I have lost all my data. If you have any other suggestions please let me known.

Timbys