Issues with Adobe CC files not being the same after decrypting and downloading?

heyitsme

I’m planning on using Boxcryptor to upload a large amount of .psd, .ai, .indd, .xd, and .sketch files to Dropbox. However, I’m concerned that the files I get back from the cloud won’t be bit for bit an exact replica as what I uploaded. For example, linked images in .psd's becoming unlinked, anchor points in .ai files shifting, .sketch files becoming unlinked from their libraries, etc.

Has anyone ever come across an issue where the contents of those files are different (even just slightly) than they were before encrypting and uploading? Basically, is there any data that doesn’t (for lack of a better word) translate, or gets lost somewhere along the way? I would be uploading to Dropbox on Mac, and I do not need to be able to access these files on a mobile device.

Thanks in advance for the help!

heyitsme

Follow up: Would adding parity data before uploading help?

Robert

Hi!

I just replied to your support ticket, but also publicly for others to read here:

Encrypting or decrypting files does not change their content in any way. The plaintext content of an encrypted file is exactly equal to the unencrypted file - bit for bit. However, if files contain links or references to other files, these links may break after the encryption due to the different path on the Boxcryptor disk.

Example:

You have the following files

/Users/heyitsme/Dropbox/Creative Work/Illustration.psd
/Users/heyitsme/Dropbox/Creative Work/Component.psd

Illustration.psd references Component.psd
You encrypt the Creative Work folder which results in the following files:

/Volumes/Secomba/heyitsme/Boxcryptor/Dropbox/Creative Work/Illustration.psd
-> backed by /Users/heyitsme/Dropbox/Creative Work/Illustration.psd.bc

/Volumes/Secomba/heyitsme/Boxcryptor/Dropbox/Creative Work/Component.psd
-> backed by /Users/heyitsme/Dropbox/Creative Work/Component.psd.bc

If Illustration.psd references Component.psd everything is fine and the reference is intact when you open Illustration.psd in the Boxcryptor drive. However, if Component.psd is referenced using its absolute path /Users/heyitsme/Dropbox/Creative Work/Component.psd, this link will be broken after encryption because this file does not exist anymore.

So the final question is: Are other files linked or referenced using absolute or relative paths. If an application uses relative paths, everything should be fine because they are not changed due to the encryption. If absolute paths are used, they must be updated after the encryption.

Best regards,
Robert

heyitsme

Robert Awesome, sounds good. Thanks for the detailed response Robert!

boxy

My experience with Adobe cc files (which I use alot in different locations): the full path AND the relative path is stored. The app looks first in the full path, if it cannot find the file (eg. network drive is not available) the app searches the relative path.
(Disclaimer: only from personal experience, not confirmed by Adobe nor by analyzing the stored pathnames!)

But my concern would be: if you want to work with the (decrypted) main file, you would also have to ensure that all linked files are as well decrypted and in its correct (relative) path. So you will have to take manual notes of which files are needed and restore and decrypt them individually.
To me it seems more simple to put all relevant files in one folder and backup this as an encrypted zip container.