unwanted feature in v7.50: copy preserves EFS-encryption

[breqq]

When an EFS-encrypted source file is copied, the destination file gets EFS-encrypted, too. In other words: copy seems to preserve encryption. This is a new feature in v7.50: in 7.04a, the destination file does not get encrypted.

No, this is _not_ a useful feature (imho): if you want to preserve encryption, enable encryption on the destination directory itself.

No, this problem is _not_ theoretic: yesterday
- I copied files from an encrypted directory to a pendrive
- after driving 100+ km, I plugged in the pendrive into another computer and I was very unlucky to be unable to access my files

[theosdikaios]

It is discussed here already:
http://ghisler.ch/board/viewtopic.php?t=23805

[Hacker]

For a new version I'd suggest a "Keep encryption" checkbox in the copy dialog.

Roman

[ghisler(Author)]

No such option is needed, just turn off the new default copy method.

[Hacker]

Christian,

No such option is needed, just turn off the new default copy method.

That is really not intuitive.

Roman

[MVV]

Christian,

No such option is needed, just turn off the new default copy method.

That is really not intuitive.

Maybe we need special help topic for describing such indirect changes for each TC release?
So, for TC 7.50 one of them is that copy preserves NTFS encryption in default copy mode.

[Hacker]

Maybe we need special help topic for describing such indirect changes for each TC release?
So, for TC 7.50 one of them is that copy preserves NTFS encryption in default copy mode.

That is also not intuitive.

Roman

[MVV]

Maybe we need special help topic for describing such indirect changes for each TC release?
So, for TC 7.50 one of them is that copy preserves NTFS encryption in default copy mode.

That is also not intuitive.

Oh, yes!!!

I may expand my suggestion: after finishing installation (each or when TC version changes) installer will open totalcmd.chm with this page to let user read more about such non-intuitive things.

[theosdikaios]

In addition I want to extend the intuitiv behaviour with extra default option for "removable drives". In my cases encryption is wanted on local drives only but not on removable drives. Removable drives are often used for data exchange and/or for backups.

[theosdikaios]

Up. I want to repeat the suggestion for handling EFS encrypted files.
Target is a removable drive -> "remove" encryption.
Target is a local drive -> keep encryption.

TIA.

[MVV]

Support additional checkbox. ++
Sometimes I got similar situation - i.e. couldn't read files from USB stick just because of encryption that I forgot to remove.
Unfortunately I doubt that system file copy function allows to specify destination file attributes.

[ghisler(Author)]

There is no parameter for CopyFileEx to remove the encryption, see:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363852%28VS.85%29.aspx

There is just one which tells Windows that the operation will not fail when the destination doesn't support decryption.

So your only choice is to use the old copy method for removable drives. However, this method (ReadFile/WriteFile) is terribly slow with USB sticks...

[theosdikaios]

your only choice is to use the old copy method

WARNING
I forgot after a copy that this option should be reset to "standard copy method". Therefore it was the non-standard method active. That results in data destruction in the case of copy files with Windows 7 via WLAN at a Linux NAS. Unfortunately the copy action pretends a succesful copy action. An additional check only found this data destruction (there are lot of zero filled areas).

[ghisler(Author)]

???
The old default copy method uses a simple ReadFile/WriteFile loop, just as if a program like notepad.exe would save data to disk. I don't see why this should cause data corruption. Maybe you used the big file copy mode?

[petermad]

2theosdikaios

In my cases encryption is wanted on local drives only but not on removable drives. Removable drives are often used for data exchange and/or for backups

Some might say the opposite - that encryption on removable drives are more important, because they are more likely to be lost or stolen - same thing with stationary PC versus labtop.