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On-the-fly encryption with Virtual Folders

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erum4k
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:40 pm    Post subject: On-the-fly encryption with Virtual Folders Reply with quote

I am trying to write a code based on the concept of on-the-fly encryption and my stumbling block is, how do I implement this technology such that it doesn't create a virtual drive, but a virtual folder to show the decrypted content.

I think the reason for this is that such a folder can't possibly exist as it would not have entry table in Windows because Windows only keeps entry table of existing items and not virtual ones. My problem is that i can't find out any paper or relevant information regarding virtual folders.

The reason I am looking for this type of implementation is because a virtual folder can allow the possibility of the user having not required to move his files or folders to a drive, instead they can simply move from the same drive into this folder. Moving files and folders to a single drive is much faster.

As far as I know, all the encryption software that I am aware of show the content in a virtual drive. For example, Yoys Encryption at http://www.y0ys.com/encryption-software/encryption-software.htm and Folder Lock at http://www.newsoftwares.net/folderlock all use this technique, but there is not a single program that can allow for a virtual folder to exist.

Please help me with this problem asap.
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capi
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Joined: 21 Sep 2003
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:42 am    Post subject: Re: On-the-fly encryption with Virtual Folders Reply with quote

erum4k wrote:
The reason I am looking for this type of implementation is because a virtual folder can allow the possibility of the user having not required to move his files or folders to a drive, instead they can simply move from the same drive into this folder. Moving files and folders to a single drive is much faster.

I believe you may be overlooking something here.

The reason why moving files is faster within the same "drive" (or rather, filesystem) is that, within the same filesystem, the actual file data doesn't need to be moved around. All that is necessary is to change the directory entries where the files originally resided and where they will reside after the move. In short, the files are not physically moved; they are simply re-labeled as being inside a different directory.

Moving files to an encrypted container, though, will definitely require physically moving the data. The whole point is that the file data will now be physically stored as encrypted data. You need to physically read the original data, encrypt it, and physically write it back to disk. You can't escape this and still retain the property of having your data encrypted.

Regardless of whether the virtual container presents itself as another "drive" (which is easier for technical reasons) or as a virtual folder inside an existing "drive", the behavior in this respect will be the same. The virtual folder would still be physically backed by physical space inside some form of physical container (be it a hidden file, a hidden partition, many small hidden files inside the virtual folder itself, etc). When moving files to the virtual folder, you would still need to physically read and write the file data to a different place.
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