[Martian]

I presume this Automator tip generates the familiar Mac-only disk images. In that case, they can't be shared with non-Mac platforms.

With that said, this is still a great tip and it helps stimulate what hopefully may become standard practice: encrypt EVERYTHING you put in the cloud that has even modest privacy implications. Google's are not the only prying eyes out there in the jungle.

[quitetall]

The problem with this approach is that all your files are in a disk image, which makes file management harder.

An alternative is to use encFS which encrypts each file on its own, and then offers decrypted version through the finder.

Works with Dropbox, Drive, SkyDrive, SugarSync in fact everything I've tried.

http://www.hutsby.ne...box-on-osx.html

[Chris Breen]

 quitetall, on 24 April 2012 - 06:57 PM, said:

The problem with this approach is that all your files are in a disk image, which makes file management harder.

That's not the case. Each file can be its own disk image. Given that the process is automated, no big deal.

[bopperzip]

Terrific tip. I've added an alias to the app to my Finder Toolbar so I can drag files and create encrypted disk images straight from a Finder window. See screenshot below.

http://dl.dropbox.co.../Users_Rick.pdf

[Felix001]

Good reminder for folks, Chris.

I never upload anything to a "cloud" (Amazon, Apple, Dropbox, Google, etc) which isn't encrypted. I figure the built-in protection provided is directly proportional to what you're paying for these services...and the first 5GB is free from everyone but Dropbox, 2GB free.

At least I'll give Google credit, their privacy policy is pretty unambiguous. Put anything of value in their cloud and it's fair game for data mining to fine-tune the Google advertising machine.

[MortenSeglem]

 Chris Breen, on 24 April 2012 - 11:28 AM, said:

Can you use it with Microsoft Skydrive? With 7GB free cloud on Skydrive, 5GB with Dropbox and 5Gb with Google Drive, that's 17GB free space.

Tip 1:
With Dropbox Beta testing, there's an auto-upload function for pictures from cameras and cell phones. Testing this can easily give you 5GB free, if needed for the uploads. Just make sure to put a big video on an SD-card or in the "DCIM\..\" folder on your smartphone, and the space limit increases as the uploads goes well. Check it out here:

http://forums.dropbo...9150&replies=44

Tip 2: Refer Dropbox to friends. Accordint to Dropbox, you'll get 500MBs for every friend, up to 16GBs extra.
Combining these, and max them out, you'll get: 2GB (basic) + 5+GB (testing) + 16GB (referrals) = 23GB or more (i think you can get more than 5GBs for testing, but that's not confirmed).

Happy hunting for free space! :-)

[LaBissoniere]

Awesome - Thanks.
Google will do no evil on my ass!

[mkummer82]

Great article - I'll add a link to my recent post about Google Drive at http://www.michaelkummer.com/?p=1366.

I wish there was a solution however to encrypt the files on the fly in order to retain file system structure etc...something like a filter driver that transparently encrypts anything copied into a certain folder (be it in the cloud or local).

[mkummer82]

Does EncFS handle simultaneous access from two or more computers properly?

[murrayE]

Doesn't work for me (OS X 10.7.3). After configuring the workflow (with, for this test, using a target folder "Test" on the Desktop) and saving it to the desktop, I drag some files to the icon on the desktop. All that happens is that the files are moved to the desktop.

[robgendreau]

 murrayE, on 30 April 2012 - 07:26 AM, said:

Doesn't work for me (OS X 10.7.3). After configuring the workflow (with, for this test, using a target folder "Test" on the Desktop) and saving it to the desktop, I drag some files to the icon on the desktop. All that happens is that the files are moved to the desktop.

Open a new "application," not a workflow. The icon will look like the little alien. I think the article said "Application workflow" which was a bit ambiguous. An Application will execute just like any other application.

[robgendreau]

Why not create a regular old encrypted sparse bundle image with a password? You open it, add files, then dismount it. Might be easier for some than encrypting individual files into disk images.

And you could use True Crypt, an open source application. Great for making cross platform encrypted stuff; you can format the volume as FAT32 for example. And it looks like a regular file.

Rob

[Chris Breen]

 robgendreau, on 30 April 2012 - 08:36 AM, said:

Why not create a regular old encrypted sparse bundle image with a password? You open it, add files, then dismount it. Might be easier for some than encrypting individual files into disk images.

That could be a good solution for some people. Others, though, will find it too much bother and just start tossing stuff unencrypted on to their Google Drive. With this, there's no muss or fuss. Drop a file on the app, done.

[robgendreau]

 Chris Breen, on 30 April 2012 - 09:00 AM, said:

 robgendreau, on 30 April 2012 - 08:36 AM, said:

Why not create a regular old encrypted sparse bundle image with a password? You open it, add files, then dismount it. Might be easier for some than encrypting individual files into disk images.

That could be a good solution for some people. Others, though, will find it too much bother and just start tossing stuff unencrypted on to their Google Drive. With this, there's no muss or fuss. Drop a file on the app, done.

Umm, I dunno. If you're in the Finder moving stuff around that'll work. But if you're working in Word or Excel or something, and go to save a file, the workflow doesn't help much. I prefer to open the disk image at startup, then you can save to it directly from within applications. And if you need to open a bunch of documents you don't wind up with lots of mounted volumes all over.