One way to backup the TrueCrypt container
Task: there is a file container TrueCrypt on 20GB. And used on 2 computers - at home and in the office. Main 2 problems:
1. The lack of a convenient incremental backup of this section. It was necessary to disconnect the partition and copy it to another media entirely.
2. Lack of convenient synchronization between home and office.
Simple and convenient solution below.
First, I considered the option of incremental backup + encryption by third-party software (Acronis True Image), while the partition is connected. However, for me it did not fit, because I need software for Win & Mac, and I don’t really want a backup (access speed, new encryption layer) at the time when the partition is on. The issue of transfer to other computers is also open. In general, the mass of nuances.
Some additional information: the partition is used in both Windows and Mac. The file system inside the container is NTFS (in mac via tuxera).
')
Everything is really very simple.
Charter to use flash drives and external hard drives, found that Dropbox (and most likely, many other cloud storages) can perfectly cope with this task. The fact is that Dropbox uses 4MB blocks for hashing, so it’s actually necessary to upload all 20 GB only once. Then, when the Dropbox section is disconnected, it will automatically index the changed blocks and flood only what has changed.
Some nuances that must be considered:
1. In TrueCrypt you need to uncheck the box “Preserve modification timestamp of file containers' . This is necessary so that when the dropbox section is disabled, it detects the modified file and reindexes it. TrueCrypt for mac also has this option.
2. Reindexing a file to tens of GB is a slow operation. In my case, it does not matter, because This is done after work. However, for frequent synchronization, you should think about putting the container on an SSD disk.
3. It is not recommended to defragment the encrypted partition. This can almost completely change the container file, which will entail flooding all the information into the cloud again. Defragmentation is also not recommended in the official TrueCrypt manual for security reasons. Although for reasons of speed, I would recommend once a year to carry out this procedure.
4. 20 GB is theoretically possible to use on a free Dropbox account, but already 30 will not work. Recommended Pro account yet, for work and convenience it is worth it.
1. The lack of a convenient incremental backup of this section. It was necessary to disconnect the partition and copy it to another media entirely.
2. Lack of convenient synchronization between home and office.
Simple and convenient solution below.
First, I considered the option of incremental backup + encryption by third-party software (Acronis True Image), while the partition is connected. However, for me it did not fit, because I need software for Win & Mac, and I don’t really want a backup (access speed, new encryption layer) at the time when the partition is on. The issue of transfer to other computers is also open. In general, the mass of nuances.
Some additional information: the partition is used in both Windows and Mac. The file system inside the container is NTFS (in mac via tuxera).
')
Everything is really very simple.
Charter to use flash drives and external hard drives, found that Dropbox (and most likely, many other cloud storages) can perfectly cope with this task. The fact is that Dropbox uses 4MB blocks for hashing, so it’s actually necessary to upload all 20 GB only once. Then, when the Dropbox section is disconnected, it will automatically index the changed blocks and flood only what has changed.
Some nuances that must be considered:
1. In TrueCrypt you need to uncheck the box “Preserve modification timestamp of file containers' . This is necessary so that when the dropbox section is disabled, it detects the modified file and reindexes it. TrueCrypt for mac also has this option.
2. Reindexing a file to tens of GB is a slow operation. In my case, it does not matter, because This is done after work. However, for frequent synchronization, you should think about putting the container on an SSD disk.
3. It is not recommended to defragment the encrypted partition. This can almost completely change the container file, which will entail flooding all the information into the cloud again. Defragmentation is also not recommended in the official TrueCrypt manual for security reasons. Although for reasons of speed, I would recommend once a year to carry out this procedure.
4. 20 GB is theoretically possible to use on a free Dropbox account, but already 30 will not work. Recommended Pro account yet, for work and convenience it is worth it.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/164171/
All Articles