Accessing a USB drive connected to a router at a different house...?

[Technique]

What it has to do is that you said about password protecting a spreadsheet, which is a file

And then I mentioned about my past experience of password protecting a file, which was a WinRAR file. 

 

Ive opened plenty of WinRAR files that I hadn't put a password on - no problems. 

A good number of those I put a password on could be opened no problems also, but too many also ended up with a 'file corrupt' message when trying to open them. 

 

Not really sure how better I can explain the relevance of this and how it relates to my concern regards password protecting files, be they spreadsheets, word documents, zip files or whatever. 

[Technique]

To put in plain English - yes I would like to password protect a file (spreadsheet, document etc) but my past experience has me concerned that lets say I kick the bucket, a family member goes to open the password protected file and has the password but ends up experiencing a file corrupt error the same way I did years ago when I used to put them on WinRR files. 

[neoraptor]

I would use google drive, if your main mail is there, they already know most of your secrets. Password protecting the file (especially on a rar which is proprietary format) doesn't increase the security that much. I don't know what happened but corrupting the file is strange and is highly uncommon in normal usage scenario. 7zip is better option in terms of encryption. You can also use an encrypted container truecrypt/veracrypt which will be mounted across the devices and will be visible as normal drive, the issue is that syncing will be slower since the whole file (the container) will be transferred on update of any of the files in it. If the sync client supports differential uploads won't be that bad.

 

 

Anyway flash drives in the router or vpns are totally unneeded and/or not really secure. I would use an encrypted container with any of the public clouds, should be simplest to implement.

[+BudMan MVC]

Then don't  just use dropbox or put in the cloud... Using a USB that you access remotely is just completely stupid... Sorry...  Make zero sense for something that is drop dead simple as using dropbox to keep this file in multiple places... Sorry you don't know how to use passwords.

 

Been using passwords in excel spreadsheets since excel freaking came out what 20 years ago - ZERO issues ever..

 

A password on a zip or a rar is no different than just the zip or the rar... Be it passworded or not if the file becomes corrupted, prob from storing them on fat32 usb disks and just yanking them out before the file has finished writing, etc. etc.

[Technique]

2 hours ago, BudMan said:

Then don't  just use dropbox or put in the cloud... Using a USB that you access remotely is just completely stupid... Sorry...  Make zero sense for something that is drop dead simple as using dropbox to keep this file in multiple places... Sorry you don't know how to use passwords.

 

Been using passwords in excel spreadsheets since excel freaking came out what 20 years ago - ZERO issues ever..

 

A password on a zip or a rar is no different than just the zip or the rar... Be it passworded or not if the file becomes corrupted, prob from storing them on fat32 usb disks and just yanking them out before the file has finished writing, etc. etc.

Wow that's a lot of guesswork there.

 

Don't know how to use passwords? Well i set them and then use them. I wasn't aware there was more to it so what step am i missing out?

 

Nope there were no USB sticks involved. The file most certainly was allowed to finish.

 

 

Now keeping it away from the wild talk ....

 

you'd recommend Dropbox over Google Drive? Or is it all much of a muchness?

 

And no i'm not insistent on using USB drives as you seem to think. Yes i did ask about it, yes i thought it may have been better, yes i was overcomplicating it, yes i was wrong to think it was better, no you're not right in your assumptions about my WinRAR episode.

[Technique]

I know we're drifting a bit off the topic now but since you seem to be sticking with me and to save me adding another thread to the forum....

 

There's plans in place to set up a lottery syndicate at work with myself as the organiser (what's this got to do with anything online you may ask? Stick with me...)

 

Now Facebook will certainly be the main thing where all the info/activity is put. A private group with updates, ticket shots, discussion etc. Why? Because pretty much everyone has Facebook so it requires very little 'effort' on the other peoples behalf (since we all know how people hate effort).

 

I'd like a secondary for those who don't have Facebook (i know you could just say well tough, make them create a FB account but i prefer not to railroad anyone into anything). Somewhere where they can access the rules, the tickets for that week, a spreadsheet of who's playing which weeks (because no doubt each week someone will not pay - therefore not play that week), each individuals rolling 'pot/earnings'.

 

This is where it relates to this forum a little.

 

I have experience of Google Drive and Dropbox however i have zero experience of 'sharing' anything through these platforms. I don't know if one offers something the other doesn't, one is easier to use than the other (for sharing) etc etc.

 

I wouldn't want them to be able to access ANY other files/folders in my account that's for sure. So i don't know if i'd need to create a new account specific for this task.

 

I would guess Google Drive but only due to the fact that it's a Google thing and i doubt Google are going to go away any time soon. That said, Dropbox may not disappear either.

 

So over to you...

[Nick H. Supervisor]

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why not have a USB encrypted with something like VeraCrypt, store the files there and note the password somewhere secure, and then in the unfortunate event of you're passing the family members go over to your place to access the information that they need? What you're suggesting would possibly be more technical than my family members would be able to handle...

 

26 minutes ago, Technique said:

I have experience of Google Drive and Dropbox however i have zero experience of 'sharing' anything through these platforms. I don't know if one offers something the other doesn't, one is easier to use than the other (for sharing) etc etc.

 

I wouldn't want them to be able to access ANY other files/folders in my account that's for sure. So i don't know if i'd need to create a new account specific for this task.

 

I would guess Google Drive but only due to the fact that it's a Google thing and i doubt Google are going to go away any time soon. That said, Dropbox may not disappear either.

I've shared plenty of things using both Google Drive and Dropbox, and I can tell you that it is easy as breathing (unless you have asthma, in which case scrap that analogy). Dropbox, for example. Put the file in a folder on dropbox, right-click on the folder and select "share." It'll ask for the email address of the people you want to share with and you're done. They won't have access to any other folder on your Dropbox. You can also then modify the individual users so that they have read access or read-write access. Honestly I think that's all there is to it.

 

Thinking about it a bit more, you could apply that solution to the issue with your family members as well. Put the data on a cloud based solution like Dropbox and set the permissions as you see fit. No need to have an encrypted USB key plugged in to a router, and the family have a nice link that they just need to click to access the up-to-date files.

[neoraptor]

@Technique

 

No offense mate, but it would have taken you less time to google your questions than to write in here, i highly suspect sharing files on cloud providers is well documented.

 

Also this is not how forums work, open a new thread for your totally different topic, forums are for sharing knowledge (apart from trolling) and questions should be organized and searchable.

 

And again, putting passwords on archives doesn't increase the chance of corrupting them (but yeah less chance for recovery). Checksums are the standard way to verify the integrity of the file and par2 (or the rar's build in recovery record)  can be used for better recovery options. Just create a truecrypt/veracrypt container, put it in your google drive, sync it with the rest and show them how to mount it (you can setup some keys without passwords if you trust everybody but google)

[+BudMan MVC]

If you have concerns with putting passwords on files - then DON'T... That you can not remember your password is on you... Sorry but I have been in this business for 30+ years... And playing with this stuff since before there were even disks.. Just tape and punch cards   I use to walk to the library and type in programs in machine language and store them on freaking cassette tapes for gosh sake.. So have been dealing with storage of data for long time is my point

 

Files become corrupt sure.. bad copy, media doesn't last forever.. You write a file on a floppy and then try and access it 2 years latter. Might not work - back in the days the heads of the floppy drive could be out of alignment compared to other drive, etc..

 

But sorry.. Putting a password on the file has ZERO to do with corruption of the data.. It's only zero's and one's when you come down too it.. The problem is user creates a password on something - comes back 6 months latter or year and yeah I used password... But maybe it really was pasword because they typo's it back then or something, etc..

 

Here is the thing with any form of encryption - which is RARELY required by any home user anyway... Its going back to bite them in the end because they FORGET the password, or loose the encryption key, etc..   But the file being passworded or non passworded or encrypted or not encrypted has zero to do with this problem.. If the file becomes corrupted its not going to work be it you have it password or not..

 

Examples of repair of such issues

https://keepass.info/help/base/repair.html

 

I have a keepass database from 2011 that I still open - has a master password on it, etc.

 

Zip and Rar could fail on old files as user changes to new versions or different maker even... The form of encryption on a zip file that was encrypted by winzip back in the day... Maybe new zip program ABC doesn't do it right, etc..

 

 

[Technique]

4 hours ago, Nick H. said:

It'll ask for the email address of the people you want to share with and you're done.

Ahh and therein lays the problem with that one - it requires collecting email addresses.

Me: What's your email address?

Them: Uhhh i'm not sure / you're not having it / i'm going to give you it but i've spelled it wrong and then i'm going to complain when i can't access the info.

 

It'd be much easier if i could just put a link on the rule sheet for example (which would stay at work) and they could then note it (providing it's not one of those links that's double the size of an enclycopaedia britannica.

4 hours ago, neoraptor said:

open a new thread for your totally different topic,

The reason i didn't is because from past experience people love to bitch & moan and i try to keep that to a minimum.

Post nothing for 6 months but then post 2 threads in 24 hours and everyone loses their mind that a forum is being 'spammed' 😕

And no that isn't an exaggeration. I've been there before. It's like ... seriously???? Are you actually taking the ssip?? 2 threads is 'spamming'???? For some reason scrolling beyond them & ignoring them is too difficult for these people.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

1 minute ago, Technique said:

Ahh and therein lays the problem with that one - it requires collecting email addresses.

Me: What's your email address?

Them: Uhhh i'm not sure / you're not having it / i'm going to give you it but i've spelled it wrong and then i'm going to complain when i can't access the info.

Hmm...ok. I would suggest creating a new gmail account, storing the data on the Google drive and then writing the email address and password on a piece of paper that they could access should something unfortunate happen. Although the problem with that idea is that once they have the details of the account they would also have access to all of the data on the drive, not just their own (i.e. they would be able to see other family members' information). It might not be a problem for them but you would need to check first.

 

If the issue is that they don't want to give you their email address you can explain that all that happens is that they will receive an email which would provide them with a link to their folder. Also, it's for their benefit. They've probably signed up to free services with their email in the past and this would be no different.

 

I stand by the idea that if their reason for not providing you an email address is because they don't know it then your idea of a USB plugged in to a router would be too complex a solution for them.

 

If they really really really don't want to give you their address, you could explain that you could write the link down on a piece of paper and they could then enter it to access the information, but you would also have to explain that this is a dangerous idea because the information would also be publicly available. Anyone that has the link can access the information, anyone could accidentally stumble across it through trial and error.

 

But ok, let's forget about cloud-based solutions. Get a USB stick, use a program like VeraCrypt to create multiple volumes on the drive and encrypt each volume with a different password. Write the password down for each person and then they would only have access to that volume with their information. The downside of this though is that it means more work for you when you want to update the information.

[Technique]

1 hour ago, Nick H. said:

Hmm...ok. I would suggest creating a new gmail account, storing the data on the Google drive and then writing the email address and password on a piece of paper that they could access should something unfortunate happen.

Not sure how we managed to get to that stage of misunderstanding?

 

You were quoting me talking about setting up with my co-workers. Generally people are lazy or at least in my experience they are. The people you guys may know may be super on-the-ball but not those i work with. So in that situation i'm looking for it to be as close to zero effort as possible.

 

But the death thing relates to my family and obviously they would be on the ball with whatever was needed.

 

 

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

2 hours ago, Technique said:

Not sure how we managed to get to that stage of misunderstanding?

 

You were quoting me talking about setting up with my co-workers. Generally people are lazy or at least in my experience they are. The people you guys may know may be super on-the-ball but not those i work with. So in that situation i'm looking for it to be as close to zero effort as possible.

 

But the death thing relates to my family and obviously they would be on the ball with whatever was needed.

 

 

It's not hard to do, bud... Even the stupidest person can figure this out, realy.

[Technique]

14 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

It's not hard to do, bud... Even the stupidest person can figure this out, realy.

What we talking about here? Sharing via dropbox? Accessing USB drives in a router? Misunderstanding people - thinking they're talking about one thing that's been mentioned when it's actually something else? What's not hard (a few things have been said so not sure what you're on about).

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

2 minutes ago, Technique said:

What we talking about here? Sharing via dropbox? Accessing USB drives in a router? Misunderstanding people - thinking they're talking about one thing that's been mentioned when it's actually something else? What's not hard (a few things have been said so not sure what you're on about).

I think you are out-thinking yourself. You're making it more complicated than it is.

 

Listen to BudMan, he can tach you quite a bit. It may sound like he is assuming, but at the end, he is always right.