Folder contents missing after reboot?

Started by arice, June 05, 2012, 10:12:12 AM

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arice

So, after upgrading to V3, I copied the contents of a folder I had protected in V2 to a new folder. I deleted the old folder and encrypted the new one using V3. Everything was fine and dandy -- I could lock and unlock the folder and all of the contents were inside. This was probably a week ago. I restarted my computer yesterday and noticed this morning that the folder was unlocked and all of its contents were gone. It still shows up in V3 as being protected and with a file size of ~3 GB. However, in Finder, the folder is empty and unlocked. No idea what happened. Really dissatisfied with this whole process. I still can't get V2 uninstalled.

zsolt

#1
Hello arice,
It might be that you simply did not understand how the V3 works:

When you click on protected folder, it will not give you a password prompt as the V2 did, it will simply show an empty folder (by default). If you unlock the folder in espionage and go again into that folder, then your protected files will show up.

In my opinion this design is much better, because to an intruder the folder would look just empty which is better then bringing up the prompt, because then the intruder does know that he hit a confidential folder and might be tempted to figure out how to get to the content.

What is even better (and maybe even more confusing), if you lock the folder, and it shows up empty, you can actually put some dummy files into it, once you unlock the folders these will disappear and you will see your real data. Once you lock it, the dummy files will be back. So you can put some, so to say, misleading files into it, say you name your tax return folder "Old pictures" you encrypt it, lock it, and add a few old photos into the folder. If somebody snoops around, he sees nothing unusual there. Once you unlock the folder, you will see all your tax related stuff.

So go ahead, open Espionage V3, unlock your protected folder and then revisit it in the FInder, are the files now there?

Pls let me know,
Zsolt
Follow @espionageapp on twitter for news! | For general Mac support, please visit Mac Me Support

arice

#2
Ah, I feel stupid.  :oops:

How about uninstalling V2?

zsolt

#3
Hello, I don't think you are stupid, it is just that nobody likes to read the manuals, but it is OK, this is why I'm here for :-)

Uninstall V2: if you added data to V3 DO NOT use the uninstall option of V2, instead you can manually uninstall Espionage by moving these files to the Trash and then restarting your computer:

/Users/[your username]/Library/LaunchAgents/com.taoeffect.EspionageHelper.plist
/System/Library/Extensions/iSpy.kext
/Library/iSpy
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.taoeffect.ispyd.plist
/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.taoeffect.Espionage.plist (might not exist)
/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.taoeffect.Espionage (might not exist)
And remove  the V2 Espionage from the Application folder.

Let me know if you have further questions.

Rgds
Zsolt
Follow @espionageapp on twitter for news! | For general Mac support, please visit Mac Me Support

arice

#4
Alright, thank you for the help ZSolt but I'm having the issue again. I went to unlock the folder and it wouldn't mount. So, I decrypted the folder in Espionage and placed the sparsebundle on my desktop. An Espionage promp popped up and said the password would be copied to my clipboard (it wasn't) and the password .txt file is empty as well. The folder no longer shows up in Espionage and I don't know how to open the sparsebundle. Help.

zsolt

#5
Hello Arice,
Did you maybe change the master password of Espionage? Did you create multiple folder sets (and maybe change the master password of those too).

At the moment the only thing we can try is to go back to older version of the Espionage database where the folder was still in the list, please do the following:

In your Library/Application Support/Espionage folder there should be a backup folder. This one should contain database3 files. These are the Espionage V3 database backups which are done automatically.
What we will have to do is to start Espionage with one of the older databases, where the folder was still present, then you can copy the password out by clicking on the i near the folder name and then clicking onto copy password button, then paste the password into a text file and there you have it.

To do this is actually quite simple:
- quit espionage V3
- rename the database3 file which is in the Library/Application Support/Espionage (not in the backup folder) to database3-current or such, this is your latest i.e. current database. Now copy one of the backups from the Backup folder, pick one which has a time stamp before you removed the folder, into parent folder, ie into Library/Application Support/Espionage, and rename it to database3.

Now start Espionage by doubleclickng it in the Application folder, unlock it, and if all went fine, the folder will be there.

Give it a try and let me know.

Note, if you were changing your master password, then you have to use the one which was valid at the time the database you copied was active.

Rgds
Zsolt
Follow @espionageapp on twitter for news! | For general Mac support, please visit Mac Me Support

arice

#6
I followed those steps and it seemed like it was going to work, but I was getting this growl error when I tried to unlock the folder:

http://cl.ly/181B442c1A2Z0G0B2p3v

Any ideas? Thanks!

zsolt

#7
Hello Arice, Espionage has now an entry in the database, but cannot find the sparse disk image bundle as it is not in the expected place.
Now either put the disk image where it expects it, or select the folder in the Espionage window, click on "i" to get info and then click on copy password button.
Then paste this password in a text file then open the disk image with double-click and enter the password you have in the text file.

Please let me know if you managed to do it.

Thanks

Zsolt
Follow @espionageapp on twitter for news! | For general Mac support, please visit Mac Me Support

arice

#8
It took a while, but I got it figured out. Thanks a ton for the help, Zsolt! Much appreciated!

zsolt

#9
I'm glad to hear that, just let me know if anything else shows up as problem or question.

rgds
Zsolt
Follow @espionageapp on twitter for news! | For general Mac support, please visit Mac Me Support