[ubuntu-uk] Ubuntu One

[alan c]

On 19/08/11 13:59, Roachy wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 19, 2011 at 1:22 PM, alan c <aeclist at candt.waitrose.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 19/08/11 10:16, Alan Pope wrote:
>> > On 19 August 2011 08:33, Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> >> If I put files on ubuntu one are they not encrypted?  If they are
>> >> encrypted then they cannot be combined with copies of the same file
>> >> that others have uploaded.  Or am I missing something?
>> >>
>> >
>> > No, they aren't (as I understand it), same as Dropbox. This is (one of
>> > the reasons) why I switched to SpiderOak.
>>
>> I also went to spideroak as soon as dropbox showed incompetence re
>> security
>>
> 
> It's worth noting that it's fairly trivial encrypting files that can be
> saved to Dropbox or Ubuntu One using GnuPG....

I am using Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS and I stumbled into a gotcha with a side
effect of encryption and Ubuntu one.

To encrypt a bunch of files, say, my complete thunderbird folder,
totalling 4GB   :-)
I used GNU Privacy Assistant, after zipping into an archive to create
a single file. (Which also did not obviously shout out 'thunderbird'
as a set of smaller files all encrypted might do).

The final item was just over 2GB in size and it happily started
upsyncing to my U1 (paid) account. It worked once, but similar files
later appeared to fail. My up speed is just over 1Mbps so it takes a
number of hours to upload such files. I struggled with this for some
weeks and then I happened to notice that the detail that the partial
upload was often resetting to zero. Most frustrating.

Some close reading of the U1 FAQ said that (this) did not happen for
internet disconnection, for the 'latest version'. Infering that it DID
happen for others, including mine.

I checked my internet connectivity and to my surprise found that it
was often resetting, but with so little delay I would not have noticed
it with say firefox or thunderbird or Transmission torrent.

I would hardly have noticed it either in U1, if my target files were
smaller, say to typically upsync in less than 30 minutes each.

My archiving (and then encrypting) always created large files and
upsync times of hours.

I tested with Ubuntu 11.04 and U1 held the interrupted data ok, an
ddid not start again. It was a relief to find out what was happening.

This 'problem' is relevant for large files, and relatively slow upsync
speeds, and flakey isp connections. Apart from that it is ok......

And I have offered a suggested append to the FAQ.

-- 
alan cocks
Ubuntu user