Hi,
I used Toucan for the first time and tested encryption and decryption on a important folder. As I realize now this was an mistake, because all my data is not readable anymore.
I started encrypting a folder with many subfolders, than I cancel this operation because it took too long for a small test, than I decryted the whole folder (too my surprise every file was decrypted though it wasn't encrypted). Then I tested with one single file encrypted it and it was not readable, than I tryed to decrypt it, not readable, tried again, not readable, ........... than i realized that every file in the folder is not readable anymore, .............
can someone help me with that problem ?
Thanks in advance,
Quiddelbacher
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At the moment, Toucan is set up so you have plausible deniability. There's no way to tell that a file has been encrypted or what it was encrypted with other than the fact that it won't open if you try it out. So, it's up to you to keep track of what you have encrypted and what you haven't. That's one of the reasons it's billed as a tool for advanced users.
Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way to recover your files as you have no idea what state they were in (how many times encrypted/unencrypted, which ones were, etc). And, if you try to decrypt a file that isn't encrypted, it winds up corrupted. There is no way to recover it.
I've suggested to Steve (the author) that he add a file extension of .tenc and only decrypt those and not encrypt them (a 2nd time) as it may be more important to prevent users from mistakenly messing with a file than it is to ensure plausible deniability.
Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!
Maybe having the .tenc option by default, but having an option to turn it off with a link to Plausible dependability.
I have just tried encrypting a text file and a 7z archive (574Mb). This apparently had no effect on either of the files. I can open them and read them as normal. Also, the encryption was astonishingly fast - practically instantaneous even for the large 7z archive. My conclusion is that encryption is broken. I haven't tried decryption, but I guess that if this does work, or at least do something, then this might explain why Quiddelbacher had problems.
Paul
Max password length is 16 chars. If you use longer burp gives error and exits without encrypting anything. Maybe toucan app should handle this so the user doesn't think that encryption was successful.
Mike
this should be noted in the help file, indeed there is already a warning message in the 1.2 codebase about this.
___
Author of Toucan
'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK
I tried using this program on a test directory and I couldn't access any information on it upon trying to decrypt. I also mistakenly forgot to select a file directory and it started encrypting the whole drive which, as it turned out, to be completely unusable which caused me to have to redo the whole drive. With 2 out of 2 problems, I think this program is best avoided.
(In the beta testing forum) has an extension for encrypted files. Why should the program be avoided if you accidentally encrypted your whole drive?
Is it a program for advanced users as said on the App Page.
______________________
Signature...What Signature?
Well, I have well over 10 years of computer experience and a degree in computer science. Smart enough to know to test it with one file and the file was unable to be decrypted and was unusable. In my haste I tried another and was distracted for a moment and realized just after I clicked that encrypt button that I hadn't designated a specific file...so it encrypted the whole drive.
Upon trying to decrypt the drive, no file was usable or readable. A good program might have sent the message that "Are you sure you wish to encrypt the whole drive?" but alas, no matter...the program is simply unreliable. I'm not willing to trust a program that has 2 strikes right off the get go. Since I am not the only one to report this, it proves the software is unstable. Until it is stable, try a Freebie called Cryptex located here: http://www.freewarebeast.com/download,39,cryptext
I hate to disagree with you here but there are a few points that I would like to make.
Firstly you seem to be making a bit of an attack on my program. Now if you look in the forum there are really very few issues for a completely new program. Indeed I would say that about 20 people have posted with issues and yet the program has had over 40,000 downloads in its first month, so it can't all be that bad, can it? Now I'm not going to deny that there are issues in the program, but I would ask you to look at the facts.
Secondly as for it encrypting you're whole drive I am not quite sure how this happened, if there are no entries in the list of files for Toucan to en/decrypt then it wont do anything, infact it'll pop up a little message box to tell you that there are no files/folders selected. Now if you just left the drive letter in then surely the program is working? You asked it to encrypt the whole drive and that is what it did, now if you didn't want the behaviour then why didn't you hit the abort button?
I do not know why it failed to decrypt you files, but if you are no longer willing to use then program in the future then I wish you all the best.
Steve
___
Author of Toucan
'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK
Hi Steve
I don't mean to make it sound like I am attacking your program because that is not my intent. It's a new program and this forum is to work out issues regarding said program.
I have installed literally thousands of programs, tested them from different angles regarding ease of use, functionality, reliability, etc. I approach them from the novice point of view and then push the functionality to see if any quirks pop up.
I did as you said and reloaded programs on a test flash drive. Although the option exists, I, again, didn't specify any particular file and my version of the program began to encrypt the whole drive. You said that's not possible, yet I have done it twice. I then did an abort. Now, in doing so, now I have no idea which files are encrypted and which are not until I try and open them. I don't know if this is a FAT/NTFS issue or an environmental issue within Windows.
Could you perhaps change the icon within your program to define when a file has been encrypted? That would make it easier and more functional for a wider array of users. It was mentioned that this is for "advanced users" but one cannot be expected to keep in their own memory which file has been encrypted/decrypted. That's expecting a lot...even for "Geeks"
The bottom line here is losing data. No user wants that empty feeling of realizing they have just lost their precious data...especially when they are backing up that data.
You're creating a program that deals with that data and you're going to take a few "hits" until all the issues are resolved.
Good Luck
sorry if I seemed to be a bit defensive, this is my first 'real' program out there and I guess that I'm not that used to people with bugs!
However you will be glad to hear the in 1.2 (which is currently in the beta testing forum (although the next pre-release should be released tonight which fixes all of the issues mentioned on that page)) an extension automatically get appended to encrypted files so that the program will only let you decrypt encrypted files and vice versa.
As for the encrypting the whole drive thing I have put a screenshot up here. This is what happens when I try it, whatever version I am using.
If you find any more issues please post them up after all it makes it better for everyone
I would also recommend try pre-release 2 which should go up later this evening.
___
Author of Toucan
'...and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard...' JFK
I've tried using Toucan to encrypt a file, I have located the file, marked it, chose a password and clicked "Encrypt". All I get back is:
Starting...
Time: 11:22:32
Failed to encrypt G:\Documents\privat\Private Dokumente\diners.jpg
Time: 11:22:37
Finished
I can open the file as before.
I have learned from a previous post in this thread, that my password must not exceed 16 characters, so I changed my password, to no avail.
What am I doing wrong?
thread is very old and the 16 character limit no longer exists. Is you drive write protected or the file read only as this can cause the encryption to fail.
Hi Steve,
no, neither.
Ok, I just tried with different files and file types on different drives, and I always get the same error message and the file opens normally. I have no idea what the problem is.
it only broken on this one pc?
hi steve,
not broken, but you were right with your guess. It does work on a different computer! I don't know if that has to do with Vista (where it didn't work) vs. XP (where it works fine!), or the administrator rights (no rights on the Vista machine, full rights on the XP one).
Thanks for your help, I hope you find out how to solve the issue, it would be a shame if I couldn't use it at work.
lg
niki
odd! I use it on Vista all of the time so it shouldn't be that, I shall have a think about what could be causing this, is it possible that your work machine is very locked down?
yes it is very restricted in every possible way. so basically I can only use software that does not require any administrator rights or access to any administrative or system folders.
as far as I know Toucan should work on non admin accounts, but it is possible that your workplace has blocked Toucan or one of the apps it relies on, and in that case I am afraid there is nothing I can do
Shame. All other portableapps that I use work fine on this computer. Thanks anyway for your efforts!
lg
niki
Hi!
Thanks for the update, now it all works fine even on the work computer!!
(At least I assume, it was your update, because our IT department also did an update last week).
best regards,
niki
Ive got the excactly same problem. The encryption and decryption gives just an error message and does nothing. It simply says "Failed to encrypt...filename" without doing anything. Ive tried with different files, passwords and computers. The user accounts have been normal user and admin rights on windows xp computer.
Is the app really this broken? I've got a 1GB toucan file I really need to decrypt. This problem has only just arisen. A few weeks ago the program seemed to work well. Whats changed now? As-is the program cant be used for anything at all and should be avoided at all costs because its apparently dangerous to hold data with it.
Analysis of the root cause of the problem would be wise. I'd also be very grateful for any help you can offer. Maybe I must go and try the program on another computer to see if it's computer specific. Shouldnt be though.
it important to note that the thread here is over three years old and that the last comment here is over two years old. The original issue here was fixed in 2007.
Moving on to your problem, no, the app is not really broken. Before I can help though I need some basic information like version you are using? Also in all recent versions there should be an error code printed after the failure to help with solving problems like this, can you please post what it is. Finally if you want to try something different Toucan uses ccrypt for is encryption, you could try downloading their command line tool and decrypting with that to see if works.
Old bugs die hard.
The program version was rather new because it was downloaded from this site less than 2 months ago. Besides, the version upgrade should not mess things up with encryption software due to the evident possibility of data loss.
I've just apt-get:ed ccrypt and will attempt a manual decrypt soon. If that doesn't work then I'll simply move on. Thanks for your support.
Update: ccrypt on ubuntu 10.04 worked like a charm. I was able to decrypt everything by simply running # ccrypt -d
It seems the problem only applies to the windows application but not the ccrypt itself.
No biggie. Onwards, to the truecrypt!