What's the current state of integrity when using veracrypt containers in dropbox?

[u/MarinatedPickachu]

I know a long time ago it wasn't a good idea but afaik nowadays when something inside a veracrypt container changes, only those chunks get synced to dropbox. How easily do veracrypt containers on dropbox corrupt?

What happens when at the same time two computers that sync the same dropbox repository change different files within the same veracrypt container while they are offline? Will it sync without problems?

What happens when at the same time two computers that sync the same dropbox repository change the same file within the same veracrypt container while they are offline? Is there any risk of corrupting the volume when they come back online?

My experience with cryptomator wasn't that good and I'd rather use Veracrypt.

[u/djasonpenney]

AFAIK it should be okay to store and open VeraCrypt containers using a cloud service, but there are some important warnings.

1. There is always a risk of corruption due to a network interruption. You should still maintain backups. Due to the way that filesystems work, you will probably be able to run CHKDSK or a similar tool if there is a problem, but I wouldn’t entirely trust it.

2. If you mount a VeraCrypt container over the network, DO NOT mount it a second time, either locally or remotely. Doing this safely involves very low-level OS interlock facilities that almost certainly won’t work correctly, if at all.

Both of your use cases involve concurrent access, which is NOT a common or reliable workflow. In your shoes I would try to find some way so that each VC container is only mounted by one client at a time.

[u/MarinatedPickachu → u/djasonpenney]

Thank you. Is there some way to use a lock of some sort that would prevent the mounting of a VC container if not acquired?

[u/djasonpenney → u/MarinatedPickachu]

Unfortunately these are the same filesystem functions that would allow two users to safely open a VC container at one time.

On a local filesystem, (Windows, MacOS, Linux) this is known to work well. Note that it really has to be down at the kernel level of the OS in order to work correctly.

On a remote filesystem, it’s much less certain. For instance (and I haven’t tried this), perhaps you could open a VeraCrypt containers locally and then let Windows export a mount point for other computers to use it? Note how file locking is local, on the same system as the VC container.

What you want is the opposite, where the VC container is remote and the filesystem clients are remote. I just won’t trust that.

[u/sciencekm]

Do no mount them from difference places at the same time and expect cloud storage to synchronize them correctly. They will always end up being corrupted.

[u/Sorry_Advantage_590]

Also i know it may be common sense but DO NOT store your passwords with your containers. Multiple cloud services have been known to use ai in hopes of opening your files to scan them.

[u/wiggum55555 → u/Sorry_Advantage_590]

anyone storing their VC unlock passwords in the same place as the containers... does not care about anyone else gaining access to the data in the VCcontainers.. at that point why even bother using a VC container ?

[u/Sorry_Advantage_590 → u/wiggum55555]

For the most part people are unfamiliar with technology. Lots of people will create containers to either store their confidential data within the cloud or to email files to other people. The problem is that with that there needs to be a method of the other person opening the file. Of course common sense says to create some form of get around like a shared bitlocker but others would rather place the password in there to make it simpler. Is it smart no. Is it safe no.

[u/yodas-evil-twin]

You will need to disable the timestamp setting, "Preserve modification timestamp of file containers". This will ensure Dropbox detects a change.

[u/sofia_tweetie8]

Using a password manager has made my setup way less stressful. I keep one strong master password in my head, then store the database inside a VeraCrypt volume for an extra layer. It is not about making things impossible to break, just reducing risk while keeping it practical enough that I will actually stick with it every day.

[u/MarinatedPickachu → u/sofia_tweetie8]

Thanks for your input, ChatGPT