Security and retrieval of docs on computer

[cdgeorge]

I understand that Collanos keeps the documents that you create in your workspace on your own computer. This is good for us because we do not want dependency on Microsoft servers like you need for Microsoft Groove 2007 - keeping it safe on your own machine is the only 'sure' way you can keep data under your complete control!

However, how are the documents encrypted on your local machine? What if you want to free your ties from Collanos and you want to retrieve all those many docs you have created using Collanos? For example, if I uninstalled Collanos, would this delete all docs? Or if I uninstall Collanos, can I still access the docs saved on my local machine with ease that depended on Collanos?

Also, because my docs are saved on my local machine, for example a laptop PC, what if I lose my PC? How can I protect my documents kept on the laptop under the umbrella of Collanos from the rogue that stole it?

[Gil Heiman]

Hi cdgeorge,

In a couple of weeks you will need to login to your Collanos to access your workspaces. You can ONLY access files and other objects in your workspaces via Collanos (good luck rogue thief!). If you uninstall Collanos, you will no longer have access to those files.
Suggestions/Info:
1. Share workspaces with other users/team members including another computer, if you have one. This allows you to have mirror image workspaces as a back-up.
2. Save your important files to your computer (via drag & drop) if you decide to uninstall Collanos.
3. You can always keep your Collanos running as it is a client application, not server dependent so your files are in your hands.
4. Content is encrypted (standard AES 256) when being synced with other machines/members.

[cdgeorge]

I appreciate the response.

Forgive me for being a touch twitchy about this but this dependency on Collanos worries me a little. We will be dealing with many critical files for customers and there cannot be even the slightest chance they will be lost.

So am I right in saying that if I uninstall Collanos (forget the mirroring for now), I will lose all documents in my workspace? Even if I re-installed Collanos I will still have possibily lost those original documents?

Would the same be true if the Collanos application became corrupt somehow, and a re-installation of Collanos to fix the corruption may indeed mean all my workplace documents could be lost?

I would prefer a more automated method than just drag and drop to save 'all' the files in standard format to a chosen fileserver / NAS device or something similar. I do not want to think about selecting important files when all files are considered important.

[Gil Heiman]

You are correct.
Should the Collanos application crash or be uninstalled, you will not be able to access those files and objects UNLESS:

1. You have other team members or another computer with whom you synced all your workspaces. They can reinvite you to those workspaces once you're back on Collanos.

2. You back-up your data via Tools>Preferences>Collanos Workplace>Workplace Data>Back-up.
You can back-up your content on an external drive and with a new install of Collanos later on restore it.

In the future, we are looking to provide access to Collanos files and objects simply via your Windows Explorer or Finder and treating Collanos as another computer drive.

[cdgeorge]

In that case I would definitely backup the files using...

...back-up your data via Tools>Preferences>Collanos Workplace>Workplace Data>Back-up

However, are those files backed up in Collanos proprietary encrypted format? Or, as I am hoping, is there a way to configure the backup so that files are stored on an external  hard disk in their native format?

I really like the idea behind your project, it's excellent. But I have to consider the fact that you may decide not to develop anymore, or a rogue member of your team could screw things up thus messing and ruining encryption algorithms - anything in fact that nails it down to FULLY depending on the Collanos proprietary format.

Hence a fall back alternative 'just in case'.

[Gil Heiman]

The back-up is in our proprietary format and retrievable via Collanos application only (think of it as security features).
Even if we decide not to develop anymore or got out of business, since this is a client-side application without dependencies on server access to your data (which most solutions are these days), you can always re-install Collanos (the software is available all over the web on free download sites) and restore your backed-up workspaces.
Once you restore your workspaces, you can then save your files to another drive outside the Collanos application.

So the 'just in case' is covered on all ends.

[cdgeorge]

How do I save my files outside of the Collanos workspace? Is drag and drop the only way?

[Gil Heiman]

For now, you can also right click on a file and select "Save as", allowing you to save the file to any of your drives.
The drag & drop allows you to save multiple files at once.

[dave_s]

Some feedback related to this issue:
I think this is a great program, and I like the way it allows to collect lots of useful information in a structure that is familiar to most computer savvy people (namely, directories). I also like the p2p approach (even though that is not critical for our use case, and the lack of a central repository that can be put on a server with an existing back-up scheme is a down-side for us)..

.. all that said: the fact that the data in the workspace is locked into a proprietory format is an absolute deal-breaker for us. I appreciate the arguments you give in this thread, but to me they only seem to be work-arounds.

At the very minimum, we would need an automatic export function as described by cdgeorge. If you are allowing users to export by drag-and-drop, why not make it easier for those who want this functionality and give a "one-click-export-all" solution? Or even cleverer ones, like defining profiles for exporting only certain files; e.g. to (semi-)automate export for syncing to mobile-devices.

A dream feature would be if  Workplace were "simply" a transparent layer on top of a native file-system, so that one could use everything the native system brings to the table (think OS X TimeMachine) together with Collanos' auto-sync feature. But I realise that this may be very difficult to realise (if there is the possibility of changes to files that don't originate in Workplace).

Anyway, just my 2cts. As I said, I think it's a great program, and of course you are free to take it wherever you want to. I just wanted to let you know that there are people out there who may want to be in the user-base, but cannot under these restrictions.

[gklaus]

Same here. The program is really nice, but without a practical way of getting all data out of its format in one move it would be unwise to use its full potential as the sole workplace for a group.

Before committing important data to the format of a specific software, I need to be certain that the data can conveniently be transferred back to a standard format at any time.

Providing access to a workplace as a virtual drive would be ideal, but extending the drag&drop functionality to the entire folder structure of a workplace, or the ability to export the folder structure and its contents to standard archive files would do.