Free Space needed to encrypt PGP NetShare folder

Products

• Symantec Products

Issue/Introduction

This article details how much free disk space is required to encrypt a folder when using PGP NetShare.

 

Resolution

PGP NetShare enables specific users to share protected files in a shared space, such as on a corporate file server, in a shared folder, or on removable media such as a USB drive.

The files are protected by encryption, but continue to appear as normal application filesNotepad, Microsoft Word, HTML, Microsoft Excel, and so on.

PGP NetShare folders include a Header and a Tail. Each PGP NetShare folder includes a file named pgpfs.ini which serves as the Header. The size of the Header file depends on the number of keys used, but the size of the Header is always a multiple of 4096 bytes. The Tail file is always 512 bytes and contains the padding for the file.

Therefore, a PGP NetShare protected file grows by at least 4608 (4096 + 512) bytes and folders by at least 4096 bytes.

 

Note: Before encrypting a folder, PGP NetShare checks the available disk space.