These three pages deal with an essential support procedure, that of getting data files back
from their privatized form. You will probably use this procedure more than any other. Reconstitution logic amounts
to a careful reversal of the steps that were used in privatizing the data in the first place.
Select the reconstitution file of the archive you want to retrieve: Each archive
is identified by its reconstitution file (or first reconstitution file if multiple cascades were used).
Reconstituting files from an archive means restoring vulnerable data files from their privatized form to
their original form. Click on the Browse button in order to select the directory and then the
reconstitution file for the archive from which you wish to retrieve data files in their original form.
Password: You can only reconstitute files from an archive if you have rights
to it. Input the password.
Clicking on the Next button takes you to the next stage, while clicking the
Cancel button takes you out of the "Reconstitute files" procedure and back to the main window for
the Pryvit program.
What is next depends on the reconstitution file. Let's deal with the special
case of sharing over the Internet. Suppose you have requested a set of files, and the author / distributor
has sent a reconstitution file custom-made for your computer. The name has your computer identifier at the
beginning. The content of the file is totally alphabetized. You select that file in the way shown above. The
next step: The program asks you to browse and identify the request file that you sent to the author /
distributor. It holds the keys to unlock this new custom-made reconstitution file. From that point, the program
collects all the files and extracts all their content onto your computer. This may take time, depending on the
quality of your Internet connection and the size of the files. For files that are shared over the Internet,
that's all there is to retrieving privatized files.
For privacy-protected archives that you have created, there are more decisions
to be made.
