Final Findings

Dropbox
While looking at the data that was retrieved from the Dropbox folder I was able to find information that detailed the app version along with the device type and the android version that the device is running.

This data was found in the prefs.db database and the table is DropboxPersistentPrefs.

I was unable to retrieve user information from the dropbox data, however I was able to find a listing of all of the files along with the timestamps for each of them.

This data is found in the db.db database and the table is called dropbox.

Google  Drive
In the Google Drive databases folder there is a database called DocList.db this database contains a multitude of information, however the table that was most interesting is the Entry94 table it contains all of the files and timestamps along with the creator and owner of each file or folder. This was by far the most informative database between any of the applications that I researched.

OneDrive (Previously SkyDrive)
Within the databases folder there is a database called metadata.db within the table items there are last modified times along with the file names and the owner of the files.

Ubuntu One
In the databases folder for Ubuntu One the database U1files contains all of the files and folders that are contained on the cloud service along with timestamps for when the files were created and when they were last changed.

Within the Shared_Prefs folder there are xml files that contain user data.  The file called com.ubuntuone.android.files_preferences contains the username that is associated with the account along with the plan that the user is signed up for.

If you have any further questions please contact me via Google+ thank you.

Pull, Analyze, Repeat

The first step that I had to perform to do my research is to root the device, to do this I used a tutorial that I found here. It details the process to give root access to the device and install the Super User app.  This process was pretty straight forward using that tutorial, however I did have some problems getting the correct drivers for the device to be able to communicate with the Android Debug Bridge (ADB). I solved this problem by re-installing the standard drivers for the Nexus 7 and going through the tutorial again to get it to work. When I was finished with this I could then use the Super User app to give super user access to the Android Debug Bridge.  The final result of being able to do this gave me access to all of the files that are on the device. The final product of rooting the device is shown below.

During my research I have been using the Android Debug Bridge to obtain data from the Nexus 7 that I have been using. At first I was having difficulties pulling data from the device because I was attempting to pull the data directly from the /data/data folder even though I had sufficient permissions to access the folder I did not have permissions to take data directly from the folder so first I had to use ADB shell to be in the command prompt inside of the device.

 Using the su command I could copy the data from the /data/data folder to the sdcard which I had unrestricted access to.

After I had copied the data to the sdcard I could then pull the data to my hard drive using the command

this command puts the data from the device onto the C: drive of my computer where I can then analyze the data.  The data that I am most interested in is contained within 4 folders.

The highlighted folders are for the Dropbox application and for the Google Drive application

The highlighted folders are for the Skydrive application and the Ubuntu One Files application.

Each of these folders include multiple sub-folders where the data is contained.  The majority of the data that I looked into is in the form of sqlite databases.  These sqlite databases contained user identification information as well as time stamps when the files were uploaded.  Google Drive was the only app that contained data that proved which user uploaded a certain file the rest of them just showed the folder without any usernames associated with the file that was uploaded.

The other files that were pulled from the device were .xml files which show the user preferences for the account. From this I was able to obtain the user identification for Google Drive, however for the others I could only obtain either the amount of storage for the specified account or the sharing settings depending on the application.  

Introduction

Welcome to my blog, I am a senior at Champlain College.  This semester I will be conducting a research project on cloud apps on android devices.  This research is part of my Capstone class here at Champlain.  

The cloud apps that I will be using are Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Drive as well as Ubuntu One; I will then compare these apps to each other.   The device that I will be conducting my research on is a Nexus 7 tablet running android version 4.4.1. I am going to root the device so that I will be able to gain more data from the device.

I will be researching what artifacts are on the device while the program is installed vs. after it is uninstalled, what data can be retrieved while it is uploading/downloading, what user data is kept on the device and if there is anything that can be retrieved from shared folders.

From now until the end of the semester I will be keeping this blog updated with my research of these applications.