Program Install Before & After

[Byghtn3]

I am trying to compare an entire fixed disk before & after a program install

Exactly I an trying to monitor the install of NERO Burning Rom. It is a large & messy program that installs parts of it's self in many locations including the registry, system folders, it's own folders, and common folders.

As a test, I have tried selecting --> New Session>Folder Compare>Browse File System Folder Tab,>My Computer>Local Disk C:>Enter
for the left pane

Then I selected -->Refresh
Then I selected -->Save Session as>Save in c:\>Root>NewSubfolder>Beyond Compare>OK

Then In the right pane I did the same setup as the left pane, then selected -->Edit>FullRefresh & Fast Refresh.

There were no differences found.

1. Why was the original left pane saved session file not found & displayed as a difference in the right pane?

2. How should I approach monitoring the NERO install for registry changes, new folders added and files added to existing folders and changed existing files?

Thanks,
Byghtn3

[Aaron]

Hello,

The pane, when refreshed, re-evaluates that location with the most up to date information. So if you leave BC3 idle looking at your Hdd and an FTP site, then hit refresh, it will update both locations and let you know if there were changes in either location.

The functionality you are looking for is offered with our Snapshots. Under the Tools menu -> Save Snapshot, you can take a virtual snapshot of your C:\. This stores your file structure as a virtual list at the time the snapshot was taken. You can then compare this Past state to a future state of the same location to see what has changed.

Note: The Snapshot can store information about your C:\, but your user must have access to all locations on C:\ for a full and complete snapshot. Any folder without read-access will not snapshot-able. To see if you will hit any errors, go to the Folder Compare, load C:\, then issue and Expand All command to see which folders are restricted.

[aussieboykie]

The snapshot capability is very useful for keeping track of what has changed in a folder structure over a period of time. It helps me to answer the question - what did I do all day today?

One unfortunate drawback is that it's apparently not possible to right click on a file name and open with a selected application. (unless I have missed something)

Could I ask for this capability to be added to the wish list.

Thanks, AB

[Craig]

Snapshots don't contain file content. What would you expect open with to do?

[aussieboykie]

Snapshots don't contain file content. What would you expect open with to do?
I'd hoped it would open the selected file with the chosen application.. :) For example, if I had been updating an Excel worksheet earlier in the day, I'd want to open with Excel.

I had assumed, apparently wrongly, that the snapshot "remembers" which folder structure it maps and should therefore be able to reconstruct a full path/filespec that could be passed to the selected application?

Regards, AB

[Craig]

I had assumed, apparently wrongly, that the snapshot "remembers" which folder structure it maps and should therefore be able to reconstruct a full path/filespec that could be passed to the selected application?

It does have that information, but the only time it's used currently is if you double-click on a .bcss in Explorer, in which case we automatically compare to the live directory. I take it your comparing against something other than the original path?

[aussieboykie]

I'm comparing two BCSS snapshots. One taken today, one taken yesterday. This gives me a view of what files have been added, deleted, changed, day to day.

Regards, AB

[Aaron]

Hello aussieboykie,

Thanks for the clarification. We do not currently support calling Open With commands on the virtual items in a snapshot, but I've added your idea to our Customer Wishlist.