Beyond Compare vs. IDM UltraCompare and others

[drdoom]

Noticed that one of your competitor recently released new version of their software (which was previously unknown to me, I'm active BC user and no need to think about alternatives).

Now I'm only asking: How closely you follow your competitors (and their core functionality which may be missing from BC, if any)? I'm asking this purely for curiosity, no need to even think about changing for other software, BC is right now covering all my needs (and more).

[Zoë]

Beyond Compare has generally been on the leading edge for advanced features, so we don't have to follow our competitors all that closely. We do keep an eye on what we consider the best ones, but feedback from our customers and ideas from our own day-to-day use generally keep us plenty busy.

Regarding UltraCompare specifically, their v1 was a fairly blatant copy of BC, and I don't know of any feature they've added that someone else hasn't had first, so I've never bothered to keep up with their releases. Looking over their feature list now, that doesn't appear to have changed.

[Michael Bulgrien]

Last I knew, UltraCompare has a 3-way compare feature, but not a 3-way merge. I have current licensed copies of both UltraCompare and BC3...but I can't remember the last time I actually used UltraCompare... I use BC3 multiple times on a daily basis.

[crashnburn]

Last I knew, UltraCompare has a 3-way compare feature, but not a 3-way merge. I have current licensed copies of both UltraCompare and BC3...but I can't remember the last time I actually used UltraCompare... I use BC3 multiple times on a daily basis.

Michael - Since you have both, I wanted to ask you a question with ref to this simple feature that has been requested since 2006 and still not present in 2011.

http://www.scootersoftware.com/vbull...?t=2573&page=2

The ability/ feature to have Beyond Compare MAINTAIN/ PRESERVE the DATE attributes of files in a Merge/Sync copy OR move scenario.
DATE attributes of MODIFIED, CREATED (& maybe even Accessed).

They are just 3 small attributes that can be added in, when files & folders get CREATED, COPIED or MOVED by BC.

With all due respect and TONS of love to BC that I've been using for ages..
My QUESTION TO YOU is.. Is this feature similarly crippled or fixed in UltraCompare?

[Michael Bulgrien]

UltraCompare has a "Copy file dates" setting under
Options > Configuration... > Compare > Folder Synchronization

If this option is selected, when a copy is made this will set the create/access/modified dates to what was originally set for the file.

[crashnburn]

UltraCompare has a "Copy file dates" setting under
Options > Configuration... > Compare > Folder Synchronization

If this option is selected, when a copy is made this will set the create/access/modified dates to what was originally set for the file.

I tried this out with the latest version of IDM UltraCompare and latest version of Beyond Compare to copy / sync files/ folders across different drives.

The MODIFIED DATE remains, but the CREATED date gets set to the CURRENT DATE/TIME.