Detect moved files

[obetz]

Hi Scooter Team,

what is the current wishlist position of detecting moved (and renamed) files? It has been discussed in the past...

Checking whether a file is on a different path on the other side has many benefits:

Large files don't need to be copied again (moves are fast also over a network).

Simple moves or renames can be tolerated / synced automatically, while other differences might indicate inadvertent changes of a data set.

Oliver

[Aaron]

Hello,

Our wishlist doesn't have positions, but we catalog examples and notes and use them for ideas for future features and enhancements when working on different parts of the application. We don't have anything to share at this time, but this is a larger, long-term project that's still on our radar.

[obetz]

keeping two directories in sync is really a pain if one side had a move of files or even subtrees!

[Aaron]

Hello,

A moved file would be detected as a difference. During a Sync Mirror, this would delete the file (any orphan files) in the Destination and copy the new destination over. During a Sync Update, it would not delete the Destination Orphans but would copy the new location over, resulting in a duplication of data in two locations in the destination.

Sync Mirror is not ideal since it will delete and re-copy rather than detect the move, but it could keep your two directories in sync if it's ok to delete all Destination Orphans. Please be aware that any deletes cannot be undone, so please test with test data first. The end goal of the Sync Mirror is it will only keep equal files in place; everything else is copied or deleted to make the Destination exactly equal to the Source.

[obetz]

Sync Mirror is not ideal since it will delete and re-copy rather than detect the move, but it could keep your two directories in sync if it's ok to delete all Destination Orphans.

I know, but:

1. It's not only about syncing but also about checking (detecting) and acknowledging changes. People may be paranoid enough to check the changes in one set before submitting them to the other side.

2. Copying large files is much slower than moving. Consider moving a 10GB video file over a "not so fast" network. You don't want to delete and re-copy it, but "move" is a cheap operation.

[Aaron]

Both of these are legitimate concerns and limitations to our current alignment methods. Keeping the directories in sync is more costly than a move command, and comparing many moved or renamed entries is difficult.

If it helps, you can select any two files (any alignment) with ctrl+clicking, then right click to Quick Compare them.

[obetz]

If it helps, you can select any two files (any alignment) with ctrl+clicking, then right click to Quick Compare them.

I use this method often, but the harder task is to find the moved/renamed file/directory at all.

BTW: To "just" keep two directory trees in sync, Unison is much better suited because it keeps track of changes in each set.