Is BC right for me?

[djinc]

Hi all, I used to use Beyond Compare back in the early days for a variety of tasks but haven't used it in years. I remember it being extremely useful, but curious if it would meet my current needs. I've downloaded the free version and having a look, but it's been ages and the configuration isn't clear to me if this will work for what I want to do.

Specs:
Macbook OSX Catalina 10.15.3
+ External drives

Use Case:
I'm a dj with a lot of music, and I want to have the most recent version of my files on my laptop, but also an exact duplicate on one or more external drives.

I am constantly working with that music, using a program called Beatport Pro to update the metadata tags within tracks. If it matters, the software writes to the comment field (but sometimes I'm updating album art, etc.). I want to make sure those tags (metadata) are updated on the backup drives too.

Would this work for me and what might be the best settings to achieve this.
I'm not sure looking at last updated is the best method, because I think when I actually play the songs through dj software (Rekordbox) it might update the play count or something which would affect the "last updated" date, but in reality the file is the same in my eyes. I only care when certain metadata fields are updated (like comments, key, bpm, etc)

Thanks in advance if anyone can figure out what I'm talking about and point me in the right direction!

[Aaron]

Sure thing.

The MP3 Compare is currently limited to MP3 tag comparison. If you are using other audio formats, we cannot open their metadata tags at this time. If you double click on a pair of aligned files and view them in the file viewer (MP3 Compare), we'll display the metadata comparison (and a data comparison for 'everything else'). You can then set the child view to ignore specific tags, like play count, and consider the rest Important. In the child view's Session Settings, Importance tab, checked items are Important and Unchecked are Unimportant. You can then update the dropdown from Use for this view to Use for all files in parent session.

Running a Rules-based scan in the parent folder compare will then use these updated settings, ignoring the playcount metadata, and returning equal if the data and other metadata are equal.

This assumes the parent folder compare is displaying two folders, side by side, with files aligned. As long as the subfolder structure and file names are not shifting, this should be pretty easy to set up.

Please note that any Actions (Copy, Sync, Delete, etc) do not support an Undo command, so please test with test data first before issuing an action and learning the software.

We also have a Basics tutorial video, which may help with the general interface, here:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/features.php?zz=v4videos

[djinc]

Aaron, thank you so much for your detailed response. Sounds like it will be just fine, and the exact reason I came back to this software after over a decade. Can't wait to get in and try it out.

thanks!
-Inc.

[Aaron]

Sounds good, and yes, the trial is fully featured, so please give it a full run through and let us know if you run into any issues or have questions.

You can post here, or email us privately at [email protected] with full screen screenshots, etc.