Need to know if this software will do what I need.

[Cindyono]

I don't usually just send a thread like this on new software, but I've looked at many videos and read quite a bit about this software, but I am really not sure if this software will do what I need. I would really appreciate if someone could help me cut through a lot of this and let me know I am on the right track with this software

I have an old computer, that has had various backups done. Old files transferred in various ways from old computers. I am now running out of space and will be getting a new system, but I do not want to bring over multiple copies of the same files and pictures. I have not been particularly meticulous in what is copied or backed-up where. I have 2 drives on my system that may or may not have duplicates copies and one seagate external backup. There also may be files that are on my secondary drive or seagate external, that are not on my main drive.
Seagate has back up files from this computer and files from a previous computer that might already be on one of the other drives. I want to go through these and identify duplicates and make one source that has one copy of each file. I am not concerned with programs, just document files, pdf's spreadsheets, pictures, music video, etc.

The names of the files will be the same, but not necessarily the file structure. Images may have the same name (because they are numbered) but are not actually the same photo.

I understand this will take multiple running of this program. Do you think this program can do what I need. What's they best way to attack this?

Thanks in advance.

[Aaron]

Hello,

There are 4 view modes for the Folder Compare, with 2 main views, in the View menu of the Folder Compare. 3 of the 4 modes include the folder structure as important. This would require that both sides of the comparison align folder by folder name, then file by file name within. See this example screenshot:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/morei...=FolderCompare
If "en" were named differently on one side, then the contents would not align.

The 4th view mode ignores folder structure and aligns only on file name. However, this requires that all files in all subfolders within the comparison are currently uniquely named. If you have multiple files (such as your picture files) with the same name, the comparison may not align the pair you wish to compare. The alignment by name always happens before the comparison; we do not currently support a scan to align by file content.

It sounds like you have two scenarios were the different view modes would be helpful, but you would need to perform your comparison in at least two passes in order to prevent opening your similarly named Images in the Ignore Folder Structure mode.

Our trial is fully featured and available for any testing you would need to do before purchase is necessary. BC3 does not support an Undo command, so please preview any actions before you commit them or test on test data.
http://www.scootersoftware.com/download.php

The goal is to create a scenario where the files you are trying to compare are aligned on the left and the right, at which point you can then copy in one direction. You can then keep the destination loaded, while loading another folder and performing the next part of the comparison.

Please let us know if you have any questions,

[Lutz]

Hi,

maybe I'm little bit off topic but I save duplicate files on larger drives since many (~20) years now (several 100 MB to any tens of GB up to above 10TB now) and don't spend mind on deleting to share more time with my daughters.

And the answer to your question is no, it's not a duplicate finder, but an easy to use backup program (I run a script every week to mirror all user files to an external and internal backup drive in about 20 minutes).

I would suggest to backup any personal files frequently and use a dedicated duplicate finder to remove duplicates if you really feel the need of it.

Greetings Lutz