Beyond Compare is extremely useful when comparing two folder trees using "ignore folder structure". This allows validating whether any file in one tree -- regardless of location -- is orphaned from the other tree, even though the files may be in different locations in each tree. This one feature saves an immense amount of work.
Unfortunately if any of the files within a tree are duplicate, this throws off the comparison. The first file fulfills the match, hence is not shown as an orphan. The next instance of the file is a duplicate so appears as an orphan. It's not possible to tell why it appears, so each one must be checked manually.
E.g, verify all the files on a portable drive are present in another drive. You don't care where -- you just want to make sure you have them, so the portable drive can be reformatted for other use.
There are de-duplication utilities you could run on the portable drive before running BC, but this has its own issues. If BC could optionally re-compare the set of orphans to the existing "equals" set, then don't display any which match, that would be great.
Is there any way to do this now, or is this a possible future feature?
Unfortunately if any of the files within a tree are duplicate, this throws off the comparison. The first file fulfills the match, hence is not shown as an orphan. The next instance of the file is a duplicate so appears as an orphan. It's not possible to tell why it appears, so each one must be checked manually.
E.g, verify all the files on a portable drive are present in another drive. You don't care where -- you just want to make sure you have them, so the portable drive can be reformatted for other use.
There are de-duplication utilities you could run on the portable drive before running BC, but this has its own issues. If BC could optionally re-compare the set of orphans to the existing "equals" set, then don't display any which match, that would be great.
Is there any way to do this now, or is this a possible future feature?
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