I have used Beyond Compare happily for many years. Now, however, I find that the syncing I do most is between my Windows 7 computer and my Android tablet running KitKat 4.4.4. I haven't been able to get Beyond Compare to see the tablet. I'm using version 3 of BC. I see no mention in the description of version 4 for the capability to do the kind of sync I want between tablet and computer. Is there such capability in either version 3 or 4?
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Comparing folders/files between Windows and Android Tablet
Yesterday I posted a message that I now realize may have been misleading. I asked about "syncing" between my Windows computer and my Android Tablet. I couldn't find a way to do this with my copy of Beyond Compare 3, and I was curious as to whether Beyond Compare 4 could do this. However, I didn't really mean syncing; what I want to know is whether I can COMPARE folders on my Windows 7 computer with similar folders on my Android Tablet using Beyond Compare 4. I received no responses to my earlier message, perhaps because my wording was misleading. [I'd like to delete the earlier message, but I can find no way to do that.]
Thanks in advance for your help. -
Hello,
Yes, BC4 added MTP support to interface with many different devices. Android varies greatly on it's level of MTP support from device to device, and version to version of Android, so I would suggest testing with our fully functional trial.
http://www.scootersoftware.com/download.php
and tutorial videos: http://www.scootersoftware.com/features.php?zz=v4videos
You'll probably want a Folder Compare session to view your content side by side, folder by folder and file name by file name aligned.
No worries about deleting messages; I've merged everything into a single thread and we can continue the discussion here if you have any questions.Aaron P Scooter SoftwareComment
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Thanks very much, Aaron, for this encouraging response. I confess that I'm not really sure what MTP is, other than that it stands for Media Transport Protocol. "Media" makes me think of video, audio, photos, etc., whereas what I'm interested in is text. Also, apparently "older" versions of Android don't support this, and I'm not sure what counts as an "older" version. You're probably right that I should test a trial version of BC4. Can I keep BC3 on my system during the trial?
Also, I saw in the description of features in BC4 that the Pro version has integrated support for WebDAV. I'm curious about this, since I use WebDAV on my tablet to transfer files between it and the computer. What does BC4's "integrated support" for WebDAV involve? Is that another way to get BC to compare and even sync folders and files between my tablet and my computer? I own the Standard version of BC3, and I'd prefer not to incur the added expense of upgrading to the BC4 Pro version, but I'd like to know what the integrated support for WebDAV would enable me to do. Are there advantages to this over MTP support?Comment
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Hello,
BC4's trial can be installed side by side with BC3 on Windows, so you can jump between the two versions easily. If you use the context menu in Explorer, you can disable BC3 and enable BC4's in the Options dialog, or vice versa.
BC4 Pro's Profile support is expanded beyond just FTP profiles. So you can create a WebDav profile in the Tools menu -> Profiles dialog, and then in the Folder Compare, use the Browse button to browse and open the WebDav location as one of the base folders. Advantages depend on the device. MTP often has issues preserving timestamps (after a disconnect/reconnect to test), which WebDav might be better at, but it really depends on each device's implementation of the protocol. You might see different behavior between your two devices, even using the same protocol.Aaron P Scooter SoftwareComment
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Thanks very much, Aaron. After reading your message, I downloaded and installed the trial version of BC4. I connected my Nexus 7 tablet to the computer and did a folder comparison. To my dismay, just about all the Modified times on the Nexus were way off. One file, which my Nexus claimed (rightly) was last modified on Oct. 31, was listed in BC4 as last modified on Oct. 17. The next one in the folder, which was last modified on November 5, was last modified according to BC4 on Oct. 12. As a result, if I had wanted to sync, the newer files (those on the Nexus) would have been overwritten by older files on my computer. Even though I didn't think it would matter, I then tried turning on the tablet's connection to wi-fi. That made no difference. So apparently my tablet can make use of MTP, but the results are inaccurate. I'm not sure what to make of this. Among the 26 files in the folders being compared, the only one that was said to be more current on the Nexus was one where in fact the same time stamp appears in both on the computer and the device, but in BC4 the computer's is an hour earlier. I assume that this has something to do with the shift away from daylight savings time. BC4 is showing all the Modified times on the computer as an hour earlier than the modification actually took place. BC4 doesn't do this for the Modified times on the Nexus, as far as I can tell.
I'm totally puzzled by these results. It suggests that MTP isn't going to provide a solution for me. Have I done something wrong or missed a key bit of information?Comment
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Hello,
If you verify against what Windows Explorer shows vs. what BC4 shows for Last Modified timestamp, are they equal or is there a pattern to differences? You should be able to access the MTP device in Explorer under Devices.Aaron P Scooter SoftwareComment
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I don't normally use Windows Explorer, since I much prefer Directory Opus. However, I switched back to Windows Explorer and accessed my Nexus 7 under Devices. The time stamps on the files were the same incorrect ones that I saw in BC4. I could find no pattern to the differences. Sometimes, there was 2 weeks' difference between the correct date and the one BC4 and Windows Explorer reported, sometimes, there was 3 weeks, or 3 weeks and a day or two or three, and sometimes a full month. Files updated on the same day nonetheless had different dates assigned by BC4/WExp. Also, 21 of the 26 files in the folder had been updated during the first 5 days in November, but ALL of the last modified dates assigned by BC4/WExp. were in October. I might mention that when I access the files on the Nexus 7 using WebDAV (not in conjunction with BC4--I was not able to figure out how to do that), the last modified dates are the correct ones. Again, it doesn't look as if BC4's use of MTP is going to be of help to me.
I would try using WebDAV with BC4, but I couldn't figure out how to set up a profile. I looked in the Help file, but I couldn't figure out how what it said applied to what I saw when I encountered the Profile dialogue under Tools.Comment
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Hello,
A key point in testing is to disconnect and reconnect the device; otherwise dates reported on the device, Explorer, or BC4 may or may not be accurate. It's not always needed, but once we see any oddities this becomes an important troubleshooting step.
And to clarify, Explorer always matched BC4? That would lead me to think those are accurate (at least, according to how the device reports the time externally).
To create a WebDAV profile, go to the Tools menu -> Profiles, and click the + New button at the bottom left and select a new WebDAV profile. Enter the URL, Username, and Password, then click to Save.
Next, in the Folder Compare, click Browse next to either folder path and Browse Using Profile. Select the saved WebDAV profile name from the list of profiles to load it onto that side of the Folder Compare.Aaron P Scooter SoftwareComment
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Thanks, Aaron, for your response. I did disconnect and reconnect the tablet. And the results were the same. And yes, BC4 and WExp. reported the same incorrect time modified dates. I'm not sure what you mean by "how the device reports the time externally." When I access the tablet via WebDAV, the dates are correct.
I appreciate your instructions about the WebDAV profile, esp. the bit about the New (+) button. I didn't see that in the other instructions. However, I'm still somewhat confused. It asks for a URL. When I set up WebDav in order to be able to access the tablet's files and be able to transfer files to and from the computer, I eventually had to set up 8 different connecting URLs (all starting http://192.168 and all ending in :8080), based on what WebDAV asks for at any given time (I think it's based on what else is online at the time). So I have no idea what URL to provide. And what username is being requested? I didn't have to provide a username or password when I set up WebDAV several years ago. Indeed, at that time I was told explicitly NOT to provide a username or password, because there was a bug somewhere in the WebDAV app and it would not connect under Windows if I put in a username or password. It's been working fine all this time. If I do have to put in a username or password, I'm not sure which to use.
I'm sorry to be bombarding you with questions. I greatly appreciate your help and your patience.Comment
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Hello,
If you are loading the device in Devices (device name) this is likely using the MTP protocol. You can also load a WebDAV location in Explorer by "Add a network location" and then pasting the WebDAV url, to test in Explorer via WebDAV, which might return different results.
What I mean by consistency is that if Explorer and BC4 show the same timestamp, then this isn't a bug in BC4 but in the device. Even if the device is showing a different timestamp internally if you use its internal timestamp, when connecting via MTP (or WebDAV) it will report the timestamp. If it is reporting to multiple programs with the same wrong timestamp, then there's a bug in how it is reporting via that specific protocol.Aaron P Scooter SoftwareComment
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Hi Aaron. In Explorer, I added a network location, put in the WebDAV URL, and Explorer then showed the correct time stamp information for the folder in my tablet. So using MTP, Explorer showed the same incorrect time stamps as BC4, but using WebDAV, Explorer showed the correct time stamps. It seems, then, that Explorer does NOT always match the BC4 time stamps. It does so with MTP, but with WebDAV, it doesn't.
Using my WebDAV profile, I then used BC4 to compare the folder on my tablet with the folder on my computer. The file sizes that BC4 shows for the files on my tablet are now correct (they were not correct when using MTP), but the odd thing is that there were no dates given under Modified on the tablet listing, though there were dates given for the computer listing.Comment
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Hello,
To clarify, loading as a WebDAV location revealed a blank Modified Timestamp column? But in Explorer the timestamps are populated? If you right-click and view Properties on a single example file in Explorer, what does this reveal?
The device seems a bit buggy, as it's giving different dates and sizes to different programs or the same program with varying protocols.Aaron P Scooter SoftwareComment
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When I connect my tablet to my computer using MTP, Explorer shows incorrect time stamps for my tablet, as does BC4. When I connect using WebDAV, Explorer shows the correct time stamps. When I try to do a folder compare using BC4 with WebDAV, BC4 shows no time stamps for my tablet, just for my computer.
The tablet provides the correct time stamps regardless of whether I use Windows Explorer or Directory Opus, as long as I'm connecting via WebDAV and not MTP. However, BC4 doesn't seem to work well with either MTP or WebDAV. With MTP it provides incorrect time stamps for the tablet, and with WebDAV it provides no time stamps for the tablet.
I've spent more time than I anticipated trying to see how BC4 works with MTP and WebDAV. That feature is simply not important enough to me right now to continue to deal with it. I like the cleaner interface of BC4 vs BC3, and I may decide to upgrade to BC4 for that alone. If I do upgrade, it will be from Standard BC3 to Standard BC4. And I will use BC only for file and folder comparisons on my computer, not between the computer and the tablet.
Again, many thanks, Aaron, for your help and your patience.Comment
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