Duplicate files and merge /w overwrite?

[9cats]

I'm wondering if the software can find duplicate files in and then merge the copy output to a single directory.

For instance I have a bunch of hard drives with probably up to 3 or more duplicate files from backups.

I'm wondering if the software can move dups to a working directory like so

C:\work dir\dups\dupfilename\dupfile#1 from drive 1
C:\work dir\dups\dupfilename\dupfile#2 from drive 2
C:\work dir\dups\dupfilename\dupfile#2 from drive 3
C:\work dir \ merged directory with overwritten dup (output / merg directory)

the idea is to get rid of the dups and only have 1 copy of the file except if there are different versions of it (length, etc). and any different version get stored in a directory named say

C:\workdir\dups\diffdups\filename

Then have a merg directory where a single copy of the duplicate files are stored when merged, so if something went wrong, those 3 dups are still there on the drives but they are sorted in the working directory.

Hopefully I've explained this all ok the simple version is -- find dups, if there are differences among dups, save the different ones in their own directorie in the working directory, move duplicate files of the same type to working directory\dupfilename\dupfilenamedirs

That way you're moving the duplicates into the working directory so they are now off the drives but are backed up in the working folder in case something goes wrong.

Hopefully I explained it ok

Can the program do something this?

[Aaron]

Hello,

That depends on the structure of your duplicates. Beyond Compare can load two directories (backup locations) side by side. This will compare their folder structure first, and then the filenames. So if your files are in the same locations on both sides, it will then align them. You can then see if the files are different, and use the Copy To Folder command to copy either file to another location.

If your files all have unique names, you can enable Ignore Folder Structure, but this requires every file to have a unique name. Otherwise, the alignment won't know which pair of files to align.

If you need to load all your harddrives at once, then Beyond Compare does not support this. I would recommend searching download.com or lifehacker.com for Duplicate Finder, File Finder, Duplicate Files, or something along those lines. Note: These websites are not affiliated with ScooterSoftware.com and are not supported by Scooter Software.