Software
 Folder
Compare
 Ericsson Melody Maker
 ClanLord Tune Helper
 GLterm
Friend's Cabal Essentials
Alessandro Levi Montalcini
 USB
Overdrive
 Icon
Archiver
 DragAnyWindow
Marc Moini
 Startup
Doubler
 Smart
Scroll
Florent Pillet
PowerGlot
My Deceased Oldies
 Vamp
 Zilot
 LinuxDisks
 DieBlo
 Black
Beauty
 MyTerm
Please, do not ask me where you can find my
oldies, I no longer provide them. |
© Michel Pollet, 1994-2000
About Folder Compare
Folder Compare allows you to, guess what, compare folders. The unique feature
of Folder Compare is that it provides you with the means to Choose what you
want to do with the differences. I personally do not trust automatic synchronization
software much, because there is always a chance that:
- There are files that I do not want to copy.
There can be many files in a folder that mean nothing. Like, if you are a developer,
trying to copy the .xSYM files is slightly overkill; you can rebuild them by recompiling.
If updating a System Folder, you probably do not want to copy your Web Browser cache.
Nor all the system preference files, in fact.
- There are files which in fact, I'd like to Restore!
It happens sometimes. I make a change I shouldn't have. In that case, I do not need
to fish into a big folder to fetch the original; Folder Compare will show it to me
in a second.
- They do not understand when I just Moved an item.
Most utilities won't understand it. They will think that I removed it and created
another with the same name elsewhere. Folder Compare detects that.
In all those cases, I always have cold sweat when trusting a fully automatic utility.
The utility might be perfectly safe by itself, but I am never sure if I made
the right move.
How To
Simple: drop two folders on the obvious places. Alternatively, once you have done
a comparison, the folders you dropped are saved and appear in the quick-access popup
menus to the right of the drop places.
Note: The aliases to the folders you use are stored in Folder Compare preference
file, that lives in the Preference folder by default. It can happily be moved into
the application folder if needs be, if you have several system folders!
Once you have clicked the "Compare" button, the four lists will get
populated.
You have access to a few of the Finder functions on the selection you make in
the lists. You can find those in Folder Compare "File" menu.
- Open
Open the selected items with the finder.
- Print
Print the selected items, as with the finder.
- Move to Trash
Move the selection items to the Trash.
- Get Info
Displays the Finder's Get Info windows for the selection.
- Reveal in Finder
Open the selection parent folder(s) in the finder.
Note: Those commands apply to BOTH Source and Compare items when
your selection is in the "Different" list. So "Reveal" will open
two folders, and "Move to Trash" will actually remove both items as well!
Here what you will find in the four lists accessible with the Tabs, and the available
commands on the selection you make in them.
Unique in source
Items which are present in the Source folder, but not in the Compare folder.
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Available command:
- Install From Source
Will copy the Source item(s) to its relative position in the Compare folder.
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Unique in compare
Items which are present in the Compare folder, but not in the Source folder.
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Available command:
- Restore From Compare
Will copy the Compare item(s) to its relative position in the Source folder.
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Different
Items which are in both folders, but are different.
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The differences can be:
- Newer
The item in the Source folder has a modification date which is more recent than its
counterpart in the Compare folder.
- Older
The item in the Source folder is older than its counterpart in the Compare folder.
- Smaller
The item in the Source folder is smaller than its counterpart in the Compare folder.
- Bigger
The item in the Source folder is bigger than its counterpart in the Compare folder.
- Different Type
The items in Source and Compare folder have mismatched Finder types.
- Different Creator
The items in Source and Compare folders have mismatched Finder creators.
New: If items have different version
information, they are displayed in the list as, for example, "Newer, 9.04b1
vs a 9.0"
Note: The differences have priority. The first found in that list will
be displayed by Folder Compare. So, a "Newer" file might be "Smaller"
too, but a "Smaller" file is neither "Newer" nor "Older".
Available commands:
- Install From Source
Will copy the Source items(s) and replace their counterparts in the Compare folder.
- Restore From Compare
Will copy the Compare items(s) and replace their counterparts in the Source folder.
Important Note: The items that are "replaced" are in fact moved
to the Trash! So if you make a mistake, you STILL CAN correct it. Isn't paranoia
a nice habit to have ? :-)
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Moved
Items which are in both folders, but in different relative locations.
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Available commands:
- Move In Source
Will move the Source item(s) from their actual positions into the same relative position
as the items in the Compare folder.
- Move In Compare
Will move the Compare item(s) from their actual positions into the same relative
position as the items in the Source folder.
Note: No copy takes place, the folder/files are just moved inside their
own folders to the different position.
Important: Once you have moved items, you should click the "Compare"
button again, to check to see if there were any differences in those items.
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Release Notes:
2.04
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- Corrected a problem introduced in 2.03.
- Changed the limit in the "Recent Folders" popup to 20 entries instead
of 10.
- Added Contextual Menus in the lists (Control-click
on the selected items).
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2.03
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- Folder Compare wouldn't move files to the trash under certain conditions; it
is now behaving properly. Thanks to a registered user, Erik, for pointing this out.
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2.02
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- Fixed a couple display glitches.
- Made the display of large lists of differences faster.
- Added version information in Different List.
Version of both components is displayed as "Newer, 9.04 vs a 9.0" for example.
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2.01
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- Fixed a problem that prevented Folder Compare to start properly under certain
conditions.
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2.0
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- Complete rewrite of the original Folder Compare, using the latest technologies:
- Drag & Drop
- Icon Services
- Thread Manager
- AppleScript
- Carbon
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