Application to "harmonize" two almost-the-same directory trees

[WyomingKnott]

Anyone have a good app to compare two somewhat-the-same directory trees and help me make them the same? I'm dealing with multiple copies of what were once the same thing, pairs of USB drives that are almost the same. I want to make sure I don't throw out anything that's in one place but not the other.

 

[USAFRet]

FreeFileSync
https://freefilesync.org/

Or SyncBackFree
https://www.2brightsparks.com/download-syncbackfree.html

Bi-directional syncing between two drives or folders.


I've used both.

 

[WyomingKnott]

@USAFRet

I want to see the differences, not an automated sync. SyncBackFree seems to do this with "Simulated run." Does "Run (no action changes allowed) do something similar or sync them without asking me?

FreeFileSync shows me diffs nicely, flagged for one-side-only or different, but I can't find a way to see a comparison of text files that are in there. Is there one in it?

I'm more interested in knowing the differences and making decisions on what to do manually than in any automated "backup" or "folder-sync" type operation. Thanks for the help; both of these seem to compare reasonably although so far I prefer FreeFileSync - if only it hadn't put RealTimeSync on my desktop. I paid for a copy of MirrorFolder, ages ago, to RAID1 my mail file and only my mail file.

 

[USAFRet]

Unsure if there is an actual DIFF function, to show the actual differences between 2 text files. I'd have to play with them to see what is available.

 

[gardenman]

I'm more interested in knowing the differences and making decisions on what to do manually than in any automated "backup" or "folder-sync" type operation.

Maybe you are looking for more of a file compare app with the ability to copy/edit files? Maybe WinMerge would work.

It can open tabs to compare text files. You can directly edit and save text files in the app. Afterwards the "Comparison result" is updated so if you copy/paste text from one file to another and they were formally different, it will update to say they are now the same.

You can also right click on a file and copy it to the other folder (either way).

 

[WyomingKnott]

@gardenman - I tried winmerge (it's already in my toolbox for smaller diffs) and failed to get recursive directory comparisons. One directory at a time wasn't good enough for the bulk I'm doing. Really nice demo there!

@usafret - I'm just going into some other diff tool for those files. FFS good enough for now. I could run winmerge in parallel and do the comparisons there, but there's a point of diminishing returns. I'm actually using windiff, as primitive as you can get. It does good recursive comparisons but doesn't have copy tools.

 

[gardenman]

There's 2 ways to enable recursive mode in WinMerge.

#1
Go to Edit / Options and Shell Integration. Check both Add to Context Menu and Include subfolders. Now choose both folders in Explorer and right click and choose WinMerge. It seems to only work if you select the folders in Explorer and choose WinMerge. Drag and drop to open folders didn't work out for me.

#2
Use the /r command line parameter.
WinmergeU.exe /r "c:\folder1" "c:\folder2"

Both of these enable what is known as "Tree View" on the view menu.

Resource: http://forums.winmerge.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=118

It's still a pain to open each and every folder. I didn't see a way to "Expand All" folders to see everything at once. It's just a thought, hopefully you'll find something.

 

[WyomingKnott]

I never knew that! Thanks so much.