Comparing computer files.

  • Thread starter John Fitzsimons
  • Start date
J

John Fitzsimons

I know there are duplicate checkers and directory/file list programs.
What I am wondering however is how one compares two drives.

In the past I have usually made a file list of drive C: then drive D:
and compared them. The annoying thing however has been
comparing eg.

C:\Program Files\Netscape\

and

D:\Program Files\Netscape\

They may be identical however the C: and D: mean they aren't. Unless I
do some complicated gymnastics in a text program they will show as
different.

(1) Is there a program that will compare both drives, ignore the drive
letters for comparison purposes, and print out the differences ?

(2) Can someone remember the DOS syntax for printing all
directories/sub directories/files on a drive (to a file) please ?

(3) As per (1) and/or (2). Is there any way to compare folders/files
etc., on two drives, created/changed after a certain date eg. after
1/6/05 ?

Thanks.

Regards, John.
 
P

PerezDeQueya80

John Fitzsimons said:
(1) Is there a program that will compare both drives, ignore the drive
letters for comparison purposes, and print out the differences ?
Click to expand...

WinMerge http://winmerge.sourceforge.net/
(2) Can someone remember the DOS syntax for printing all
directories/sub directories/files on a drive (to a file) please ?
Click to expand...

dir /s > file.txt
(3) As per (1) and/or (2). Is there any way to compare folders/files
etc., on two drives, created/changed after a certain date eg. after
1/6/05 ?
Click to expand...

Try WinMerge
 
J

jmatt

Shall do the easy one first John , here is my info for you to choose
from .

http://www.easydos.com/print.html

==================================

WinAids
http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/17725.html
DOS access and PRINTouts for Win95/98/2K.
Free PRINT program enabling a Printout to be made of any ASCII file.

================================

Dos print programs .
http://www.simtel.net/pub/msdos/printer/

=================================

http://www.pcmech.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=10465

1. Dozens of shareware to do this.
2. Go to a DOS prompt and type: DIR C:\foldername\*.* >LPT1
3. Print Folder Directories

Found this in PcWorld’s January issue:

"Here’s an easy way to print a list of the files contained in a
folder from inside Windows Explorer."

Launch Notepad, then type:

Dir %1> lpt1: and press Enter
Now type cls on the second line, BUT DO NOT PRESS Enter

There must not be anything, not even a blank line after ‘cls’.
Save the two line file in you C:\Windows\Send To folder as
printdir.BAT

Now when you want to a printout of the files in a folder, right click
on the folder in Windows Explorer, and select Send
TO->printdir.bat

==================================

Dir C:\foldername\*.* >filename.txt (this will create a text file
to do with as you please)

====================================

Folder Print
http://www.homestead.com/algor/

Print Folder
http://no-nonsense-software.com/freeware

=================================

Print a Folder's Contents ( XP )
http://jeffwalso.tripod.com/batch.htm
Windows offers no easy way to print a list of the files in a given
folder, but this batch file does. Download the file printdir.bat,
http://ftp.pcworld.com/pub/printmag/printdir.bat
and save it in the SendTo folder under your user profile. To find
your SendTo folder in Windows 98, Me, or XP, select Start, Run, type
sendto, and press Enter. If you use Windows 2000, go to "Add to the
Send To Menu" for details on how to proceed. Once the file is in
your SendTo folder, you can print a copy of a folder's contents by
right-clicking the folder's name in Windows Explorer and selecting
Send To, printdir.bat.

=================================

Or, if you don't want another program, here's 2 batch files, one for
creating a .txt file, the other sends it straight to the printer.

Open Notepad (only), type in **exactly** (or copy/paste from here)

For the .txt file:

dir %1 > C:\list.txt: cls

& save as: textdir.bat

For the printer:

dir %1 > lpt1: cls

& save as: printdir.bat

I save these two files in my "Send to" folder, that way I can just
right click on the folder to execute.

* Posted via http://www.sixfiles.com/forum
* Please report abuse to http://xinbox.com/sixfiles
 
J

jmatt

(1) Is there a program that will compare both drives, ignore the drive
letters for comparison purposes, and print out the differences ?
Click to expand...

Maybe this one .

Space Explorer Home Edition
http://www.freewarehome.com/System_Utilities/File_Management/Organizing_-_Sorting_t.html
http://www.kaptech.co.uk/
Space Explorer Home Edition is a great tool for analysing your hard
drives, what files are on them, where and what sizes they are. With
the help of a wizard, you can See folder tree sizes in a Windows
Explorer-like tree, highlight folder trees that exceed a certain
size to find out which folder trees are taking up most space, Find
duplicate files. Analyse disks using the disk analysis wizard;
Compare folders; Monitor local, network, and pre-selected drives;
Work with FAT, FAT32 and NTFS partitions; and much, much more.

* Posted via http://www.sixfiles.com/forum
* Please report abuse to http://xinbox.com/sixfiles
 
D

dadiOH

John said:
I know there are duplicate checkers and directory/file list programs.
What I am wondering however is how one compares two drives.
Click to expand...

Best one I found a while back was PC Magazine's WMatch. Fortunately, I
got it when it was a total freebie :)
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1790135,00.asp

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 
D

David

I know there are duplicate checkers and directory/file list programs.
What I am wondering however is how one compares two drives.

In the past I have usually made a file list of drive C: then drive D:
and compared them. The annoying thing however has been
comparing eg.

C:\Program Files\Netscape\

and

D:\Program Files\Netscape\

They may be identical however the C: and D: mean they aren't. Unless I
do some complicated gymnastics in a text program they will show as
different.

(1) Is there a program that will compare both drives, ignore the drive
letters for comparison purposes, and print out the differences ?

(2) Can someone remember the DOS syntax for printing all
directories/sub directories/files on a drive (to a file) please ?
Click to expand...
dir >prn or dir >lpt1: to send direct to printer
dir /s >filelist.txt to send to a file.
 
J

John Fitzsimons

John Fitzsimons <[email protected]> ha detto:
Click to expand...
WinMerge http://winmerge.sourceforge.net/
Click to expand...

I already had that installed. I didn't realise that it would consider
something like

C:\Program Files\Netscape\something

and

D:\Program Files\Netscape\something

to be the same. But it does. Great ! On the downside it seems to be
very very very slow. IIRC a directory comparison of about 11k files
took more than an hour. If I had compared two different drives then
I expect that it would have taken all night !

I think however it is probably doing a very very thorough job of
things. Thanks for pointing this out as a contender. Very much
appreciated.
dir /s > file.txt
Click to expand...

Thank you.
Try WinMerge
Click to expand...

Golly, if it does that as well then it will be very handy. I haven't
however worked out how to only compare since the first of June
yet. Hope it is possible. :)

Regards, John.
 
J

John Fitzsimons

Best one I found a while back was PC Magazine's WMatch. Fortunately, I
got it when it was a total freebie :)
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1790135,00.asp
Click to expand...

Well, I am not a subscriber so cannot get that file. I did however try
a copy that I had. I think it was 2.1. It looked promising, initially,
but then gave me an illegal operation on my '98SE system. :-(

I might give it another try sometime but I expect that I will get the
same result. Thanks however for the recommendation. :)

Regards, John.
 
J

John Fitzsimons

On 8 Jun 2005 07:22:37 GMT, (e-mail address removed)-dot-au.no-spam.invalid
(jmatt) wrote:

Dir C:\foldername\*.* >filename.txt (this will create a text file
to do with as you please)
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the main one I was trying to remember. Thanks for the
reminder and the long list of other approaches you mentioned.
Very handy. :)

Regards, John.
 
V

Vic Dura

Well, I am not a subscriber so cannot get that file. I did however try
a copy that I had. I think it was 2.1. It looked promising, initially,
but then gave me an illegal operation on my '98SE system. :-(

I might give it another try sometime but I expect that I will get the
same result. Thanks however for the recommendation. :)
Click to expand...

I've been using v2.0 for a couple of years on win98se with no problem.
I've recently started using it on winXPpro, also with no problems.

If you need it I can email it to you via YouSendIt.com as a (446k) zip
file. No install needed. Just unzip into a subdir and set up a link to
the .exe

It's a great program. I use it a lot.
 
J

John Fitzsimons

On Fri, 10 Jun 2005 09:34:02 +1000, in alt.comp.freeware RE: Re:
Comparing computer files. John Fitzsimons
Click to expand...

If you need it I can email it to you via YouSendIt.com as a (446k) zip
file. No install needed. Just unzip into a subdir and set up a link to
the .exe
Click to expand...
It's a great program. I use it a lot.
Click to expand...

Thanks Vic. Just use the return address for this post. Remembering to
remove DELETE first. :)

Regards, John.
 
J

John Fitzsimons

< snip >

Thanks. Got it okay. Works with individual folders. Doesn't work if I
compare C:\ to D:\ (including sub folders) :-(

Regards, John.
 
F

FREECYCLE MOM

John Fitzsimons said:
Thanks. For some reason however it doesn't work on my '98SE
system. :-(
Click to expand...

I wanted to do the same thing and d/l
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q243424
but it says only . Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition
. Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1
. Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
. Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

And I have XP. Are there any other programs out there?
 
B

B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 21:10:17 -0400, FREECYCLE MOM wrote:

[FileImg]
I wanted to do the same thing and d/l
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q243424
but it says only . Microsoft Windows 98 Standard Edition
. Microsoft Windows 95 Service Pack 1
. Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
. Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

And I have XP. Are there any other programs out there?
Click to expand...

It runs without problems from Win98SE and from Win2kPro. There is no
reason why it shouldn't run from XP, because the latter has the same
core as Win2k. In fact, it is a simple file lister which I believe
can made running on every system supporting a Win32 sub system.

BeAr
 
B

B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:08:48 +1000, John Fitzsimons wrote:

[FileImg]
Thanks. For some reason however it doesn't work on my '98SE
system. :-(
Click to expand...

Tested it on Win98SE: It did very well. Maybe you check whether all
needed components are installed on your machine. You can use the
Dependency Walker program of Steve Miller:

http://www.dependencywalker.com

BeAr
 
V

Vic Dura

< snip >

Thanks. Got it okay. Works with individual folders. Doesn't work if I
compare C:\ to D:\ (including sub folders) :-(
Click to expand...

Wow! Comparing C:\ to D:\ with subdirs enabled is a tall order. I
tried it on my winXP system and it started the compare, but I got
tired of waiting after about 30-seconds and canclled. Are you trying
to check a cloned drive to make sure it is cloned properly? What
happens when you try to do the compare?
 
D

dadiOH

John said:
Thanks. Got it okay. Works with individual folders. Doesn't work if I
compare C:\ to D:\ (including sub folders) :-(
Click to expand...

Works fine for me doing that, what doesn't it do? It *does* take a
while though. I keep my C: and C: backup small - about 4GB used - and
it will take about a half hour to compare them. That's understandable
since it has to go through every bloody file on one drive and compare to
the other drive.

--
dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
 

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