Drive Compare

[OldGuy]

Is there a side by side folder compare app?

e.g.
Left pane selects a folder and shows a tree of files.
Right pane selects a folder and shows a tree of files.
The tree node are populated if there is a matching subfolder or file on
the other pane so that it is easy to see if anything is missing.
The tree can be expanded to show all files and modified data and file
size.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per OldGuy:

Is there a side by side folder compare app?

e.g.
Left pane selects a folder and shows a tree of files.
Right pane selects a folder and shows a tree of files.
The tree node are populated if there is a matching subfolder or file on
the other pane so that it is easy to see if anything is missing.
The tree can be expanded to show all files and modified data and file
size.

I have been using "Beyond Compare" from Scooter Software for a few years
now.

Can't recall the price, but it was totally reasonable.

IMHO it's one of the classiest apps I have come across.

 

[VanguardLH]

Is there a side by side folder compare app?

e.g.
Left pane selects a folder and shows a tree of files.
Right pane selects a folder and shows a tree of files.
The tree node are populated if there is a matching subfolder or file on
the other pane so that it is easy to see if anything is missing.
The tree can be expanded to show all files and modified data and file
size.

WinMerge (http://winmerge.org/) is free. It's layout showing files
comparison is much better than the text description they give for
folders comparison. Their screen snapshot for folder compare looks like
http://manual.winmerge.org/screenshots/foldercomp1.png.

Twould be better if they did like Beyond Compare ($30 std, $50 pro)
mentioned by Pete but be aware some features in the Pro version are not
in the Std version (see
http://www.scootersoftware.com/shop.php?zz=kb_editions).

Araxis Merge is used by many programmers (mostly for its merging
capabilities) but has nice folder compares, too; however, it's a pricey
program (http://www.araxis.com/buy/prices). You didn't mention what
budget you have for such a tool.

Some programmers use Guiffy because it can also be incorporated into
their choice of programming IDE (interactive development environment),
like Eclipse and NetBeans. You can review its pricing schedule at
http://www.guiffy.com/order/order.html.

Then there's WinDiff (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/159214) from
Microsoft but it's pretty basic.

There are sync tools that will show a graphical comparison of folders,
like FreeFileSync (http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/, home
page at http://www.freefilesync.org/). It's donationware (free to use
but they would like a optional donation). A review is at
http://www.pcworld.com/article/257547/compare_and_sync_any_two_folders_with_freefilesync.html.
They show a lot of screenshots, like folder compare, but I didn't see
one that was like WinMerge where you could see what was different inside
the files (http://www.freefilesync.org/screenshots.php). It's more
oriented to file sync than to comparing and merging code.

There's ExamDiff (free) but you have to pay ($35) to get folder
comparison. There's SwiftComplete that says it will do file and folder
compares. A few more features are available in the $27 Pro version (see
http://www.oorjasoftware.com/sc-lite.html).

The community over at alt.comp.freeware might have more suggestions.

 

[Don Phillipson]

Is there a side by side folder compare app?

e.g.
Left pane selects a folder and shows a tree of files.
Right pane selects a folder and shows a tree of files.
The tree node are populated if there is a matching subfolder or file on
the other pane so that it is easy to see if anything is missing.
The tree can be expanded to show all files and modified data and file
size.

PowerDesk (Avanquest) does this (used here for
six or eight years) with extras, e.g.a utility to compare
two folders and update as you please.