Program to show differences ("delta") between 2 binary files

[Chaos Master]

Hello.

Is there a freeware program to show differences between 2 binary files?

UNIX has the utility "diff" but it's only for ASCII files.

I want to analyze what happened when a file I download gets corrupted
(not an uncommon result here... about 5% of my downloads get corrupted).

[]s
--
Chaos Master®, posting from Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - 29.55° S
/ 51.11° W / GMT-2h / 15m .

"People told me I can't dress like a fairy.
I say, I'm in a rock band and I can do what the hell I want!"
-- Amy Lee

(My e-mail address isn't read. Please reply to the group!)

 

[Steven Burn]

Hello.

Is there a freeware program to show differences between 2 binary files?

UNIX has the utility "diff" but it's only for ASCII files.

I want to analyze what happened when a file I download gets corrupted
(not an uncommon result here... about 5% of my downloads get corrupted).

Though not strictly a comparison app, this one can apparently do what your
wanting;

http://www.freewarefiles.com/programs.php?categoryid=9&subcategoryid=96&Prog
ramID=10393

--
Regards

Steven Burn
Ur I.T. Mate Group
www.it-mate.co.uk

Keeping it FREE!

 

[Jörg Schneider]

Is there a freeware program to show differences between 2 binary
files?

Tiny Hexer can do this:

http://www.mirkes.de/en/freeware/tinyhex.php


HTH,
Jörg

 

[Jem Berkes]

I want to analyze what happened when a file I download gets corrupted

(not an uncommon result here... about 5% of my downloads get corrupted).

Sorry for not being able to suggest software for you, but 5% of downloads
getting corrupted is really bizarre in this age.

Is your hard drive fine?

Perhaps your memory is faulty? www.memtest86.com

Maybe the software you use to download has flaws. FileZilla has screwed up
on me in the past.

Are you running a modern operating system?

Is your network card good? Are you using the right driver?

 

[Chaos Master]

This is Jem Berkes for forever:

Sorry for not being able to suggest software for you, but 5% of downloads
getting corrupted is really bizarre in this age.

I have line noise on my dial-up connection. That seems to be the reason
for corrupted downloads.
--
Chaos Master®, posting from Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil - 29.55° S
/ 51.11° W / GMT-2h / 15m .

"People told me I can't dress like a fairy.
I say, I'm in a rock band and I can do what the hell I want!"
-- Amy Lee

(My e-mail address isn't read. Please reply to the group!)

 

[Jem Berkes]

I have line noise on my dial-up connection. That seems to be the
reason for corrupted downloads.

You should check your modem init strings. Make sure all error correction is
enabled and V.42 is being negotiated (will show in CONNECT string). I think
doing a TCP/IP download (e.g. http requests through a PPP connection)
should hardly ever cause errors.

 

[B. R. 'BeAr' Ederson]

Is there a freeware program to show differences between 2 binary files?

NirSoft (Nir Sofer) used to have a program named XORFiles. It created a
diff file where all differences were displayed as non-zero bytes while
the rest was zeroed out. (You didn't get the values of the source and
destination file this way but had to look them up.) But I can't locate
XORFiles at the BirSoft site the moment.

Another nice one is cmp from the Unix utils page:

http://unxutils.sourceforge.net

You need to apply it with the -l option to get all differences listed.

If you want to check whole subdirectories you can try XComp of Wei Ke:

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/8162

For a more graphical display of differences you may use a hex-editor
capable of comparing files - like Frhed of Raihan Kibria:

http://www.kibria.de/frhed.html

After compare you get a list of differences, where you can select one
to go to in your original file. You have to open the second file in
another instance of Frhed and scroll to the needed offset to see the
differences side by side.

A *very* nice hex editor for comparing binary files is JHEditor:

http://home.arcor.de/mschierlm/sm-soft/jheditor.htm

You'll need a Java runtime, though. Be aware that you have to open the
second file within another window (File->New Window) to be able to
select it within the compare-dialog (Tools->Compare files). After the
compare you get a list of identical areas and differences. With a
double click on one of these entries you will jump directly to the
offsets. (Be sure to have 'Align windows' activated inside the
Compare Files dialog.)

BeAr

 

[Mel]

NirSoft (Nir Sofer) used to have a program named XORFiles. It created a
diff file where all differences were displayed as non-zero bytes while
the rest was zeroed out. (You didn't get the values of the source and
destination file this way but had to look them up.) But I can't locate
XORFiles at the BirSoft site the moment.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/xorfiles.html

 

[Mario Alvares]

Hello.

Is there a freeware program to show differences between 2 binary files?

UNIX has the utility "diff" but it's only for ASCII files.

I want to analyze what happened when a file I download gets corrupted
(not an uncommon result here... about 5% of my downloads get corrupted).

KDiff3
http://kdiff3.sourceforge.net/