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mcsolas

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 4, 2013
134
1
What are the best file/folder comparison utilities for Mac's?

I have a windows machine as my main computer right now. I am getting a mac soon, so I am planning my move over. The only app I am not sure how to replace is a very nifty tool I have been using for years - Beyond Compare. Its a file/folder comparison util. It scans all folders / child folders for changes and highlights them for synching to either FTP or physical location.

For file management it does something that saves me a lot of time. Say you make changes to ten files across ten directories. I can expand all folders, it automatically finds and highlights each changed file, hit a button that selects just those files and even though they are in different directories, with one click I can synch that selection to my backup device.

please feel free to include paid utils, I dont mind if the software is good. beyond compare is reasonably priced and I would recommend it to any pc user.
 
What you need to set up is built in,to OS X, it's called TimeMachine and even has versions of all documents, so if you safe a text file and later change it the first version can still be found.

Another way is Carbon Copy Cloner, this makes bootable Backups on any disk, an advantage of this software over TimeMachine is it is bootable and if you have troubles you can startup from it.


CCC is free up until 3.4.6
 
Take a look at Syncovery, it was originally called was Super Flexible File Synchronizer. I use Beyond Compare on a Windows 7 box, and Syncovery seems to be the closed I could find and has a few additional features.
As stated above, Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper are excellent applications.
I use Carbon Copy cloner to backup my entire system to an external drive.
I use Syncovery to sync files and folders to a network share and a NAS.
 
I use beyond compare in windows and its an excellent product to which I wished they offered an OSX version.

I use deltawalker for my compares in OSX. Not as robust as beyond compare but it does provide me with a list of differences in the folders and files.
 
I use deltawalker for my compares in OSX. Not as robust as beyond compare but it does provide me with a list of differences in the folders and files.
I am going to check this one out when I have a chance, I might test install it on a mac I can borrow from time to time.

I also came across this one just now:
http://www.kaleidoscopeapp.com
Take a look at Syncovery, it was originally called was Super Flexible File Synchronizer. I use Beyond Compare on a Windows 7 box, and Syncovery seems to be the closed I could find and has a few additional features.
As stated above, Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper are excellent applications.
I use Carbon Copy cloner to backup my entire system to an external drive.
I use Syncovery to sync files and folders to a network share and a NAS.
Thank you. I am reading up on Syncovery, it is talking about having FTP support which is a big thing for me. I downloaded it and gave it a look, but I just dont see it replacing BC. I am reading up on their forum and it looks like they are close to having a mac version. Until then, they say you can run it using a virtual machine. I am going to look into that.
 
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