How to copy a folder and skip duplicates?

[MathersMahmood]

Hello all.

I can't for the life of me find an answer to this.

I backup my photos and videos on two drives.

On windows I can move the images into the main pictures folder which contains the years and months sub folders.

Once I have moved the images into the main picture backup folder I then just simply copy the main folder and paste it into the backup SSD.

Windows scans the files and gives me an option to just skip the duplicates and only copy over the new files to the Pictures folder on the second drive.

On Mac OS I cant seem to just skip the duplicates and copy over the new files.

Does anyone know how to do this?

 

[Basic75]

Open Terminal.app and enter

man rsync

What you'll probably need is

rsync -a --delete source_folder/ destination_folder/

 

[MathersMahmood]

Open Terminal.app and enter

man rsync

What you'll probably need is

rsync -a --delete source_folder/ destination_folder/

Thank you for the reply.

Not sure how to do this so ill need to research more.

 

[aperfectcircle]

Have you looked to see if there’s an app that will automate this for you? Would save you having to manually do the copying. I’m not sure if Time Machine can do this with dual back ups but there may be a nice piece of software out there that can streamline things for you.

 

[Basic75]

Thank you for the reply.

Not sure how to do this so ill need to research more.

In Terminal.app the command "man rsync" will show you the manual page of rsync which is a powerful file copy/backup/synchronization command.

 

[Brian33]

Windows scans the files and gives me an option to just skip the duplicates and only copy over the new files to the Pictures folder on the second drive.

That is a really nice feature of Windows, if I understand it correctly. MacOS should build in a similar feature to Finder!

Yeah, 'rsync' is what I'd use and it's great, but the manual page is huge and it is not quick and easy for someone new to figure out the appropriate options.

@MathersMahmood : if you use rysnc, make sure to use the --dry-run (or -n) option until you're sure you have the source, destination, and options specified correctly! I like to use it with --itemize-changes to get a preview of what would be copied, without any actual copying being done.

 

[Nermal]

Be aware that rsync can delete as well as copy. You definitely want to double-check before you let it loose.

 

[gilby101]

Windows scans the files and gives me an option to just skip the duplicates and only copy over the new files to the Pictures folder on the second drive.

When you sort out the correct rsync command, you can package it up into an Automator workflow. That is all you need.

But, you may prefer to get an app which can do what you want (and more). Top of the line is ChronoSync https://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/overview.html. But also (for free) FreeFileSync https://freefilesync.org/ and here is a list of, mostly well known, synchronisation software https://mac.eltima.com/best-mac-synchronization-software.html

You can also use backup software like Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner.

 

[MathersMahmood]

When you sort out the correct rsync command, you can package it up into an Automator workflow. That is all you need.

But, you may prefer to get an app which can do what you want (and more). Top of the line is ChronoSync https://www.econtechnologies.com/chronosync/overview.html. But also (for free) FreeFileSync https://freefilesync.org/ and here is a list of, mostly well known, synchronisation software https://mac.eltima.com/best-mac-synchronization-software.html

You can also use backup software like Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner.

Thank you so much!

FreeFileSync sorted my problem out.

Shame that MacOS doesn't have a simple feature like this.