SIMPLE HELP NEEDED: How To Check Two Folders Contain Identical Files?

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  1. Posts : 696
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #11

    Your replies are much appreciated!

    I'm really leery about installing 3rd party Apps... What's the best way for me to make sure two folders contain the identical files without using a 3rd party App?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 22,929
    Win 10 Home ♦♦♦19045.4170 (x64) [22H2]
       #12

    NiceAndShy said:
    Your replies are much appreciated!

    I'm really leery about installing 3rd party Apps... What's the best way for me to make sure two folders contain the identical files without using a 3rd party App?


    Without a 3rd party app, the easiest way is to delete one of the folders, then just copy/paste the other folder.
    Or... just copy paste one of the folders on top of the other. Tell it to replace any duplicates.
    Or... delete the smaller of the two folders. Then copy/paste the larger to the location of the deleted smaller folder.
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  3. Posts : 696
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #13

    Ghot said:
    Without a 3rd party app, the easiest way is to delete one of the folders, then just copy/paste the other folder.
    Your reply is much appreciated, but I'm not sure what you mean?

    If I delete one of the folders then I'm deleting one version of the files and that would really hurt me...

    Is there another way I can do this using a built in feature of Windows 10 Pro?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 1,217
    W10-Pro 22H2
       #14

    NiceAndShy said:
    I'm really leery about installing 3rd party Apps... What's the best way for me to make sure two folders contain the identical files without using a 3rd party App?
    Windiff is not third party! But you could try the command line FC program:

    FC \folder1\* \folder2\*

    If there are any differences in any files, these will result in a response, if no differences it will say so. Comparisons can be binary or text. But I don't think it can handle subfolders, so may be no help - you may have to drill down manually.
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  5. Posts : 22,929
    Win 10 Home ♦♦♦19045.4170 (x64) [22H2]
       #15

    NiceAndShy said:
    Your reply is much appreciated, but I'm not sure what you mean?

    If I delete one of the folders then I'm deleting one version of the files and that would really hurt me...

    Is there another way I can do this using a built in feature of Windows 10 Pro?



    I'd imagine there's a list of commands that could do the job for you. But I don't know what they would all be..
    As I mentioned before... I use Karen's Replicator.
    It's a tiny 1.8 MB installed programs that IS a list of commands that does things like what you're asking...
    with a GUI.


    Here's is one of the "jobs" I have set up in Karen's Replicator. This is for two media partitions, that are exact copies of each other.


    SIMPLE HELP NEEDED: How To Check Two Folders Contain Identical Files?-image1.png




    I'm not a big fan of 3rd party programs, either. But... sometimes, somebody wanted to do something, repeatedly, and decided to make a little program that would do it for them. Probably a batch file.

    But batch files are very pretty, and you may want to give it to a friend that's not too computer savvy. So... why not give it a GUI.

    Back in the day, I'll bet there was a person who said: "I don't like 3rd party Antivirus programs. I just want to do it myself through Windows".
    And their friend said: "Well you have to compare every file you download or that your computer uses, to a known list of safe files, that someone trustworthy has compiled. And then, you'll need to know if what you wanted, was achieved. You'll need a pile of commands to do that. But it won't be very user friendly".

    The first person responded: "Well, how would I make it user friendly".

    The other person said: "Hey look. Some one already did the same thing you're asking about. They called it... Malwarebytes, or ESET, or Kaspersky, etc., etc., etc."




    For me, who's paranoid. I decided long ago to try using the best of both worlds.
    Some things I use Windows built in tools for, others I use a 3rd party tool.

    For me the determining factor is time and ease of use. If I have to spend too much time doing something the "Windows way", or if it's too complex for me to want to spend the time dealing with... I use a 3rd party app.


    I have a total of 22 non Windows programs (aside from drivers) on my computer. That's it.
    They've all been scanned to death, locally and online, and have shown themselves, over the years, to be the best at what they do.

    Just my two cents.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 16,713
    Windows 10 Home x64 Version 22H2 Build 19045.4170
       #16

    NiceAndShy said:
    Your replies are much appreciated!
    I'm really leery about installing 3rd party Apps... What's the best way for me to make sure two folders contain the identical files without using a 3rd party App?
    How about reading posts #6 & #9 then?

    Denis
      My Computer


 

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