Scan against self, and folder compare

[phila]

I have been giving the free version a good workout and am impressed and considering upgrading. However I have difficulty understanding what the extra features in pro actually do.

1) You mention the ability to NOT 'scan against self'. What does that mean? Does it mean that any dups in that folder are ignored but a file in there will be checked against other folders elsewhere? Is that any different from excluding a folder (which you say you will consider for V4)?

2) What is the actual functionality of Folder Compare? I have read the help but can't see anywhere what criteria are used in compare folders. In what way does it differ from file compare?

It would be good if there was a trial version of pro so that I could find answers to these and other questions before shelling our twenty quid :)

Phil.

[therube]

1.

First part is correct.

C:\MUSIC
a) |-thickasabrick.mp3
b) |-thickasabrick_exact_copy.mp3

C:\POSSIBLE_DUPS_OF_MUSIC
c) |-isthisthesame_thickabrick.mp3
d) |-thickasastone.mp3
e) |-johnbarleycorn.mp3
f) |-johnbarleycorn_copy.mp3

Assume that a & b & d are exactly the same.
And that e & f are exactly the same.

You perform a Content search.

Ordinarily that would turn up dups for:

a & b & d
&
e & f

If you set Scan Against Self to 'No', then you get:

a & b, match against d
(actually I guess you could say a matches d & b matches d, but a & b are not compared to each other - even though they do match)

e & f, while they are duplicates, are ignored, because they are within the same directory tree & that tree is not scanned against self.


The second part, an excluded folder, would be different.
A folder set to be excluded would not be scanned at all.



2.

(someone else will have to clarify that for you)

[DigitalVolcano]

The duplicate folders view basically shows you where entire folder structures have been duplicated within your scan.
For instance you could have:

c:\docs\Project1\
and
c:\docs\Project1 - backup

which both contain exactly the same files (including subfolders). The duplicate folder view will show these as a group.

[phila]

To therube,

Thanks, I *think* I understand but will have to read that a few more times to be sure!!

To DigitalVolcano,

Is it the case that folder names do not have to be the same, its just that they have to contain identical files (contents, names [and attributes?]).

What happens if you have

c:\docs\Project1\
and
c:\temp\docs\Project1
and
c:\anothertemp\docs\Project1 - backup
and
c:\anothertemp\docs\Project1 - backup\Plus a small added folder\

Will it recognise a portion of a tree that is exactly matched, although there may be additional branches in one that are not in the other?

What about files like thumbs_db that windows explorer tends to leave hanging around. Can they be ignored in folder compare?

[DigitalVolcano]

Any files that are ignored in the scan are also ignored in the folder compare. For instance if you just scan for *.jpg then any other files (thumbs.db, info.txt, etc) are disregarded in the folder comparison stage also.

It will show partial tree matches - usually with a note saying that match is 'contained within another group'.