Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   promytius1
   Member

   I was dragging and dropping folders from my internal SATA 1TB (450GB free) to an external Toshiba 1TB, (600GB free).
   Three times now, the process was stopped due to not enough space on the target drive (physically not true)
   first time it stalled on a 7GB video file (no, not porn, a slideshow of very large Photoshop images)
   2nd and 3rd times were during folder copies, each time a different folder or set of folders.
   I know I can visually display each folder and contents and compare, but 500GB of files would take years to visually scan and verify.

   IF I promise never to try big copy projects like this again, and only do small batches of files in a single folder, would someone tell me if there is a way to automate the process of comparing the contents of two drives?
   Thanks!

   Posted 12 years ago #
2. 

   promytius1
   Member

   p.s.
   There was already an earlier backup of the same drive on the external, only much smaller, which is why I cannot be sure which files were copied.

   Posted 12 years ago #
3. 

   graylox
   Moderator

   Hi, promytius1, it seems you did not use one of the back up tools we got as a giveaway? As e.g Paragon http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ ?
   They have good freeware tools, just look around on their site.

   Otherwise for moving or copying and comparing I use TeraCopy from CodeSector: http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php
   The free version is just fine for home-use.

   One of the CodeSector sites is red rated by WOT without any reason, don't know how that happened. CodeSector and TeraCopy are on the market since a long time and are reliable. Maybe just because the developer didn't update TeraCopy for quite a while - but he did it this year.
   After I used the programme for several years as freeware I updated to pro to support the developer.
   It really does, what is written in the blurb.

   Good luck.

   graylox

   Posted 12 years ago #
4. 

   Robert
   StrayCat

   TeraCopy seems to be a great tool.Thanks Graylox.

   Just wondering what caused the backup to be interrupted.
   Now I don't think promytius1 uses FAT32 on his external drive because of the 4 gig file size limit(but it does remove ADS, if I recall correctly ),so fragmentation could be the problem.
   And exceeding the max file-path length usually pops up a warning.

   For a fast and automated 1 folder compare I use 'Compare Folders 1.2' (no longer under active development and it might not work on your system) and it's only a 327kb (..small apps are beautiful).

   And of course recently DiskBoss Pro v2.0.16 was a great giveaway!

   Still feeling a bit under the weather ...so waiting to hear what programs other members have upon their sleeve.

   Posted 12 years ago #
5. 

   promytius1
   Member

   Thanks for the replies; the drives are not FAT32 they are ntfs. It's an XP SP3 system on a Phenom II 3.5 gHz with 4GB of ddr3, so right, there should not have been a problem, but that is the story of my PC life; as a friend just said in an email tonight, I have more computer problems than anyone he's known. It's Karma.
   I physically dragged, dropped and deleted 32GB off the SATA so I'm stopping there for a while. I will definitely try your suggested programs. I had just previously ran a full diagnostic and defrag on the external, so it should have behaved better. There's a lot of electronics on the same circuit, it was a windy day, may have been just a slight spike or drop in power; maybe the table's crooked! I don't know.
   Home anyway with a sick dog, so had the time to drag and drop a few files at a time.
   Thanks again.

   Posted 12 years ago #
6. 

   promytius1
   Member

   Follow up:
   Greylox, I did not see any file compare function in terracopy; perhaps you were referring to the pro version.

   Robert - File Compare worked perfectly and is EXACTLY what I was looking for - it is tiny, fast, easy, and wonderful!
   Thank you so much!
   Don't know how you close these, but I consider this one answered. ;)

   Posted 12 years ago #
7. 

   graylox
   Moderator

   No, that is part of the free version. Maybe it's not called "compare", but when you highlight a folder to move/copy it to the other drive, TeraCopy will tell you, that there is already the same contend and it will test and verify the action.
   It works similar to the windows copy-paste function - but is very much faster, just test it - even I learnt it.

   graylox

   Posted 12 years ago #
8. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   With Teracopy - you can try to do the copy again (over the top of the previous destination files) and it will display a dialog when it finds files that are the same/already exists - you just tell it to skip all files that already exist - then it will only copy the files that are missing on the destination.

   Then as a really quick check - go to the top level folder that you copied from - right click and select "Properties".

   Make a note of how many files are present - and the total size in bytes.

   Then do the same on the destination folder. The number of files and number of bytes should be the same (This will only confirm if they are the same or not. It will not tell you WHAT is missing from the destination, if the copy is incomplete).

   If you are looking for other free apps that might also help:

   http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/toucan
   http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/synkron_portable
   http://nebula1979.fortunecity.it/#ozSync

   http://lploeger.home.xs4all.nl/TreeComp3.htm

   Posted 12 years ago #
9. 

   Whiterabbit-uk
   Games Guru

   I'm not sure whether the following could be the reason, but I got a similar problem when trying to copy files that were more than several GB in size. Could it be something to do with the allocation size that you selected when first formatting your disc. Each disc is divided up into discreet chunks that enable you to save files. If you have a file that isn't possible to break down into smaller chunks like for example a game file then it may not be possible to transfer that file from the disc it was originally saved on.

   I'm only suggesting this as a reason. It's not necessarily true. I'm not a tech expert. I know a little to get me by, but haven't found enough interest to read up on such matters (Much rather play my games, lol). It just seems to make sense from my limited knowledge of a discs structure.

   Please correct me if I'm wrong as i'm always willing to learn if it's spoon fed to me. :) Thank you.

   Posted 12 years ago #
10. 

    Anonymous
    Unregistered

    Backup...Interrupted. Hey that sounds like a good name for a movie.

    Posted 12 years ago #
11. 

    mikerb
    Member

    I've had similar problems when using drag/drop to back up files. it's not that there is insufficient space, it's more a case of buffer overload. Much better to use a propriety backup programme. (which I'm hopeless at)
    Backup...Interrupted. sounds like a pr@n film. lol

    Posted 12 years ago #
12. 

    graylox
    Moderator

    When you are considering to buy TeraCopy Pro, wait one or a few day/s. There will be a 50% offer on BitsDuJour.

    graylox

    Posted 12 years ago #
13. 

    promytius1
    Member

    Thanks for all your comments - I did use compare folders successfully; I will check the Teracopy functions again - the minimalistic window was deceptive, I guess!
    As for the reasons for copy failure, I buy the buffer problem one; I can drag and drop single files of any size all day long with no problems (except extreme boredom)but batch them up and besides taking MUCH longer - I tested that once, you can drag and drop files quicker than any Windows program can batch copy them - also I noticed from the incomplete results that Windows has it's own unique way of ordering files which I could not figure out; it's not by name, date, or size.
    Well I'd like to spend more time on this subject, but I've got a call into Hollywood for a movie idea that JUST occurred to me: "Backup...interrupted; Part 1" ;)
    Thanks.

    Posted 12 years ago #
14. 

    Robert
    StrayCat

    Don't forget to send us all an invitation to attend the premiere.
    :)
    Compare Folders is a nifty program ...still it has one minor limitation.
    It don't visualize sub-folders (and its files) when comparing a folder.
    But it's definitely a keeper.

    Posted 12 years ago #
15. 

    promytius1
    Member

    Robert WirDirStat is a super util to try, it graphically displays content by type, plus a whole lot more, and shows sub-dir sizes, always a bonus, because windows never will, and it's free.

    Graylox, I have since used TerraCopy and now appreciate its features much more - even if it is a somewhat slow process; again, I realize it is to an external on a 1.0 USB connection, and the speed is offset by its other features, nice reporting, the ability to PAUSE a copy ! wow; and it installed as a right click choice in explorer, so it is definitely a keeper. Thanks.

    Funny though, that darn Hollywood agent SAID he'd call back...

    Posted 12 years ago #

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