How to compare folders in mac using drag and drop
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- Here is a guide how to compare folders in Mac OS using drag and drop. I also show you how to include subdirectories when comparing folders, and how to compare files.
As a online content creator I use a lot of external hardrives, memory cards and other places to store media files. And I copy a lot of files and folders between those volumes. So I often need to compare folders and compare files to see that everything is ok.
There are many situations when you need to compare files or folders in MacOS.
Maybe you need to be certain that a backup is up to date.
Maybe you suspect duplicates and want to make sure that you don’t throw away content that wasn’t duplicate.
Or you have made a huge batch process of files and want to make sure that the batch process didn’t skip any files.
In all those situations it's convenient to quickly compare folders in mac OS.
There are third party apps for this, but MacOS actually have a very useful and powerful tool that is built in.
I use the terminal for the actual command, but I drag and drop the files from Finder when chosing what folders and files I want to compare.
I use MacOS Mojave but as far as I can recall, you can do this in any version of OS X.
I have read many articles on using diff in terminal NONE mentioned drag and drop. What a difference, in ease of use!! I am a TERRIBLE typer and I am comparing files with deep directory structure, HD/folder/folder/folder to the nth. Dragging from 2 separate drives with deep folder structure so much easier.
Not sure if terminal is the right tool for some of what I need, I am comparing two drives with 1.2TB of data in 15K folders, BUT learning the basics of diff for simpler tasks is very worth while.
You made the basics easy! Thanks
Thanks! I’m happy that I could help! Good luck comparing your folders. Cheers!
after I compare two folders and I press enter the terminal says "no such file or directory: ..." referring to one of the two folders... how is that?
This is an absolutely incredible option! Thank you for sharing such valuable information. Saved hours of time of manual labour.
Accurate information presented concisely. Thank you!
I'm trying to compare a folder on an external HDD to a a back up on a USB drive but It won't let me copy the USB drive in to the terminal window?
what is the point of this ? need to copy the files to the other folder....
Thank you for this. Exactly what I needed!
Kanonbra video, pedagogisk och tydlig.
Tackar! :-)
I had no idea it was this easy to compare folders on Mac.
This makes it really easy to compare folders on Mac, and it doesnt require any app. You can also compare folders on Mac using FileMerge which is free, but it comes with Xcode and I'm not sure if you can install it as a stand alone app. I can look into this in a future video.
I came here looking for a simple/clear way to compare and eliminate duplicate folders and files between my iCloud, my hard drive, and my user directories' "Documents" folders. Each of the three were automatically, originally, called "Documents"--meaning that's how the directories were labeled when I bought and started using my Mac (and previously my iPad). I just want to have one place for all my documents and use iCloud as the backup.
I'm too new to Mac to understand all this right now, unfortunately. But I will muddle through. Thank you for your presentation.
At first, you scared the heck outta me, but then I saw the seriousness of your GREAT TIPS and "valued" the "ransom style" delivery. 😎👍🏼
Hi! It wasn't my intention to scare anyone :-D I'm happy you found the video helpful in the end though :-D Good luck with your folder comparison!
Brilliant. Seems with the poor development of Os X, terminal use is becoming essential. Thankyou very much
I have Mojave and just tried this. it kind of worked but. it's telling me a file is ONLY IN the folder on the desktop...but it's not it's also in the folder on my external drive as a search in that folder finds the exact same file
any ideas why it's lying to me?
I don't know why. Are there really no differences between the files? Any meta data or last edited date etc?
not that I can see. but even if they are changed should it not say they are in both folders but the files are different not just 'only in XYZ'?
I have to download a folder (with sub folders) that has files updated now and then, some are changed and some are new. I'm looking for a good ay to compare the whole folder, find the changed and new files then copy those into the original folder. I looked at dupguru but that only finds the new files of course. Drag n Drop with option does not always work (would be great if it did) but it's not something I want to spend a lot of money on so free options are the best.
It didn't work, but sadly I don't know how to explain it... I did the diff -r command, then dragged two folders which I know have several different files, but after I pressed enter, just a few files showed as “only in” one of the folders. Thanks anyway!
I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t know what can have gone wrong. Let us know if you find any solution. Good luck!
@@gadgetsandtech
The last line said:
“/NameOfTheDoc.gdoc: Operation not supported“
Maybe that explains the problem? I don't know.
And... I have a question. Is it possible to use this method to know only what is in folder A that is not in folder B and not get the info about what is in B that is not in A?
@@psicologiajoseh I still don’t know what’s wrong. Maybe the name had som strange characters in it? To just show the content in a folder you can just go to that path and type “ls” which means list.
Tack! Vet du om det går att använda diff och jämföra lokal mapp och en mapp som finns endast online på Dropbox utan att den laddar ner hela innehållet igen lokalt (själva anledningen till att man en gång i tiden laddade upp den)?
Jag har aldrig gjort det, men jag tror tyvärr spontant att det inte går. Möjligen att det går med en annan filserver som går att montera som en volym, men dropbox funkar ju inte riktigt på det sättet. Hör gärna av dig här om du lyckas!
Thank you for this video. However the response is No such file or directory
Please advise
I don’t know. Are you sure you have permission to read all the content?
Thanks man, straight and simple. You helped me a lot!
thank you for the very usefull information and clearly explained
You wouldn't by any chance use the 'rsync' command?
I don't use it a lot, but it's good for syncing backups etc, That can be a good topic for an upcoming video. Cheers!
@@gadgetsandtech I'll keep watch out for it. And, again... Thank you!
I don't comprehend how it works!
You can write the commands that I use in the video, then you can use drag and drop to select folders instead of typing in the file path. Does it work now?
Great video, very helpful!
Thank you! I'm happy I could help! I wanted to raise awareness of this built in feature for comparing folders, that is overlooked by so many Mac users.
Thanks for this no nonsense, clear & comprehensible video
Thank you! Glad it was helpful! Good luck with your folder comparison!
Finally! An intelligent Mac user! ... that makes terminal less intimidating by using drag and drop. I love drag and drop.
The Diff command is explained in laymen terms without anything unnecessary convoluting your tutorial. Thank you so much for the time and effort you put forth in sharing!
Thank you!
I can't believe it supports drag & drop. That's crazy! Very handy. Thanks!
I’m happy that I could help! Good luck with your folder comparison! Cheers!
Tak!
The background music distracts from your commentary. I found it difficult to follow your narrative.
I see what the mean and it’s the speaking that is the actual content. I hope you still made it through and could compare your folders. This is an old video I made a long time ago, so maybe I should upload an updated version and edit down the music. Thanks for your feedback. Cheers!