How to sync two folders in Windows 10?
January 14, 2022 2:21 PM Subscribe
I have two nearly identical folders of files on my Windows 10 PC. I want them copied to a single location using the most recent version of each file (in cases where there are differences). How do I do this?
There are some files which have small updates. I want to put all the files in a single location. If there are two versions of a file, I want the most recent version copied over. What's the easiest way to do this? If I try to copy one version of the folder on top of the other version, I'm prompted that there are X files with the same filename. I don't see how to get Windows to always pick the newest version of each file.
There are some files which have small updates. I want to put all the files in a single location. If there are two versions of a file, I want the most recent version copied over. What's the easiest way to do this? If I try to copy one version of the folder on top of the other version, I'm prompted that there are X files with the same filename. I don't see how to get Windows to always pick the newest version of each file.
Response by poster: It’s just one time but there are too many files to do it manually. I’m hoping for a more automated solution.
posted by NoneOfTheAbove at 2:36 PM on January 14, 2022
posted by NoneOfTheAbove at 2:36 PM on January 14, 2022
Are you comfortable using a command line utility? If so, I think you can use the robocopy utility included with Windows.
posted by arcolz at 2:44 PM on January 14, 2022
posted by arcolz at 2:44 PM on January 14, 2022
Robocopy which is built into the windows command line is designed to do exactly this.
Assuming your files are in 'C:\folder 1' and 'C:\folder 2'
Start by creating a new destination, just in case anything goes wrong, call it C:\final
and copy everything from C:\folder 1 into it
Then use a command like this to merge folder 2 into it:
posted by Lanark at 2:47 PM on January 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
Assuming your files are in 'C:\folder 1' and 'C:\folder 2'
Start by creating a new destination, just in case anything goes wrong, call it C:\final
and copy everything from C:\folder 1 into it
Then use a command like this to merge folder 2 into it:
ROBOCOPY "c:\folder 2" "C:\final" /SDo not include any trailing backspaces in the folder paths. The /S means it will include sub directories.
posted by Lanark at 2:47 PM on January 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have an app called TeraCopy that I really like. You can use it to move the contents of one folder to the other, and set the "unattended copy" option to "overwrite older files". The resulting folder will contain the newest version of every folder.
Functionally, it works like robocopy, and for all I know is based on robocopy, but Teracopy has explorer integration and GUI, rather than command-line. It's tremendously reliable for me.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:49 PM on January 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
Functionally, it works like robocopy, and for all I know is based on robocopy, but Teracopy has explorer integration and GUI, rather than command-line. It's tremendously reliable for me.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:49 PM on January 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I use free file sync. I'd just copy all of one directory to the new location then use ffs to sync the second directory to the new one. It does the smart telling you.
But if you use ffs you could skip the third directory. It will just keep those 2 directories synced with the most recent moving to the other when you run (or schedule) it.
posted by chasles at 4:10 PM on January 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
But if you use ffs you could skip the third directory. It will just keep those 2 directories synced with the most recent moving to the other when you run (or schedule) it.
posted by chasles at 4:10 PM on January 14, 2022 [2 favorites]
I find Real Time Sync to work well. It's open source software and 100% free.
https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=realtimesync
posted by rmmcclay at 5:43 PM on January 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
https://freefilesync.org/manual.php?topic=realtimesync
posted by rmmcclay at 5:43 PM on January 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
Do you actually need two copies of the files? You could just have a single folder and map it to the second location.
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 6:04 PM on January 14, 2022
posted by DeepSeaHaggis at 6:04 PM on January 14, 2022
I've used Comparator (http://softbytelabs.com/wp/comparator/) which is really solid. It used to be free, but now it seems to be shareware.
posted by coberh at 8:22 PM on January 14, 2022
posted by coberh at 8:22 PM on January 14, 2022
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