Google reveals tons of tools and I just don't feel like wading through to find the best one. What is the best Windoze tool to do directory diff, binary diff also wanted but filename, size, maybe date would be good enough.


Also, I have been hand managing a couple of backup directories for awhile. Raid would have made sense but at the time I didn't want to devote a full disk to mirror as I wanted part of the second disk space for other stuff. What is the best tool for doing automatic syncing of one directory to another?

2/25/2009 10:49:58 AM

Thanks!

2/25/2009 4:59:19 PM

rsync is supposed to be good for incremental backup/syncing. i haven't used it, but i always see good things about it when i'm looking up backup strategies

and i've used winmerge for directory/file differencing. you probably want a tool that does both together? don't know one of the top of my head

2/25/2009 5:04:08 PM

Before I signed up for Mozy, I was using a program called cwrsync, a Windows port of rsync that I used to synchronize my documents and music to a remote account. It worked well once I figured out how to wade through the -million -different -commandline -flags.

2/25/2009 5:10:32 PM

M$'s robocopy

2/28/2009 6:02:12 PM

batch script + scheduled task

2/28/2009 6:24:37 PM

wow and i thought i was cool running GoodSync

2/28/2009 7:50:47 PM

wait, this is windows xp pro/2k pro/vista business or better? fuck use ntbackup.exe

2/28/2009 7:58:06 PM

Yeah, ntbackup or a bat file and a taskscheduler are my preferred methods

2/28/2009 8:38:56 PM

winmerge ftw (for file and directory comparisons). its mostly good for comparing code files line by line, but it also does a decent job for folder comparisons

rsync is supposed to be the bomb but i've been using a custom vb program lately for backups

robocopy is badass

think i used synctoy a few times but i prefer robocopy (don't know if it has a sync option tho)

2/28/2009 8:39:09 PM

I just use VSS

[Edited on February 28, 2009 at 10:04 PM. Reason : .]

2/28/2009 10:04:01 PM

Learn to use the windows xcopy command. It will do a lot of what you want and you don't have to install any third-party tools.

[Edited on March 1, 2009 at 10:06 AM. Reason : typing FTL]

3/1/2009 10:06:12 AM

^^ do u like sourcesafe? i've heard it's a nightmare. i like subversion (currently plus tortoisesvn and visualsvn)

3/1/2009 10:46:48 AM

sourcesafe is the DEVIL. the replacement for sourcesafe that comes with VS Team Foundation Server is a rewrite and is not that bad. I've been using SourceGear Vault which is EXCELLENT. I also use svn+tortoise for stuff on my dreamhost account since dh comes with easy svn setup

3/1/2009 10:50:01 AM

is subversion generally only for small-medium sized projects (in terms of complexity, # of developers etc)?

3/1/2009 11:08:12 AM

i wouldn't say it's only for small-medium sized projects but it's an attractive choice for them b/c it's free and has a good support community. it's not uncommon at all for larger projects to use svn too but if you can pay for some of the other products out there, depending on what product you get, it's almost always worth it.

3/1/2009 11:21:21 AM

Quote :

"^^ do u like sourcesafe? i've heard it's a nightmare. i like subversion (currently plus tortoisesvn and visualsvn)"

Sourcesafe was "replaced" by Team Foundation Server's "Team Foundation Version Control" in 2005. Sourcesafe is still maintained, but is not actively developed.

Subversion and TFS are really two different market products, right now. Subversion is generally used by small and medium sized development companies, but it can certainly scale fairly well... it just requires a lot of customization and 3rd party tools to do so.

Personally, in the open-source arena, I'm a MUCH bigger fan of Git. For small-mid, it's a much more interesting product.

The real difference between Subversion, Git, and all the other open-source offerings is that you only get file verison control. Team Foundation Server gives you version control + ALM + deep integration with Visual Studio Team System.

3/1/2009 5:16:54 PM

yeah git is the "new" hot shit in the version control world

3/1/2009 5:34:24 PM