can't find equal sign
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 30 Jan 2026
hi, as you can see from the attached image, I cannot find the equal sign that shows duplicate files.
- Attachments
-
- zenju.png (152.38 KiB) Viewed 232 times
- Posts: 4908
- Joined: 11 Jun 2019
You do not have any pairs containing equal files, then
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 30 Jan 2026
does that include files that have similar content? or similar names like (CV1) and (CV2)?You do not have any pairs containing equal files, then xCSxXenon, 30 Jan 2026, 04:23
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 30 Jan 2026
I actually tried using the file and time , size and content settings and same thing... this doesn't make sense to me.The File H should have similar or identical folder to the source files.
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 30 Jan 2026
As you can see, there is a folde named "screenshots" in both D and H. so Why is there no equal sign?
- Attachments
-
- d screenshot folder.png (46.75 KiB) Viewed 214 times
-
- H Screenshots folder.png (73.07 KiB) Viewed 214 times
-
- Posts: 2978
- Joined: 22 Aug 2012
You have defined D:\, respectively H:\ as the left and right base location of your second left-right pair.
When Comparing, files are only considered to be equal (indicated via the "="-icon) if files are in the identical path relative to the left, respectively right base location and, depending on your Compare method, their file-time and -size or their file-content is identical.
It seems that, although both D: and H: comprise a subfolder called Screenshots, their relative path to D:\, respectively H:\ is different. Then, FFS does not consider those two Screenshots folders as each others counterpart.
If you make the 539.845 files (with the "=>+"-icon) visible, you will likely see that FFS intends to copy the files in the Screenshots folder on D: to H: in the identical path as on D:
Because you use the Update sync variant (which you have to, because you sync multiple left locations to the same right location) FFS will not delete the files already present in the existing Screenshots folder on H: (the "-"-icon, do nothing), despite there exists no counterpart (with the identical path) on D: .
When Comparing, files are only considered to be equal (indicated via the "="-icon) if files are in the identical path relative to the left, respectively right base location and, depending on your Compare method, their file-time and -size or their file-content is identical.
It seems that, although both D: and H: comprise a subfolder called Screenshots, their relative path to D:\, respectively H:\ is different. Then, FFS does not consider those two Screenshots folders as each others counterpart.
If you make the 539.845 files (with the "=>+"-icon) visible, you will likely see that FFS intends to copy the files in the Screenshots folder on D: to H: in the identical path as on D:
Because you use the Update sync variant (which you have to, because you sync multiple left locations to the same right location) FFS will not delete the files already present in the existing Screenshots folder on H: (the "-"-icon, do nothing), despite there exists no counterpart (with the identical path) on D: .
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 30 Jan 2026
how do i compare files from different folders then?
- Posts: 4908
- Joined: 11 Jun 2019
You folder-pair setup is misconfigured, that's my guess. There is no reason you should sync your entire Windows OS drive to the same folder that you sync other data drives to. What is your end goal with FFS? Probably easier to advise how to achieve that instead of troubleshooting this
- Posts: 7
- Joined: 30 Jan 2026
My data is spread across many places (2 gmail drives, 2 onedrives, 1 dropbox, 1 external hardrive a, 1 desktop and 2 USBs). I want to consilidate them in one place so they would be easier to manage. but there are duplicates and similar items between them. I think my main working place from now on should be click up... but in anycase, I need a way to transfer my old data while deciding which to to archive, keep in the forefront or delete.
You folder-pair setup is misconfigured, that's my guess. There is no reason you should sync your entire Windows OS drive to the same folder that you sync other data drives to. What is your end goal with FFS? Probably easier to advise how to achieve that instead of troubleshooting this xCSxXenon, 01 Feb 2026, 02:00
- Posts: 4908
- Joined: 11 Jun 2019
Sounds like you have years of technical debt you've gotten yourself into. Your first course of action is to consolidate, but more importantly, organize your data. FFS isn't a duplicate finder. You could use it to smash all of your data into a single location, sure, but I've been in IT helpdesk/operations for many years and would strongly advise not to do that.
I would recommend starting with one location at a time, preferably Windows itself. Every Windows user has their six main data folders:
- Desktop
- Documents
- Downloads
- Music
- Pictures
- Videos
Start with these. Don't use Desktop for storing files, so work with the remaining five. Honestly, avoid storing or sorting into Downloads also, besides installation executables you want to keep. This leaves four folders. Start sorting your data into those four folders from each location, one location at a time. This is going to take time and manual labor, but that is the difference between catching up and keeping up.
Two potential issues I forsee:
1) Data is being automatically backed up via OneDrive
2) You run out of space
If you are capable, I would first go into the OneDrive client settings on your PC and disable backing up these folders. It can been turned on later, I have no issue with it, but it can cause confusing behavior if you aren't familiar. If this isn't feasible, the solution is the same as the solution for the second problem. Create a brand new clean directory on an external drive with enough space to hold everything. Don't put it into any other folder, just make it at the root of the drive. Name it "Organized Data". Inside that, create those data folders manually (Documents, Downloads, Music, etc). Then start sorting data from all locations into that instead.
Once this is done, a duplicate finding utility is my next step. I used MiniTool Partition Wizard's built-in tool recently and it worked great. It is free for personal use. With that said, it is a tool and only does what you tell it to do. It lets you select locations to compare, and since you just consolidated everything into those five folders, you can add them to be scanned. It will scan and then give you a page of results to parse before doing anything. You can manually check things off, but I prefer using the "auto smart" selection in the bottom-right. It's fairly safe since it will never delete all copies of a file anyway. Worst case is having to look for it, but that should be easy because you already organized everything, right? Plus you can just search for the file names.
Boom, now you have a baseline. From there you can make your subfolders for further organizing, such as "Paystubs" and "Cable invoices" inside your Documents folder. You can then turn OneDrive syncing back on, start a proper backup system utilizing FFS, whatever you want. If this doesn't seem possible, you may want to seek out somebody who has experience doing this and have them handle it for you. I have seen many horror stories of users and less-qualified techs causing so much more headache by creating even more duplication and fragmentation before coming to me.
I wish you luck. I have climbed out of many holes like this and it isn't fun or easy. You don't have to do it all in one shot either. The point of setting that baseline location is so you can always know where to start. You might run a duplicate finder first, across all those locations, but definitely don't include the entire C: drive. You need to point it to the specific folders that contain the data. Which is hard to do in its current state. Chicken or the egg ¯\_(•_•)_/¯
I would recommend starting with one location at a time, preferably Windows itself. Every Windows user has their six main data folders:
- Desktop
- Documents
- Downloads
- Music
- Pictures
- Videos
Start with these. Don't use Desktop for storing files, so work with the remaining five. Honestly, avoid storing or sorting into Downloads also, besides installation executables you want to keep. This leaves four folders. Start sorting your data into those four folders from each location, one location at a time. This is going to take time and manual labor, but that is the difference between catching up and keeping up.
Two potential issues I forsee:
1) Data is being automatically backed up via OneDrive
2) You run out of space
If you are capable, I would first go into the OneDrive client settings on your PC and disable backing up these folders. It can been turned on later, I have no issue with it, but it can cause confusing behavior if you aren't familiar. If this isn't feasible, the solution is the same as the solution for the second problem. Create a brand new clean directory on an external drive with enough space to hold everything. Don't put it into any other folder, just make it at the root of the drive. Name it "Organized Data". Inside that, create those data folders manually (Documents, Downloads, Music, etc). Then start sorting data from all locations into that instead.
Once this is done, a duplicate finding utility is my next step. I used MiniTool Partition Wizard's built-in tool recently and it worked great. It is free for personal use. With that said, it is a tool and only does what you tell it to do. It lets you select locations to compare, and since you just consolidated everything into those five folders, you can add them to be scanned. It will scan and then give you a page of results to parse before doing anything. You can manually check things off, but I prefer using the "auto smart" selection in the bottom-right. It's fairly safe since it will never delete all copies of a file anyway. Worst case is having to look for it, but that should be easy because you already organized everything, right? Plus you can just search for the file names.
Boom, now you have a baseline. From there you can make your subfolders for further organizing, such as "Paystubs" and "Cable invoices" inside your Documents folder. You can then turn OneDrive syncing back on, start a proper backup system utilizing FFS, whatever you want. If this doesn't seem possible, you may want to seek out somebody who has experience doing this and have them handle it for you. I have seen many horror stories of users and less-qualified techs causing so much more headache by creating even more duplication and fragmentation before coming to me.
I wish you luck. I have climbed out of many holes like this and it isn't fun or easy. You don't have to do it all in one shot either. The point of setting that baseline location is so you can always know where to start. You might run a duplicate finder first, across all those locations, but definitely don't include the entire C: drive. You need to point it to the specific folders that contain the data. Which is hard to do in its current state. Chicken or the egg ¯\_(•_•)_/¯
