How to move files - best way

[dirki-boy]

To be sure, once again, is this a good way (?): when I want to move files from
hard disc 1 to hard disc 2, first I compare (option: "Actualize"), then I
temporarily exclude all files, then I temporarily include the files to be
moved (so actually copied / synchronized) on the left side, then synchronize
(copy) them, after that I display (all) equal files, only and mark (this is
importend) only the files, not the folders (what I can do best when I sort by
"Name", so all folders are displayed on bottom or on top, then I mark the last
file above the last folder and press shift + pos or shift + end to mark all
files), then I delete the marked files.

When I mark all equal files (not the equal folders) and I delete the marked
equal files on one side, there will never be deleted a file, of which doesn' t
exist a copy from, is that right?
And when I mark files as described above (what I can do best when I sort by
"Name", so all folders are displayed on bottom or on top, then I mark the last
file above the last folder and press shift + pos or shift + end to mark all
files), it is not possible to mark another file than an equal one, correct?

Moving big data with the Windows programs is senseless / dangerous and other
programs like CopyHandler, FastCopy, TeraCopy (I am not quite sure with
TeraCopy), which first copy all files (when you want to move them) and after
all files are copied the source files will deleted, cannot cope with paths
longer than 256 characters (as far as I know), WinMerge moves (as far as I
know) files like Windows does (move and delete bit by bit so to say, so when
there is a power failure or so, at least one file is corrupted), so that is
why I use FFS for moving files.

[Zenju]

Your recipe on how to manually move files is correct and safe. You also
mentioned the critical step to make sure to not accidentally delete folders
which are also categorized as "equal".
I don't think there is actually a faster way to do this, which is due to FFS
primarily being a synchronization tool, and "moving" is not a synchronous
operations. But at least it's doable.
I just want to mention another building block that could be used to automate a
move:

A "move" can be split into "copy" and "delete", both of which can be modelled
as a sync job. In order to delete files with FFS you setup a mirror sync but
specify an empty source folder *or* just leave the source folder input field
empty.

[dirki-boy]

Ah, thanks and sorry for hesitating, I cannot cope with this forum, I cannot
find the option for setting to receive notification e-mails by default.

<<<I just want to mention another building block that could be used to
automate a move: A "move" can be split into "copy" and "delete", both of which
can be modelled as a sync job. In order to delete files with FFS you setup a
mirror sync but specify an empty source folder *or* just leave the source
folder input field empty.

Sorry, I do not quite understand, could you tell me stepwise what I would have
to do to do it that way?

[dirki-boy]

When there are folders with same name on source and destination and with
different contents and the contents should not be merged, the only way to
avoid merging, would be to find these folders manually after comparing, I
guess. So it couldn't be done in an easy / comfortable way, if I am right.

[Zenju]

The best way to avoid certain folders to be synced is to use an exclude
filter.

[dirki-boy]

Yes, but how do I find these folders? I would have to search manually, I
assume, that would be extremely inconvenient , suppose you have 1000 folders
or so.

Did you see that:

Ah, thanks and sorry for hesitating, I cannot cope with this forum, I cannot
find the option for setting to receive notification e-mails by default.

<<<I just want to mention another building block that could be used to
automate a move: A "move" can be split into "copy" and "delete", both of which
can be modelled as a sync job. In order to delete files with FFS you setup a
mirror sync but specify an empty source folder *or* just leave the source
folder input field empty. Sorry, I do not quite understand, could you tell me
stepwise what I would have to do to do it that way?

[Zenju]

>Yes, but how do I find these folders?
Can you please explain in more detail what you are trying to do? Perhaps
exclusion via the "overview" panel is what you are looking for?

>Sorry, I do not quite understand
I mean you can delete a certain folder via FFS if you setup this folder as
target, but leave the source folder field empty, then start sync.
I

[dirki-boy]

<<<Can you please explain in more detail what you are trying to do?

Suppose folder "name1" on left side contains 5 mp3 files.
Suppose folder "name1" on right side contains 6 flac files.
I do not want the contents to be merged, what would happen if you would sync.
I let FFS compare.
Now I could exclude folder "name1" like you say (and may be more folders with
same name having different contents which shall not be merged).
Suppose folder "name1" is one of 2000 folders, how do I find it, how do I find
these folders with same name and different contents (which should not be
merged)? Search these folders manually? So I would have to control each single
folder? Or is there a way to do it automatically / fast?

<<<I mean you can delete a certain folder via FFS if you setup this folder as
target, but leave the source folder field empty, then start sync.
Sorry for my bad understanding: I have FFS opened, the left field (source) is
empty, the right field is filled with the path of the folder I want to delete,
e.g. C:/folder1? When I press the sync button, all files of this folder (on
the right side) are shown (and may be the ones of the sub folder(s), if
available). And now I could delete the files on the right side by marking them
and pressing delete? Do I understand right?

[Zenju]

> Or is there a way to do it automatically / fast?
Okay, so you generally want to sync only files that exist on both sides, but
not ones that exist on one side only? This seems like a "custom" sync
configuration doing nothing for "exist left only" and "exist right only" might
be what is needed. Or you could just show the files that exist on one side
only via view filters, then use the "overview panel" to exclude their parent
folders.

>marking them and pressing delete?
No, you would setup sync variant to "mirror", then just start sync. The
advantage is this can be saved as a ffs_batch file and automated.

[dirki-boy]

<<<Okay, so you generally want to sync only files that exist on both sides
Ah sorry, no, I actually want to move all files of the left side or some files
of the left side to the right side (so, sync / actualize the right side and
delete all equal files on the left side). And when I do this in the first
step, compare with FFS, I can decide, which files I want to move (actually
sync and then delete) and in this step, I would have to find the folders with
same names (e.g. folder "name1" on the left side), which have different
contents, which should not be merged with the folder named the same (folder
"name1") on the right side. But how could one find among 2000 folders the ones
with its contents, which should not be merged?

<<<but not ones that exist on one side only?
No, the ones existing on the left side only shall be moved (so with FFS be
synced / copied to the right side and then deleted), the ones existing on both
sides (before syncing and after syncing shall be deleted on the left side
only, so that only the files on the right side will exist.

<<<No, you would setup sync variant to "mirror", then just start sync. The
advantage is this can be saved as a ffs_batch file and automated.
Ah okay, I understand. But this only works, if you copy / move (sync and
delete the equal files on source side) all files of the source and not when
you copy / move some of all files on the source side, if I am right. And the
risk might be higher to delete files by accident, if you delete files on one
side this way and you think all the files are equal, but they aren't.

[Zenju]

I'll try to summarize your scenario: You have two directory structures,
"source" and "target" and you want to move some of the files in "source" to
target. You do this via 1. comparison, 2. exclude everything, 3. select file
you want to move, 4. sync via "update" variant, 5. delete all files that exist
on both sides from left side only.
The thing I don't understand is why want to exclude directories that exist on
both sides, but have different "content". Do not all directories have
"different content" after you moved files contained in them?

[dirki-boy]

<<<I'll try to summarize your scenario: You have two directory structures,
"source" and "target" and you want to move some of the files in "source" to
target. You do this via 1. comparison, 2. exclude everything, 3. select file
you want to move, 4. sync via "update" variant, 5. delete all files that exist
on both sides from left side only.

Yes, that is correct. You could leave out step 2 (according to the art of
synchronization, e.g. "Automatic" wouldn't allow it), but it might increase
the risk of making mistakes. Yes, and step 3 select one or more files /
folders.

<<<The thing I don't understand is why want to exclude directories that exist
on both sides, but have different "content".
There are a lot of possibilities: e.g. you might have some music albums, one
album in one folder. You have different kind of music files (e.g. of the album
"Flexable" of Steve Vai), e.g. flac and mp3. You do not want to merge the flac
files with the mp3 fildes. Or you have photographs of Los Angeles in a folder
"Los Angeles" and now you fotos from a person did of Los Angeles. You do not
want to merge your own fotos with the ones of the person...

<<<Do not all directories have "different content" after you moved files
contained in them?
I would say, no, example: in folder "source" are 10 files,
in folder "target" are 5 files, which are equal to 5 files in folder "source".
You move the none equal files of folder "source" to "target", so you have the
same content in both folders now.

[Zenju]

> You do not want to merge the flac files with the mp3
Okay, so these folders that have the same name but different content are due
to your personal folder preferences, not some fundamental "category" that FFS
should somehow detect. In this case manual exclusion is fine.

> You move the none equal files of folder "source" to "target", so you have
the same content in both folders now.
If you move files from one folder to the other, they are missing in the source
folder, so the folders do in fact not have the same content.

[dirki-boy]

<<< You do not want to merge the flac files with the mp3
<<<Okay, so these folders that have the same name but different content are
due to your personal folder preferences, not some fundamental "category" that
FFS should somehow detect. In this case manual exclusion is fine.
Yes, but to find these folders to exclude seems to be very uncomfortable; is
there a way to do it in another way, than doing it manually?

<<<> You move the none equal files of folder "source" to "target", so you have
the same content in both folders now.
<<<If you move files from one folder to the other, they are missing in the
source folder, so the folders do in fact not have the same content.
Ah sorry, yes, of course you are right.

[Zenju]

> is there a way to do it in another way, than doing it manually?
After synchronization everything should be in sync except for the folders you
manually excluded. You can then hide all files that are "equal" and use the
"overview" panel to permanently exclude all remaining directories via file
filter. Then save this configuration and reuse it.

[dirki-boy]

<<<After synchronization everything should be in sync except for the folders
you manually excluded.
And except the folders / files only existing on the target side.

<<<You can then hide all files that are "equal"...
Or first delete them on the source side

<<<...and use the "overview" panel to permanently exclude all remaining
directories via file filter. Then save this configuration and reuse it.
These same folders / files won't be synchronized a second time, respectively
the next times they probably would not be excluded again, but new ones. I
assume, I always would have to exclude each single folder manually (after
checking whether its contents are the same or not), one by one with every
synchronization.