"Items have different content" but I just copied the folder

[smdj3@hotmail.com]

"Items have different content" but I just copied the folder. Why would it show this if I just copied one folder from the other? Please help!

[xCSxXenon]

Run a compare and check the results. It will tell you why the two sides are different

[smdj3@hotmail.com]

That's where I got the "items have different content" from not it doesn't tell me anything other than that. Same file name, same file size. It's the exact same file as I copied it from the original folder. I am trying to find out why it's showing up as "items have different content" instead of "both sides are equal".

[xCSxXenon]

Maybe there is an unreliable connection that causes corruption upon writing. Or, something is modifying files in one of the locations, adding metadata or other

[smdj3@hotmail.com]

I'll look into that. Thanks!

[somecomputing.com]

I'm not sure if you got your answer, but the comparisons only allow for File Time and Size, Content (which takes forever), or File Size. I don't quite understand the File Size. I mean, however rare, it is more than possible for two totally different files to have the same size. Think of a folder full of thousands of photos, all of similar resolution and photo size. If it were File Name and File Size, I could understand because in a single folder, no two file names will be the same. Perhaps this is how the File Size actually works, it just doesn't indicate that in the application or on in the tutorial on the website.

At any rate, I've noticed that after a full update the date for many folders were not identical in the from (left) sync and the to (right) sync. In my case, when I used File Time and Size as the comparison criteria, it showed that it was going to synchronize the entire left side again, even though I'd just completed that sync a day or so ago. For whatever reason (beyond daylight savings time) the folder dates are not getting synchronized and that leads to the comparison (and synchronization) showing the folders or files as difference.

[Plerry]

> I mean, however rare, it is more than possible for two totally different files to have the same size.

True, but FreeFileSync (FFS) only compares (and thus considers for syncing) left- and right-side files that are identically named, and located in the same (sub)folder relative to the left and right base location.

[somecomputing.com]

After experimenting with the File Size comparison setting I came to the same conclusion. It just doesn't specify that in the application. File Size does, indeed, compare both name and file size. It only makes logical sense now that I've analyzed it to death.

[therube]

however rare, it is more than possible for two totally different files to have the same size

I have 33,265 "picture" files that meet that criteria.
.

[somecomputing.com]

Yes, so, assuming that you use FreeFileSync on these files, it proves that the File Size comparison setting uses Folder Name/File Name/File Size as the comparison value.