FFS is checking file names only

Discuss new features and functions
Posts: 2
Joined: 4 May 2010

alpha48

Hello All,
I must be missing here as FFS seems only to be checking the file names, and
not the file size and date!

To test, I made two folders and copied in identical jpg files. I ran the
Compare function and it found the files to be the same ("="). I then renamed
one of the files to blah.jpg and ran the Compare function and FFS did not
think the files are equal (even though they are identical in size and date).
The outcome is the same on both 'File Size and Date' and 'File Contents'
Compare settings. I've tried this on my Windows 7 and XP machines.

What am I missing? It must be completely obvious.

Interestingly the LastRun.ffs_gui does not contain the tag
<FileTimeTolerance>, so maybe the automatically generated .ffs_gui is missing
some settings.

Kind regards,

alex
User avatar
Site Admin
Posts: 7050
Joined: 9 Dec 2007

Zenju

>FFS seems only to be checking the file names, and not the file size and date!
FFS (like all other sync-programs) groups filenames by their name. Only if the
name matches on both sides, it considers size and date. A filename is the
strongest semantical information a sync tool can use to associate two files.
Relying on size and date only is not enough to ensure that "the same file" is
meant.

>Interestingly the LastRun.ffs_gui does not contain the tag
<FileTimeTolerance>,
Maybe you overlooked this value, but "LastRun.ffs_gui" should contain this
node also.
Posts: 2
Joined: 4 May 2010

alpha48

Hello Zenju,
Thanks for the quick reply!

Well that would definitely explain it then! I agree that the file name
correlates strongly towards a file match, but surely file size and date would
come a very close second! Perhaps there should be a third Compare option that
looks at file size the date (as per the Configure Option text!), and on a
match runs the File Compare (i.e. MD5 / byte-wise). To keep GUI clutter down,
this could be added as an 'Advanced' option (i.e. compare structure: File Size
-> File Date -> Data Compare or File Name -> File Size -> File Data -> Data
Compare).

The reason I was using FFS is to find duplicate .jpg photos (amongst some
20,000 of them). The numerous photo manager programs I've used have renamed
the original camera imported files when they imported them into their
particular file structure.

I guess I should add the suggestion above to the request features list.

Thanks again for your help, it is much appreciated.

Regards,

alex