Need a way to compare ALL the folders in a disk 'at once'?

[Cakewalk]

I have TC 8.51. The data disk is backed up with robocopy in a batch file, which means that this disk and the backup disk should be identical. For reasons that are unclear the data disk has 133 GB free out of 931 GB and one backup disk has 78 GB free out of 931 GB. The other backup disks have about 133 GB free.

TC can compare folders but I have too many of them to do this manually. Is there a way to compare all the folders in a disk? Thank you.

[Stefan2]

2Cakewalk

Hi and welcome.

Have the root of both disk open in one TC-panel each.
Next see menu > "Commands > Synchronize Dirs..."

With "Synchronize Directories"-dialog open, press F1 key.




 

[Cakewalk]

Thanks for that advice. I do not want to synchronise folders. There's an extra 55 GB on the backup drive that I want to identify and probably delete.

[Stefan2]

Thanks for that advice. I do not want to synchronise folders. There's an extra 55 GB on the backup drive that I want to identify and probably delete.

Synchronize IS all about Comparing.

In "Synchronize Directories"-dialog you will be able to see
what is only on the left (one drive) and not on the right (other drive)

(See the Left/Right "Show"-Arrows at the top of the dialog)

Let display the "orphans" only, select them all and chose from context menu "Delete"



If that is to much work (at 55 GB), I think you should utilize a script (VBS, PoSh, AutoHotkey)
But even with an script you may have to execute that not on the whole disc but on smaller parts (sub folder-wise), I guess.
(55 GB are to much for one step, but I may be wrong here)



Also there are Third-Party sync tools where you can say "delete on A what is not on B" and the tool will do that for you.


Maybe you can even utilize "your" RoboCopy with /MIR or /PURGE parameter?



 

[Cakewalk]

It seems that we are both right.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/synchronizing-folders-mean-31353.html
Folder synchronization occurs when a file from a specific directory in one system is mirrored to another directory in another system.

I did not want that to happen. However, TC does synchronisation in stages, first comparing and then moving. I went in to the data and backup diks and found the extra files in the backup recycle bin. I could not delete them in TC, read only. The file is
(backup drive):\$RECYCLE.BIN\S-1-5-21-926488222-3363532881-1764036175-1000
I have a screen shot, seems to be no way to post it here.

The next step was administrator access on the command line. Set attrib -H -R and I can see the files. Ready for deletion and then a message
This is a system file ...

Not so good. However, I cannot see how file or files in the backup drive has much to do with the system. The OS (Win 7) and all software are on an SSD in the computer, and the data drive and all backups are plugged in, 1 TB.

So I'm still unsure what to do about this. It seems that there is 55 GB of extra files on the backup disk, and I want to get rid of it. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Dalai]

Empty the recycle bin on the backup disk. Or if you don't mind "losing" the recycle bin's contents on all drives you can just right-click on the recycle bin on your desktop and select "Empty Recycle Bin".

And it's simple to explain why there are files in the recycle bin on that drive: you deleted some files on that disk without pressing Shift and with recycle bin enabled in the system.

Regards
Dalai

[Parane]

Why are you using an ancient version of TC, grampa?