x64 vs 32 bit version: which is better to be run on x64 bit Windows ?

[Helix751]

Hi, not pretending to initiate an "architecture" war, I still, after all these many years, wonder which version is better to be run on a x64 bit Windows machine.

I have run 32 bit TC for years (decades?) now, and have been too lazy to switch to its x64 counterpart. Mainly due to the facts that "it works" and that years (decades?) ago many plugins weren't yet ported to x64. This has certainly changed over time, but given 32 bit TC still works Ok, I haven't felt the pressure to migrate.

Apart from the fact x64 could can edit, compare and work with much larger files (which actually will never happen in my case: I seldom deal with multi-terabyte-sized files at all), some differences I have noticed are:

• System-context menus: Files and folders context menus differ greatly across versions and some menu items are xidden inside a "x64" submenu in TC-32
• Drag and drop: Some drag and drop operations between TC-32 and native x64 apps behave differently or aren't allowed.

All these issues aren't really critical for pushing the change to x64, but I wonder if there are additional ones that may lean the scale to either version.

[petermad]

You can install the combined 32bit/64bit version of TC over your existing 32bit version. TC will share it's settings files between th two versions.

You might have to update some of your plugins, with plugin versions that install both 64bit and 32bit TC. Most plugins already install both versions, also when they were used under 32bit TC. A few plugins comes in separate 32bit and 64bit packages, for those you have to install the 64bit version as well.

Some plugins are only 32bit - for running those you just start totalcmd.exe instead of totalcmd64.exe. You can even shift between the two versions with the command: cm_Exit 2

[Helix751]

You can install the combined 32bit/64bit version of TC over your existing 32bit version. TC will share it's settings files between th two versions.

I have indeed since forever. I have started both versions. I just wonder which is the most recommended version to run on x64 Windows (and why). Besides, as said, the ability to handle insanely large files.

You might have to update some of your plugins, with plugin versions that install both 64bit and 32bit TC. Most plugins already install both versions, also when they were used under 32bit TC. A few plugins comes in separate 32bit and 64bit packages, for those you have to install the 64bit version as well.

Also aware of that and can also say both versions are running Ok and with (almost) identical plugins (lots of them collected and curated over years (decades?).

Some plugins are only 32bit - for running those you just start totalcmd.exe instead of totalcmd64.exe. You can even shift between the two versions with the command: cm_Exit 2

Yep. But that doesn't answer the original question: Which one is recommended under x64 Windows?

[Dalai]

There is no recommended version/architecture of TC. 32-bit programs have some disadvantages, but so have 64-bit programs.

There are some design differences in regards to the window background colors (clButtonFace) in some dialogs (e.g. Find Files), tooltips and some other elements between both TCs due to the development environments (Delphi vs. Lazarus).

One other thing that stood out to me when developing content plugins is that TC 64-bit retrieves all fields for all files in a directory before displaying them all at once, while TC 32-bit shows the files and their content plugin values one by one (line by line).

There are probably other minor differences in design, behavior and bugs between both TC architectures.

NB: Drag'n'Drop should regardless of 32-bit or 64-bit. Just make sure that all programs run at the same privilege level, i.e. no program runs as admin.

Regards
Dalai

[HalbschuhTouri]

Yep. But that doesn't answer the original question:

I'll take a wild guess that you might already have suspected the correct answer to that question yourself. 64bit-architecture-programs are optimized to run on 64bit-OSes - and vice versa. Some 32bit programs won't run on a 64bit-OS at all - and if they do - think of it more like them running in some kind of emulated mode - which is never a good idea by the way. Just my 2 cents.

[Helix751]

Yep. But that doesn't answer the original question:

I'll take a wild guess that you might already have suspected the correct answer to that question yourself. 64bit-architecture-programs are optimized to run on 64bit-OSes - and vice versa. Some 32bit programs won't run on a 64bit-OS at all - and if they do - think of it more like them running in some kind of emulated mode - which is never a good idea by the way. Just my 2 cents.

Actually a bad guess . 32 bit has run for me flawlessly under all previous Windows versions and thus has stayed as my default TC instance from the early 32 bit-only-in-existence days until Win 11 today.
In fact, many programs install 32 bit-only versions in my PC and even Office (until the advent of Office365, though) ran as 32bit in my machine (because I had Project as a 32 bit licensed package and Microsoft Office x64 and 32 bit version apps couldn't coexist.

I may still stick to the 32 bit version of TC until there's a really good reason to move on. I believed there would be an easily identifiable and indisputable one, but it looks like a more subjective issue than I thought.

[HalbschuhTouri]

Actually a bad guess .

Never meant to patronize you - and of course you're free to use 32bit until the end of time. For more complex operations though there should be quite significant performance-differences becoming visible because of more or less optimized machine-code tailored' to more recent 64bit-CPUs. Just out of curiosity - did you ever benchmark any of such complex tasks running under both (32/64-bit) environments? But if you don't care about performance such considerations may as well seem irrelevant to you.

For example I've seen searching- and directory-comparison-operations over large directory-structures where even TC would "go into labor" for minutes with very high CPU-load before the result would become available, even on 64bit. Or think of a <Ctrl>B-re-sorting by size or date of a whole TB-drive. An inner voice tells me it won't be quicker on 32bit - but in nature the experiment is king, so try it out.

[Helix751]

That's indeed the whole point. TC-32 "seems" to work like a charm and find no difference between 64 or 32 bit versions, but I find no solid proof or fact that actually validates this or the contrary. It's just speculation: "I beleve it should be faster", "It should work better" is more of hypothesis than demonstrated fact in most comments out there (not just in these forums, btw).

In fact, fo some software I have read (developers notes) that if one desn't really need 64bit-exclusive features (eg. editing 4TB+ sized files), I should stick to the 32 bit version because it has less overhead and may be faster than its x64 counterpart.

[Hacker]

Helix751,
Well, the most obvious differences are this:
Windows x64: Explorer vs TC: Content of System32 different
and that some plugins do not have a 64-bit version. Also the 64-bit TC context menu shows 64-bit entries directly and 32-bit entries in a submenu. The 32-bit version does that the other way around.

Roman

[HalbschuhTouri]

It's just speculation: "I beleve it should be faster", "It should work better" is more of hypothesis than demonstrated fact in most comments out there

That's why in science the experiment is the final arbiter. You can do it as you still run 32bit unlike probably most "power-users" here.

Think of some processes that took annoyingly long in TC (like, as I mentioned <Ctrl>B re-sorting of a TB-drive by size or date). Then you can do a parallel clean install of TC_64 in a new directory. Make sure that all ini-files would be hosted in the program-Dir so as to avoid side-effects. And voilà! You're good to go.

Start any processes that would take at least a minute or so on your trusted 32bit-TC, use a stop-watch - and then repeat those exact same processes on the newly installed 64bit-instance of TC. Then you'll know for sure instead of speculating around.

And don't forget to keep us updated about the results here!

[Sir_SiLvA]

NO there is no advantage of running TC64 - on the contrary you have the disadvantage that TC64 has less plugins.

[Helix751]

NO there is no advantage of running TC64 - on the contrary you have the disadvantage that TC64 has less plugins.

That's what I was guessing already. Thanks, Sir_SiLvA

[HalbschuhTouri]

That's what I was guessing already. Thanks, Sir_SiLvA

Sounds an awful lot as if you were not that much interested in actual facts but rather have been looking for confirmation of predisposed opinions and further speculations of the kind you've been criticizing yourself.

[white]

Moderator message from: white » 2023-09-05, 08:11 UTC

Sounds an awful lot as if you were not that much interested in actual facts but rather have been looking for confirmation of predisposed opinions and further speculations of the kind you've been criticizing yourself.

Please keep the conversation focused on Total Commander rather than forum members. Thank you.

[solid]

I recently made the switch from 32-bit to 64-bit TC, for no particular reason. I haven't noticed any performance improvements since then. I don't say there aren't any.

However, I did have to reinstall all my plugins since I had only installed the 32-bit versions initially, which took some time. On the positive side, this gave me the opportunity to clean up my plugin configuration. I discovered that I had unused plugins installed and had multiple plugins for same purpose.

Additionally, I reconfigured some of them to better suit my needs. While a few plugins didn't have a 64-bit version available, most of them were either obsolete or already superseded by superior alternatives.