Modified files

It is common for a system to have copies of files, either on a single drive, or oftem over multiple drives. What can happen is one copy gets edited, and the second copy is original. They both have the same name, and maybe even the same size but contents could be different. Here the duplication option ' Same file name, different contents' can help solve your problem.

Running with this option selected it looks for file with the same name, and creates a hash value (CRC32) of the contents. If there is a single bit change in the data, the hash value will be different and the file pair will be displayed. It is therefore possible to look through drives or folders and just see files with different contents.

An interesting point to watch out for could be with jpg photos. Cameras have similar ways to name files. A Canon often uses img_xxxx.jpg where the number increments with each photo and maybe restarts again after 9999 photos. It is therefore possible to have the same filename, but a completely different photo. The difference is not in this case due to editing.

For a big project, many file may be shared shared between people and systems. This option will highlight ones that have changed, and the user can then decide which to keep.

The Merge function builds upon these principles.