Comparing content of two large folders containing audio files!

[rlm45]

I have created two large audio folders containing over 2000 songs, and albums.

How do I do a comparison to check that both folders have the same audio files in them, none missing.

Terminal command diff does not do this, hard to read.

I ripped a lot of music and I want to insure none of my work is missing.

Mac OS X 10.11 iMac.

Thanks

 

[Lifeisabeach]

You'll want something that can synchronize folders. When you do this, you want to do a 2-way sync. By that, I mean "delete nothing" on either side, and otherwise copy files left to right and vice versa. There are plenty of software options for doing this, most aren't free. For example, I use Transmit, an ftp client, to backup files to an NAS, and it can do one-way or two-way backups as I see fit. There are also dedicated apps like FoldersSynchronizer that can do this.

 

[IWT]

I'm not sure if this exactly meets your needs but here goes:

Open both Folders

Press common+A to select all the files in your Source folder. (either one in your case)

Drag the files and drop them into your Destination folder. (the other one in your case)

If any of the files you're copying over has the same name as a file in your destination folder, then a pop-up window will appear. It'll ask you to select one of the following:

Keep Both - This keeps both copies and renames the file you're copying to have "Copy."
Stop - This button cancels the copy altogether.
Replace - Pressing this replaces the file in the destination folder with the file from the source folder.
Skip - macOS hides this button, but if you hold down Option, the Keep Both button changes to Skip and will continue your transfer skipping the file in question.

The downside in your particular case is that you have to choose which Folder to act as Source and which as Destination. If you know for a fact that one of them is complete, that should be your Source as it copies over any files that are NOT in the Destination.

I suppose you could do this twice??? Choose one Folder as Source, copy over anything NOT in Source. Then repeat the procedure making the previous Source, the destination. I think that would work.

Ian

 

[Lifeisabeach]

One thing I didn’t mention earlier and is something that Ian’s suggestion wouldn’t cover (but otherwise would work) is that a dedicated synchronizer can compare files for copying by examining the modified date and/or the file size and overwrite based on your preference to overwrite an older file, in case you have the same file in both locations but one has been modified since.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

A simple diff command should do the trick

diff -rq <folder1> <folder2>

You will now see a series of

Only in <folder1>: filename
Only in <folder2>: filename

 

[L.V.Gandhi]

I also saw unison to compare files in a folder with other folder files in terminal. But gtk is needed to get unison run graphics. From where can I get gtk for unison 2.51.4

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Unison, assuming you're talking about the linked app, is not meant to compare folders but rather is meant to keep folders in sync like any of the cloud sharing services or Rsync.

If you need GTK for Mac, then go here.

Either way, this is off-topic to the discussion at hand, so you might want to start a new thread.