checking files

[Joe Delaronde]

I use Explorer in a split screen configuration (which you formites taught me how to do, & I thank you) to compare files to find if there are any duplicates.

Question is this:
If there are 2 files with an identical name & size, bytewise, does the computer deem these files identical being that the name & size are the same, or does it read and compare the 2 files byte for byte?
Joe
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Joe Delaronde on 13 September 2001 at 08:15 PM.]</p></FONT>

[Jack Stoner]

I don't think it compares the two files bit by bit (or byte by byte). It looks at the name, size, date, and if available version.

There can be many duplicate files on a PC. Windows may have a particular file and a software package may load the exact same file in it's own folder, etc.

There are programs that will "weed out" the duplicate files, but I'm leery of them. Most do not take up that much space on the hard drive and with the size of current 20Gb+ drives it's not really a problem. In the "old days" of 40Mb drives or even 2Gb drives space was a problem.

If you want to eliminate suspected duplicate files, rename the one you want to elimnate as "oldfilename.ext", e.g. oldmfc42.dll and then operate that way for a week and if there's no problems then you can usually be safe deleting the duplicate.

[Jim Smith]

Windows Explorer can not tell if two files are identical. There are several utilities that will compare files on a byte-by-byte basis, one of which is Windiff that comes with Microsoft Visuall C++. I'm sure a quick search of www.tucows.com will find several free ones.

[Bobby Lee]

I use a program called Beyond Compare to keep text files (including the Forum source code) in sync. It's great.