Comparing Folder Contents

[frankgindc]

Is there an easy (software) way to check the image contents of one folder against the contents of another folder?  e.g., does any DAM program allow a database type check like this between two catalogs?

Here's my situation:  I have two parent folders--each with multiple subfolders totalling about 50 GB each.   One parent folder ("Frank_new") contains what SHOULD BE the complete cleaned up set of images for my master image library; the other folder ("Frank_old") is a mixed bag of redundant stuff, derivatives, RAWs etc. that was accumulated, er, before I had my act together on DAM.   Anyway, I'd like to be able to get rid of the 50 GB in "Frank_old" but need to make sure it doesn't contain anything that was not properly migrated over to the "new" folder (I have found some files like this, just by chance, and that is making me want to do a more thorough check before getting rid of the folder).

In using database programs like MS Access, I know there are queries one can run to compare records in two data tables to see if one table contains records that don't exist in the other.  I'm wondering if there is any way to do something similar with the .jpg and .CR2 contents of these folders.

I am mostly using LR for my DAM but have also used EM/iView. 

Some ideas:  I'm wondering if I had the two folders imported into EM/iView catalogs if there is any way to do the comparison between catalogs.....or would it be advisable to create a backup of my current LR catalog and import all of the contents from the "OLD" folder into the current catalog -- on the assumption that LR would not import filenames that already existed in the current catalog.....one problem is that the directory trees within each parent folder are totally different, so I would need the comparision to go by filename and/or size only, regardless of the folder tree it is in.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Frank

[johnbeardy]

Short answer is no. None of them allow you to do something like you've done in Access. So....

What you could do is use Access to interrogate the Lightroom database. You would need to get the SQLite ODBC driver, set up an ODBC connection to your catalogue, and then link to its tables in Access. From there you'd have one query that identified the Frank_new items, another the Frank_old, and then a comparison query would compare them. It's possible and efficient, though obviously depends on yours skills.

The iView alternative would run like this. Get each folder in list view, sort by filename and copy to Excel so new's filenames are in col A and old's are in col C (just leaving B empty just so you can see). You'd then eyeball the two columns.

Another way in iView would be to assign a coloured label to each folder, then sort by filename, and have both folders visible. You'd then be able to spot the pattern and any breaks.

John

[Photo_op]

Frank- look here

http://www.foldermatch.com/

Not sure it does what you want for image files.

-Dave

[frankgindc]

Dave,
That folder match program looks like EXACTLY what I need (assuming it can look through subfolders as well) but....alas, I am on OSX and the program appears to be Windows only.   That's a particular drag b/c it also appears to be able to id identical files that no longer have the same name.

John,
I think I might have to do something along the lines that you are suggesting:  import each parent folder into iView, keep images inplace, capture filename (and filepath) from list view and crunch in Access or Excel to find missing files.  I'll expect alot of false positives (e.g., images that appear to be missing but have simply been renamed) but this should whittle it down.

I'll probabably do a more thorough eye-balling first, to see if the files that I found to be missing before were an annomally or if there's reason to expect others. But this looks like the direction I'm heading.

Thanks!
Frank

[andris]

Hi Frank,

I work primarily on PC, but I digital tech and end up working on macs from time to time.  I remember finding this http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/syncfolders.html when I needed to sync two folders on a mac in the past.  It's an automator script that's freely available.  I didn't know enough about automator at the time to make it work for me in the short timeframe I had...but you might want to check it out.

Hope it helps,

Andris

[johnbeardy]

Frank

I don't know how well you know Excel, but the countif function could be useful here. You'd paste the filenames of one folder in one place, those of the other elsewhere, and then use countif to detect matches. I can post an example if that would be of use.

John

[peterkrogh]

Frank,
When I've had to do this, I make an EM catalog  of each folder and open them up side by side.  I then work through the files by different categories.

Date is a great way to start.  If you see equal number s of images from a certain date, it's pretty easy to tell if it's an identical set of files.  I'll generally move everything to a "trash Me_Date" folder as I work through it, and delete in chunks as  I'm done and satisfied with the results.

As I first start looking, I'll go through date, file type, and any folder parity first, looking for the low hanging fruit to clean out.

I make use of the cross-filtering in EM a lot for this - select a date, then command-click on another category to see, for instance, if I get an equal number of TIFF files from folders that should be the same, but show a total count that's different.

I also set up view options in a particular way - show size, date created and date modified, for instance.  I can then use the sort command sort on size or sort on date to be able to get a quick look as to what folders contain the same sets of images, what's most recent, or what is a larger pixel dimension.
Peter

[Ken]

Free Commander might be useful for file comparisons (on a windows machine).  And it comes in a portable version which does not require installation.  I have started using it to compare multiple copies of folders with many images nested in many sub-directories.

--Ken