I have a small problem that needs a solution.

Some background:-

I have a large NAS with all my video files on waiting for me to find time to watch, this lives in my lounge.

I also have a portable drive with stuff on that I watch whilst away from home.

I add downloads to the portable whilst away and then copy to the NAS when I get home.

Now to the problem:-

I'm an instinctive hoarder and never delete anything (just add drives to the NAS when it gets full), it's now at the state where I don't know if what I have on my portable is actually on the NAS or not.

I need an application to scan the portable and the NAS and list all the files that are on the portable but not on the NAS. Trouble is that the directory structure is different and manually checking each folder is a bind. The file names are unchanged but their location is unknown.

Gotta be something out there that'll do the trick, otherwise I'm just going have to sweep the cobwebs out of my programming skills (it's been a very long time since I actually coded anything, ANSI C anyone ).

Forgive me in advance for a likely not so helpful reply....

Since all of your storage in networked (NAS) you might try one of these programs (or the many available from the same site). I've tried none of them, but it seems one or all might do the trick.

http://download.cnet.com/GoodSync/3000-2248_4-10508799.html GoodSync

http://download.cnet.com/DupeRazor-Duplicate-Files-Removal-Kit/3000-2248_4-10704291.html DupeRaor

http://download.cnet.com/Delete-Duplicate-Files/3000-2248_4-10415204.html Delet Duplicate Files

BOL!

Forgive me in advance for a likely not so helpful reply....

Since all of your storage in networked (NAS) you might try one of these programs (or the many available from the same site). I've tried none of them, but it seems one or all might do the trick.

http://download.cnet...4-10508799.html GoodSync

http://download.cnet...4-10704291.html DupeRaor

http://download.cnet...4-10415204.html Delet Duplicate Files

BOL!

Whilst the above may do the job they cost money, whereas this one is FREE !

http://download.cnet....html?tag=mncol

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the ideas chaps, the problem is that these applications are intended to find duplicate files, I need to find files that are NOT duplicated.

This looked like it might work for you. If you read the reviews people had similar problems and it apparently worked for them.

Can get on Download.com

SyncBack Freeware 3.2.26

Good Luck

Edit - It is free

Hi Crossy.

A different approach...

- Create a folder called MOVIES_NEW on your portable drive

- Add any NEW videos you get to this

- Integrate them into your collection when you return to base.

Any movies you take from your main collection to watch while travelling will not be put in this folder, if you do pick up any duplicate videos you can select the best one whilst integrating into your base collection.

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Like you I am a hoarder of movies, (most of them I have never watched).

You need to standardise your directory structure.

I organise mine by putting each movie and all related files (subtitles, notes, etc) in its own individual folder named after the simple convention "Title [Year]" for example "Lethal Weapon [1987]". I ignore the word "The" at the start of any title.

Each of these folders is then placed into a larger folder which might be called MOVIES_001 etc. I allow each of these to hold about 100 GB before creating the next sequential folder.

I store the movies in these folders in alpha sequence, so MOVIES_001 might contain A-C, MOVIES_002 D-F etc, and when one gets a bit full I just shuffle up the last 20GB of movies to the next folder.

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You need to index your movies.

I use the collectorz.com Movie Collector software, this is a great way to organise your collection. It was originally designed for collections of DVD disks but also handles files on your hard drive, I won't describe it here as it has so many excellent features, you really need to investigate it yourself.

The software allows you to reference your collection whilst travelling, ie when not connected to your main storage (though I think that the latest version might have introduced a limit on the number of PC's it can be installed on).

Worth at least giving the Movie Collector Free Trial a go, I find it to be a very useful bit of software. Not free, after the trial period, but well worth the money.

Dave..

Agreed Davee, and I do now segregate new stuff, unfortunately we have a situation that needs untangling first

Hi crossy,

Not knowing what os you use, may I venture...

perhaps the 'old" dir command from a command prompt?

( dir /? for the switches )

Run it on both the portable and the NAS

-sort on directory or file extension date (decending),

-include sub-dirs

-pipe the output to .txt file(s).

Then chop data from the 2 files, say older than 3 months.

Then open both files in a good editor (such as UltraEdit-32) for a diff match.

I know it's old school, but perhaps it can help.

At least you can parse down a dirs/files list of the last few months.

Yeah, HT, that's the way I'm going (Windoze by the way), piece of cake to get files with full directory contents then parse with a bit of C.

I'm just a lazy old git who does not want to re-invent the wheel if someone else has already done it