WinMerge
It's not often I devote a column to an application, but this is one that's worth sharing.
The application is called WinMerge, and as the name suggests, it's a PC (Windows platform) app, and isn't available for Mac. It works, it's useful, and it's free (open source). What more can you ask?
What's it for? Well, it was most likely developed for programmers to compare files or versions of code (it is technically a text file comparison tool), but it will compare binaries, so you can apply it to almost anything you work with. Let's say there are multiple versions of a text file on your hard drive, or perhaps in a shared drive, and you want to know which is the latest and greatest, and what changes have been made.
Running WinMerge is very simple. You open a project, then select the location and file name (or folder name) of the data you want to compare. Then let WinMerge do its thing. When it has quickly run its comparison, it will present you with data differences and dates so that you can decide how you want to handle differences, or if you simply want to keep (and propagate) one of the versions.
I use WinMerge most often when comparing music folders, and for general data backup. From bitter experience, I've learned that for certain files, backup is vital. I used to back up by burning CDs (or DVDs) of my data. Needless to say, this is time consuming, and open to all sorts of problems (like losing the disk, a bad burn, having to span disks to keep data together, and so on).
With WinMerge, you avoid the nuisance of automatic backup. YOU decide what data you want backed up, how, and most importantly, when.
As a general rule, it's a great idea to have at least one external hard drive to which you back up your computer's data (particularly for such precious things as music, pictures, that novel you're writing, etc.). You can purchase terabytes of storage for very little money these days, and many do come with automatic backup software, if you choose to go that route.
Once the comparison has been made, and you're shown your results, you can opt to copy a file or folder from one drive to the other. I keep two backup drives, and keep them in synch for all my vital data. That way, if my hard drive crashes (and it has), I'll be able to recover my data from one of the external drives.
No, this will not help you with the problem of lost software - for that, you'll need to reload from the original disk. But, if you've downloaded the software (as we do more and more these days) you will still have the installer copied to your backup, and be able to run it again on your new computer or hard drive.
It's handy, it's fast, and it's free. And while I wouldn't recommend it for the total newbie (are there any left?) it's easy enough to use that even a novice will get the hang of it quickly.
The application is called WinMerge, and as the name suggests, it's a PC (Windows platform) app, and isn't available for Mac. It works, it's useful, and it's free (open source). What more can you ask?
What's it for? Well, it was most likely developed for programmers to compare files or versions of code (it is technically a text file comparison tool), but it will compare binaries, so you can apply it to almost anything you work with. Let's say there are multiple versions of a text file on your hard drive, or perhaps in a shared drive, and you want to know which is the latest and greatest, and what changes have been made.
Running WinMerge is very simple. You open a project, then select the location and file name (or folder name) of the data you want to compare. Then let WinMerge do its thing. When it has quickly run its comparison, it will present you with data differences and dates so that you can decide how you want to handle differences, or if you simply want to keep (and propagate) one of the versions.
I use WinMerge most often when comparing music folders, and for general data backup. From bitter experience, I've learned that for certain files, backup is vital. I used to back up by burning CDs (or DVDs) of my data. Needless to say, this is time consuming, and open to all sorts of problems (like losing the disk, a bad burn, having to span disks to keep data together, and so on).
With WinMerge, you avoid the nuisance of automatic backup. YOU decide what data you want backed up, how, and most importantly, when.
As a general rule, it's a great idea to have at least one external hard drive to which you back up your computer's data (particularly for such precious things as music, pictures, that novel you're writing, etc.). You can purchase terabytes of storage for very little money these days, and many do come with automatic backup software, if you choose to go that route.
Once the comparison has been made, and you're shown your results, you can opt to copy a file or folder from one drive to the other. I keep two backup drives, and keep them in synch for all my vital data. That way, if my hard drive crashes (and it has), I'll be able to recover my data from one of the external drives.
No, this will not help you with the problem of lost software - for that, you'll need to reload from the original disk. But, if you've downloaded the software (as we do more and more these days) you will still have the installer copied to your backup, and be able to run it again on your new computer or hard drive.
It's handy, it's fast, and it's free. And while I wouldn't recommend it for the total newbie (are there any left?) it's easy enough to use that even a novice will get the hang of it quickly.
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