mac folder merge

itsdavedotnet

itsdavedotnet

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Seriously wishing a very slow and painful death to steve jobs at the moment.

OSX forums seem to just go on about terminal this or paid for app that, no way do I want to pay $40 and set up some complicated backup sync just to copy a load of subfolders together, and not have my stuff go missing.

Any recommendations? Right about ready to install win 7 right now, it's **** like this steve, **** like this, I don't care about the swishyness, but the actual ux...
 
Not really sure what your asking for, but Silverkeeper from Lacie is a FREE and easy to use backup/Sync application.
 
ding76uk said:
What exactly are you trying to do?
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you know how, in windows, when you copy a folder to somewhere where there's already a folder with the same name, it just does it, and asks individually (but with the option to do it for all clashes) about any file clashes, rather than just deleting anything that's in the old folder, irretrievably?

Yeah, that.
 
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Not sure what your trying to do or why, but there is probably a Mac way to do this. Its a different operating system so i think its unfair to blame it if it doesnt work like windows ( thank goodness...:naughty:)
If you tell us exactly what you want to do rather than how you used to do it, we may come up with a solution.
Allan
 
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Not sure what you problem is. But on my Mac if I copy a folder to a location with a folder ( or file ) same name, it tells me that a folder with the same name already exists and do I want to replace it with the new one or not.
 
Not sure what you problem is. But on my Mac if I copy a folder to a location with a folder ( or file ) same name, it tells me that a folder with the same name already exists and do I want to replace it with the new one or not.
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exactly, replace as opposed to copy the contents of the new folder into the old folder. Not an issue if it's just one folder, but when you have lots and lots of subfolders... not so nice.

say I have two folders,

/foo/folderA/
and
/bar/folderA/

both contain lots of subfolders and files.

If I copy the /foo/folderA/ to /bar/, then has it not occured to apple, that I might still want the contents of /bar/folderA/ ?

The only action that finder can do is either cancel, or replace, which instantly removes all trace of /bar/folderA/ from existence and replaces it entirely with /foo/folderA. The old contents of /bar/folderA/ are not eve recoverable through recycle bin.

Windows however, gives you the option to merge:

the contents of /foo/folderA/ are ADDED to the contents of /bar/folderA.
Any individual file clashes bring up a prompt asking what action to take (replace / skip copying that file / cancel all), and you can select 'apply to all subsequent files'.

Now tell me which is the better solution? :D
 
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Just thinking about what you've asked. Are you trying to effectively back up files into another folder that is on an external drive? For example you have two folder both called pictures. On on the Mac and another on an external drive.

What you want to do is update the external drive folder with new pictures but not delete any of the old ones ? On a Mac if you simply copy the folder and tell it to replace the newer one with the older it will completely replace the older file.

However if you select all the images ( or files) within the "Master Folder" Copy them and then Paste to the other folder ( with the same name) it will tell you the file already exists and do you want to replace it. Any files not already existing in the destination folder will be copied without any alert.

If you are backing up files don't forget that with Mac's you have Time Machine that will back up for you for you on a hourly basis is needed
 
However if you select all the images ( or files) within the "Master Folder" Copy them and then Paste to the other folder ( with the same name) it will tell you the file already exists and do you want to replace it. Any files not already existing in the destination folder will be copied without any alert.
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which is great until your files are all in sub folders courtesy of lightroom managing all your files :(

Dunno, just had more and more small annoyances and examples of actually pretty poor user experience design building up with mac recently...
 
Well as I said earlier something like Silverkeeper from Lacie will do what you want, either manually or at a scheduled time and interval you can set.
 
Still not quite getting this. You creating a backup, yet anything you deleted from your main drive you want to remain?

Sliverkeeper as Mark sugested is only real way of doing things, but it confuses me why you want to do it?

If you delete from the main drive, surely you want to delete them from a backup as well? Otherwise you have no backup of images you deleted from the main machine and only have the one copy on one (external) drive, surely if doing that you need a backup of your backup?

Never needed it myself and as you say Apple do not have this option in the same way as Windows.

If you really finding yourself that upset with OSX maybe you should make a move back towards Windows.

I think the question here is why are you trying to merge folders? What are you trying to gain by doing it (esp. if to do with lightroom)
 
itsdavedotnet said:
which is great until your files are all in sub folders courtesy of lightroom managing all your files :(
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'scuse me asking, but why aren't you doing it in Lightroom then?

Even if you succeed in doing it at file system level, Lightroom's catalog is going to be broken by your moving the furniture without it knowing about it.
 
I have to agree with Mark . A simple backup utility will probably do what you want. I Use Integeo ( also from LaCie ) . Backs up files and folders, you can set it not to delete files that have been removed from the master folder. Simple and easy to use
 
FWIW, there's a free Sync Folders Automator Action, which will ensure that you have the most recent version of the given files in a folder hierarchy - it lacks the interaction element that you were looking for, though.

If you can spare $7.99 instead of $40, there's moveAddict, which does exactly what you're looking for in addition to providing keyboard shortcuts for cutting and pasting folders and files.

Kapeli said:
moveAddict is a Snow Leopard-only application that provides a functionality the Finder was missing, the ability to move files using the keyboard. It’s meant to replace dragging and dropping for anyone that would rather use the keyboard instead of the mouse.

...

- Merge folders. While moving files, if moveAddict detects that you are trying to replace a folder, it lets you choose whether you want to completely replace the folder or merge the two.
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JonathanRyan said:
Drag the files, not the folder.
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again, not cool when they're all in loads of subfolders.

All solved for this time... just an idiosyncrasy of mac that strikes me as being distinctly user unfriendly...loads of reports of people losing tonnes of files because of it just obliterating the folder that's being replaced...
 
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