Comparison Settings

I. Compare by "File time and size"

This variant evaluates two equally named files as being equal when they have the same modification time and file size. When the comparison is started, the following decision tree is processed:

  1. file exists on one side only

      • left only

      • right only

  2. file exists on both sides

    1. different date

      • left newer

      • right newer

    2. same date

      • equal

      • conflict (same date, different size)


This results into the following categories:


II. Compare by "File content"

Two files which have the same name are marked as equal if and only if they have the same content. This option is more useful for consistency checks rather than backup operations for reasons of speed. The file modification time is not taken into account at all.

  1. file exists on one side only

      • left only

      • right only

  2. file exists on both sides

      • equal

      • different content

As a result the files are separated into the following categories:


Symbolic link handling


FreeFileSync offers three options to configure processing of symbolic links (also called symlinks or soft links):

  1. Exclude: skips symbolic links while scanning input directories.
     

  2. Direct: configures synchronization of the symbolic link object itself and not its target. symbolic links will be visible on main grid as a separate entity with corresponding meta data. Links pointing to directories are not traversed and the link object is copied directly during synchronization.
     

  3. Follow: dereferences symbolic links, i.e. they are treated like their target objects. Links pointing to directories are traversed like ordinary folders and the target of each link is copied during synchronization.


Note: