File compare utility wanted

[qubit]

I know I can google for this, but I would prefer to try one recommended by the good people of this forum.

I back up my data files every night using Karen's Replicator and I've set it so that the backup contains exactly the same files as the source drive, so they should end up as mirror images after the program runs. The trouble is that the source drive currently has about 2GB more in it than the backup drive and has been this way for a couple of weeks now. I haven't changed any settings and the backup log doesn't have the answer, so I need a good file compare utility to show me the differences.

I'd be much more interested in a free utility than a paid one.

Any suggestions?

 

[newtekie1]

System restore turned off on the source drive?

Make sure there are no hidden/system files that aren't being copied.

 

[95Viper]

Auslogics Duplicate File Finder
Clean, easy, and freeeeee.
I like free!

Edit: I forgot, I just installed it, too.
Comodo's NEW COMODO System-Cleaner 3.0 build 37 Released at their NEW website.
It has a duplicate file finder\cleaner and a lot of other goodies and it is freeeeee.

I am still testing it out, but it has not done any damage yet.

 

[qubit]

Thanks NT. Perhaps I should have clarified that I have three drives in my system: Windows system drive and two data drives.

The two data drives are identical 1TB Caviar Blacks partition identically. Every 24 hours Karen's runs to make the backup contain the same data as the source, an "image backup" effectively.

There shouldn't be any hidden files on the source drive, apart from the Recycle bin, which is filtered out, along with other system files. Having said that, I've deleted the entries from it relating to the source drive (letter D in my case) and it made the difference! The drives now show the same amount of data. Odd, I thought files in the Recycle Bin showed the drive as having that space reclaimed and are deleted automatically by Windows when the Recycle Bin gets fuller than its limit. I'm sure it used to be like that in XP? It must work differently in 7, perhaps? I'll have to look this up later in my Windows 7 resource book.

And thanks 95Viper - I'll check it out! It's a handy utility to have in my toolbox anyway.

 

[95Viper]

Just wondering, if, you have tried this from WD\Acronis... Acronis True Image WD Edition Software.

Here is that word, again: It is free.

I use Acronis and it does a good an excellent job.
Plus, you can make a rescue disk or stick and recover\clone\etc. by booting to it or you can, even, make a recovery partition.

Just an idea, though.

Karen's Replicator does have a small footprint, I can see that. Simple and easy, too.

 

[newtekie1]

The space used up by the Recycle Bin was never marked as reclaimed or free space. It isn't marked as free until the recycle bin is actually emptied.

 

[streetfighter 2]

I see that you managed to fix the problem . If you still care though I've always used the linux utility "diff". There is a Windows port available, and it's also included in the useful GNU utilities for Windows. Unfortunately since it's GNU it's very expensive.

Then you can use a command like:

diff -q -r "<parent directory original>" "<parent directory backup>" > output.txt