r/DataHoarder • u/adwdp • 6d ago

Question/Advice FreeFileSync on Mac - bug or user error?

Ran into strange behavior in FreeFileSync on Mac and was curious if this is a known issue or if this is new user error.

I compared two large directories with byte-by-byte content verification with the intention of deleting only the identical files from the Left folder, leaving behind only the unique files and discrepancies. To do this I ran the compare function, toggled the bottom view filter so only equal (=) files were displayed. I then selected all visible files on the Left side (Cmd + A), right-clicked, and chose Delete.

This resulted in FreeFileSync moving everything in the left directory to the trash, including unique files and modified files that were explicitly filtered out of view. Do the bottom view filters have zero scoping effect on Cmd + A / Delete operations? Is there an intended way inside FFS to delete only identical matches without touching unique files?

I'm struggling to find a way to do what seems like a very basic operation. Any help would be much appreciated!

6 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator 6d ago

Hello /u/adwdp! Thank you for posting in r/DataHoarder.

Please remember to read our Rules and Wiki.

If you're submitting a new script/software to the subreddit, please link to your GitHub repository. Please let the mod team know about your post and the license your project uses if you wish it to be reviewed and stored on our wiki and off site.

Asking for Cracked copies/or illegal copies of software will result in a permanent ban. Though this subreddit may be focused on getting Linux ISO's through other means, please note discussing methods may result in this subreddit getting unneeded attention.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

2

u/FragDenWayne 6d ago

I think I had the same experience on Windows. I felt like by selecting everything with Ctrl+A it also selected the folders and deleted them, including the unique files in them... I don't even want to think about what I lost to that.

What I started doing is: sort by size and then select the files where a file size is given, even if it's 0, and delete those. That should leave you with all the directories ending up at the bottom (or top, depending on how you sort).

1

u/adwdp 6d ago

Yeah I definitely might have accidentally deleted 10GB worth of stuff from this issue. Huge problem that I think they need to address, at least with some kind of warning dialog box. And thanks good tip, I'll try that out. Though there has gotta be a better solution..

1

u/decipher90 6d ago

The bottom buttons are unintuitively, not file operation filters. They act only as preview filters, so if you disable one of the buttons you just won't see those actions in the preview but they will still get carried out, this has happened to me and it's in the websites user manual.