Compare Advance for Windows

By BauerApps
Free
User Rating

Key Details of Compare Advance

Compare, synchronize, and backup your files and folders.
Last updated on August 1, 2013
There have been 8 updates
Also available on
Virus scan status:
Clean (it's extremely likely that this software program is clean)

Editors' Review

Download.com staffAugust 1, 2013

Keeping multiple copies of critical files and folders is good practice, but it's usually not very long before small differences begin to creep in. If you don't keep them synced, the differences will pile up until there are too many to mess with. Whatever the reasons you might have for wanting to view the differences between two folders, Compare Advance from BauerApps makes the job easy. This free tool analyzes two folders for differences in content and color-codes the results for easy identification. It can also synchronize and back up your folders. It's customizable and also integrates with Explorer menus.

Compare Advance has an Explorer-style interface with a file menu and toolbar, a left-side control console, and main window with tabbed views. There's a fully indexed Help file, but it's easier just to start using it by browsing to Folder 1 and Folder 2 in the console pane and then applying the appropriate Main Controls: Compare, Stop, Copy, Delete, or Sync. Compare Advance displays file counts and other data in the Statistics window. In the main window, the program presented the folder's contents in color-coded views tabbed Overview, Folder 1 only, Folder 2 Only, Same, and Different. The toolbar not only replicates the basic controls but also accesses folder settings, general options, filters, and searches as well as switching between various layouts, including List, Tree, and Explorer views, and toggling open the log file.

We started by selecting our two folders using the program's unique double file browser, which not only has duplicate tree views for selecting Folder 1 and Folder 2 but also check boxes for selecting subfolders and root files and excluding archived folders. Pressing Compare produced results almost instantaneously. The program groups Same and Different files together in expandable tree views that show the size and date differences between two identically named files. Right-clicking any entry let us select a range of actions from a pop-up menu, including Compare files, Set source, Hide, Copy, and Delete, and also open properties sheets. Clicking Synch called up a dialog with many options for setting up what to synchronize and in which direction. All in all, an excellent utility.

Compare Advance for Windows

By BauerApps
Free
User Rating

Explore More

Full Specifications

GENERAL

Release: August 1, 2013

Latest update: August 1, 2013

Version: 1.4.1

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Platform: Windows

Operating System

Windows 10
Windows 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP
Windows 8
Windows 2003

Additional Requirements: None

POPULARITY

Total Downloads: 11,644

Downloads Last Week: 5

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User Reviews

4/5

4 User Votes

Does good job
MotekManNovember 2, 2013
Pros
Shows you what will be changed before you do it. Allows wide variety of sync options. Allows you to multi-select folders.
Cons
Interface challenging if you are a novice (which I am not). Although you can multi-select folders, there is no mapping of folder from the source to the backup (so for example, I backup My Documents from one folder and music from another folder to mapped drives on an external drive with different file structures - not sure how Compare Advance would handle - and didn't want to do the experiment!) - so created separate jobs for each... a little more work. Lastly, when selecting my Network drive folder, it takes a long time to actually select it (must be reading all of the files on it - but slower than a lot of other programs)
Summary
Although I wrote a lot in the cons, this program actually delivers a lot and the cons are minor issues. Especially when it is truly FREE (no ads, promos to buy now, etc) I cannot complain and am happy to use it!
good program, pesky behavior
myrvwAugust 10, 2012
Pros
easy to use, does its job well, would have been 5 stars but for the major negative below.
Cons
Minor: difficult to see what exactly is going to happen, you have to click with a bit of faith. Major: program creates a folder in My Documents with one file "settings". In Options, you can supposedly change this - and I tried changing it to "Program files/Compare Advance" - now it puts the "settings" file there but but it still creates an empty folder in My Documents. If every program did this, I can't find anything in My Documents anymore. Other programs without this glitch are available.
Summary
Uninstalled due to the above reason
Super space saver!
harinimallikaMarch 21, 2012
Pros
I did the compare run between just two folders in different drives and saved 300mb in less than a minute.
Cons
Seems like a lot of functionalities - busy tool bar, but I am sure with usage it will get easier.
Summary
Defenitely a very good programme to save space in hard drives.
Excellent product, though not that intuitive.
dnimrevoMarch 4, 2012
Pros
Does what is advertised. It can copy, backup, or mirror, either from one folder to another or in both directions. Also, the help file is pretty complete and does a decent job of helping find out how to do everything.
Cons
The interface is not very intuitive. While it does show you the list of files and folders, there is no "summary" view where you can see the exact list of what is going to be copied or deleted; you have to review both folders separately in the program's UI to check this. Also, it seems to be slightly unstable. It crashed when I clicked the save project button in the toolbar.
Summary

Developer's Description

Compare, synchronize, and backup your files and folders.

Compare Advance is an easy to use folder compare, synchronize, and backup utility with advanced features. Compare folders, zip files, and snapshot files and easily see the differences between them with folder coloring, and a unique summary node that highlights the differences between mismatched files. Exclude folders which are simply uncompressed zip files and save lots of space. Additional options allow for fine control and customization.