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Easy question - Comparing files/folders in linux (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 17 hours ago by to c/linux@lemmy.world
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So I have a problem. I have WAY too many hard drives and backups from decades of computing. I just hoard everything. The issue is now I don't know what I have duplicates of and what I don't. or when I want to format an old external drive for something else, I'm not sure if I actually have a backup of it.

I just want a way to basically compare folders and see what files are missing or what are duplicates. I'm fine with CLI but I may prefer a GUI for this so I'm not deleting files by accident as easily...

I have searched around for this question but all the solutions seem way too complex for me.

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[–] 1 point 13 hours ago

Basically you want something that will hash the file contents and compare hashes, this gets around filename differences.

Define where your "final" location will be and compare each drive to that (the 1st one will be the starting point, so pick the best , largest drive

fdupes / rmlint will get you most of the way there.

Then you'll want to compare similar files, so maybe something like meld or beyondcompare might help.

This will take a loooong time, but will be worth it

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