Reverse Syn -- Copy movies not watched.????

[TenOC]

I searched Google -- no help probably because I did not know how to ask the question in a few words.

I have a 500 Gb WD Passport that is full of movies -- about 200. I use the Passport to plug into my smart TV to watch movies. I have watched most of the movies and now it is time to "reload" the Passport with new movies.

On my PC I have a 2Tb HD that has the same movies that are on the Passport plus many more -- Maybe a total of 500 to 600. Over the years I have moved all my DVD and VCR movie collection to my PC.

My problem. Is there software that will allow me to copy only the 300 movies I have not watched to the (or a different) Passport. I assume one could call this a "reverse syn". I have a program to find duplicate files, but this is not what I want.

[austinjenna]

The problem is the Passport is full. No room to copy any more movies. I need a additional Passport, (so I can do a 3-way syn) or some way to mark movies on my PC before I erase the movies on the Passport.

Just go buy a bigger HD, they are cheap. It seems you are making it more complicated then it needs to be.

[1492]

As mentioned, it just may be quicker to just manually transfer the movie files you want?



This Windows PowerShell script may work? Not mine, and haven't personally tested, but used for a similar purpose:

$Folder1 = (Get-ChildItem -Recurse -path "E:\2TbHD")
$Folder2 = (Get-ChildItem -Recurse -path "F:\WDPassport1")
(Diff $Folder1 $Folder2 | ? {$_.SideIndicator -eq "<="}).InputObject |
ForEach-Object {
$ItemName1 = $_;
$ItemName2 = "G:\WDPassport2\" + $ItemName1;
Copy-Item $ItemName2 -Destination "G:\WDPassport2" -Force
}

Where you need to replace the path and folder to each of your 3 drives. Basically, compares video files on the 2TB HD to the WD Passport, and transfers un-watched video files from 2TB HD to a second WD Passport. Well, you asked? :E

[wnjj]

xcopy (command prompt command) will do what you want.

First, make a list of the movies you watched by running a 'dir' command on the portable drive (d:\movies in my example). Make the watched.txt file in the directory on your hard drive with your movies (c:\movies in my example). Then use that .txt file as an argument to the xcopy command. Xcopy lets you exclude the files names in the .txt file from a mass copy.


1. Open a command prompt.
2. c:
3. cd \movies
4. dir /b d:\movies > watched.txt
5. xcopy *.* d:\movies /exclude: watched.txt

Remove the space between the /exclude: and watched.txt above.

Again, c:\movies is the hard drive and d:\movies is the portable drive. You can substitue 'd:\movies' in step 5 for another portable drive or you must free up the needed space after collecting the list in step 4.

https://commandwindows.com/xcopy.htm

[wa8yxm]

The answer depends on when the movies were loaded on the passport and when watched.. And some other things let me research a second.

OK, Windows can sort files based on "Date modified" I don't know if this will help. If the movies were loaded.. THEN watched.. and if watching them modified anything (usually it does not) that's your only hope. Sort in that manner and all the movies you wish to copy will be at one or the other end of the list.

[AllegroD]

TenOC wrote:

austinjenna wrote:
So you want to copy the new movies on the PC to the WD hard drive - just the new ones right? Then simple. Highlight all the movies on your pc, click copy, then paste to the WD. A message will pop up asking you if you want to replace xxx movie, if you select NO you will notice a little check box under it that says something to the effect of 'do this for all xxxx conflicts'

So basically it will just copy over the new movies. There is no need for buying of anything else

The problem is the Passport is full. No room to copy any more movies. I need a additional Passport, (so I can do a 3-way syn) or some way to mark movies on my PC before I erase the movies on the Passport.

Buy the new larger drive. Copy from one source. Copy from second source using the above steps to not copy things already there.

p.s. If you want to maintain sync between these drive, I use All Ways Sync.

[hedge]

there are all kinds of switches with Robocopy, I bet you could find a combination to do what you want.

[Fizz]

TenOC wrote:

austinjenna wrote:
So you want to copy the new movies on the PC to the WD hard drive - just the new ones right? Then simple. Highlight all the movies on your pc, click copy, then paste to the WD. A message will pop up asking you if you want to replace xxx movie, if you select NO you will notice a little check box under it that says something to the effect of 'do this for all xxxx conflicts'

So basically it will just copy over the new movies. There is no need for buying of anything else

The problem is the Passport is full. No room to copy any more movies. I need a additional Passport, (so I can do a 3-way syn) or some way to mark movies on my PC before I erase the movies on the Passport.

If you had started doing it the slow, hands-on way it would be done by now 🙂

[TenOC]

austinjenna wrote:
So you want to copy the new movies on the PC to the WD hard drive - just the new ones right? Then simple. Highlight all the movies on your pc, click copy, then paste to the WD. A message will pop up asking you if you want to replace xxx movie, if you select NO you will notice a little check box under it that says something to the effect of 'do this for all xxxx conflicts'

So basically it will just copy over the new movies. There is no need for buying of anything else

The problem is the Passport is full. No room to copy any more movies. I need a additional Passport, (so I can do a 3-way syn) or some way to mark movies on my PC before I erase the movies on the Passport.

[austinjenna]

So you want to copy the new movies on the PC to the WD hard drive - just the new ones right? Then simple. Highlight all the movies on your pc, click copy, then paste to the WD. A message will pop up asking you if you want to replace xxx movie, if you select NO you will notice a little check box under it that says something to the effect of 'do this for all xxxx conflicts'

So basically it will just copy over the new movies. There is no need for buying of anything else

[1492]

Tom_M wrote:
Try FreeFileSync. There are filter options that include time span.

https://www.freefilesync.org/

I really like this app. Though need to be careful installing it, as it has traditionally used OpenCandy installer. Typically, flagged by AV and Malwarebytes as PUP adaware.

[1492]

Not easily without having setup a system ahead of time. You may be able to write a macro that compares file titles on both drives, then copies those titles that do not match to a different Passport drive.

[Tom_M1]

Try FreeFileSync. There are filter options that include time span.

https://www.freefilesync.org/

[darsben1]

You could transfer the movies from the WD hard drive back to you computer.
You will be told the files are already on the computer and do you want to replace, skip or decide. REPLACE THE FILES ON your computer with the ones on the hard drive.Then highlight all the movies on your PC.
If they are all in one folder then highlight the folder and then choose "select All"
Go to the VIEW Tab
Choose "group by" drop down menu and select "Choose columns"
Put a check in the "Date accessed" box
Sort by date accessed. The ones not accessed will be together The ones you transfer will have the date of viewing or transfer on them.
Any way that is what I would try first.
Up to this point you have not done anything "bad" to your files
If it works as I figure than you can erase the movies on the Passport and copy the ones you want to the passport.

[Fizz]

Can't be done as far as I know.
I also have a huge collection on a Seagate HD.
I have a folder called 'Viewed' on it. When I copy movies onto a thumb drive for watching on TV I then move those same files on the HD into the Viewed folder.