Saving modified files over SFTP Net Drive

[Pete_]

Hi,

I use "SFTP Net Drive" (https://www.eldos.com/sftp-net-drive/) to mount a remote location over SSH.

When I use Beyond Compare on files over the SFTP share, if I modify a file inside BC and then try and save it "Unable to remove the file to be replaced".

BC will happily overwrite files in the folder view (e.g. "Send to Right"), but won't save modified files from the file comparison view.


Regards,
Pete

[Aaron]

Hello Pete,

BC3's save function uses a Windows provided method to save as a temp file, then overwrite the original file. This helps prevent errors when directly saving into the original file (like Notepad would do). Sometimes other software can lock or have trouble with this if there isn't adequate permission, but we aren't doing anything too complicated. A Folder copy would be a different (also Windows provided) function to perform the copy, so that wouldn't necessarily hit the same hurdles.

Do you have BC3 Pro? Pro edition has built-in SFTP support, where we could connect to the SFTP and handle these functions without a 3rd party software to manage as the middleman.

[Pete_]

Hello Pete,

BC3's save function uses a Windows provided method to save as a temp file, then overwrite the original file. This helps prevent errors when directly saving into the original file (like Notepad would do). Sometimes other software can lock or have trouble with this if there isn't adequate permission, but we aren't doing anything too complicated. A Folder copy would be a different (also Windows provided) function to perform the copy, so that wouldn't necessarily hit the same hurdles.

Do you have BC3 Pro? Pro edition has built-in SFTP support, where we could connect to the SFTP and handle these functions without a 3rd party software to manage as the middleman.

No, I don't have BC3 Pro. I'll see if my company will upgrade my license.

Thanks!

[Aaron]

Hello,

If that's an option, you would only need to pay the price difference to go from Std to Pro:

http://www.scootersoftware.com/shop.php?zz=upgradepolicy

You could also check to see the discount that would apply to a BC4 Pro upgrade.

[Pete_]

Well, I asked the IT dept. to upgrade my license to either BC3 Pro or BC4 Pro. They bought the BC3 Pro upgrade, and I can confirm using the native SFTP support does work better (and faster).

I did note, however, that if I do a "Compare Contents -> Binary Comparison" across SFTP some files that are identical get marked as different until i double click on them to bring up the file comparison. This is not really a problem, but it is inconvenient.

[Aaron]

Hello,

That difference is likely due to a difference in the line ending character (not the file sizes). By default, when BC transfers a file over FTP, it can use the ASCII method which will change the line ending character to that of the destination side's OS, so that side can open and read it. If this isn't necessary, and the server is just a storage bin, you can go to the Profiles dialog, select your FTP profile, and in the Transfer tab switch from AUTO to Binary. This will transfer all files as binary, and preserve the line ending characters. Any file previously transferred will need to be re-transferred, however, as it would have already had it's line ending characters changed.

[Aaron]

Hello,

And I should add, that a Rules-based scan can be configured to ignore specific text differences, including Line Ending characters by default. So it would likely run and show the files as equal if you changed from a binary scan to a rules-based scan.

[Pete_]

That fixed it. Thanks!