11282 Hex Compare locking file again

[chrisjj]

I had thought to be fixed the problem wherein Hex Compare can lock a file thereby preventing Folder Compare from deleting it... but I had a recorrence today on a 13Mb file:

Unable to delete P:\Dance\.\00724347840029-2-13.wma: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process

After closing the Hex Compare window, reattempt succeeded.

Any ideas?

[Chris]

Hi Chris,

The locking behavior depends on the file size. The default is files 2 MB or larger are locked by the Hex Compare. To increase the size limit, open the Home view. Select "Edit session defaults > Hex Compare". In the Comparison tab, increase the value for "Files up to this size are loaded without file locks".

[chrisjj]

OK... what's the catch?

[Zoë]

Anything smaller than the limit is loaded into RAM.

[chrisjj]

OK, not good.

Wouldn't it be better for HC to just release the files when idle?

[Zoë]

We still need the file content once the file has been compared so we can display it as you scroll around. That means keeping the file locked, copying it into memory, or copying it to a temp file.

[chrisjj]

We still need the file content once the file has been compared so we can display it as you scroll around.

The user is not likely to be scrolling around in the case in question, since he is on the other tab.

Again: Wouldn't it be better for HC to just release the files when idle?