compare two folders with multiple threads

[hh6911]

Hello Guys,

I have a question about using multiple threads when comparing.
I am trying to make a decision on using Examdiff Pro or Beyond compare based on the speed of comparing.
From the test, with same machine and same filter, comparing speeds of those are not that different so i am looking for any mean to increase the comparing speed.

What I am looking for is the availability of using multiple threads. Both Examdiff and Beyond Compare use one CPU and compare files inside of folders one by one.
From Beyond Compare, is it possible to use multiple CPU to compare multiple files at once to reduce running time?

For example, there are two folders containing 1000files and each file take 1 minutes to compare. Then folder comparison will take 1000minutes to finish comparisons. But if multiple files are compared at a time, ex. use 5 CPU threads and compare 5 files at a time, then it will only take 200 minutes. I am wondering that the Beyond Compare has that kind of function or not.

Sean

[Zoë]

Hi Sean,

No, BC doesn't support controlling how many threads are used for comparisons. Are you doing rules-based or binary comparisons though? A lot of what BC does is I/O bound, so using multiple threads really won't help since they're just waiting for the disk. Launch Task Manager and look at BC's CPU usage, for example. On my system it's at ~4%, and redoing it when a lot is in cache still only brings it up to 10%.

[hh6911]

Hello Craig,

Thanks for the quick follow up. I am doing rules-based comparisons.
Do you have any recommandation to reduce comparison time of two folders?

Sean

[Zoë]

If you can manage it enable the "Skip if quick tests indicate files are the same" option in that dialog. If the size and timestamps match it won't bother to do a comparison, which speeds things up immensely. Other than that, no. If there were easy ways to improve the comparison speed we'd already do them.