Feature request: Mounting .bcss files

[knnknn]

It would be nice if Beyond Compare could mount snapshot .bcss files as drive letters.

Also nice would be to have a packer add-on (for Total Commander) so that I could browse .bcss files in Total Commander.

[Aaron]

Hello,

BC's Snapshot tool can capture from the root of a drive letter. How would you work with this data if mounted as a drive letter? Our .bcss format does not contain the actual files, so it couldn't support any kind of interaction. It's primary purpose is to be loaded as a side of a comparison, either for an offline location or a point in history.

BC3/4 does support loading Total Commander plug-ins, but we do not have a plug-in for Total Commander to load the snapshot. How would you intend to use the information once loaded in TC? Perhaps more details on your workflow could help us understand your usecase.

[knnknn]

I understand that .bcss files have only the directory tree information in them and not the data itself.

But sometimes this is all one needs to do some operations like searching for the biggest file, biggest folder, listing all files created after a certain date and so on.

[Aaron]

Hello,

Binding to a drive letter or creating a Total Commander plug-in are large projects we won't be able to tackle soon, but I think you can perform all of these examples in BC's Folder Compare:

Searching for the biggest file: enable the View menu -> Ignore Folder Structure, then sort by size

Searching for biggest folder: View menu -> Always Show Folders, then Edit -> Expand All/Collapse all to make sure folder sizes are calculated. Then click the Size column to sort on size.

Files after (Last Modified) Date: Session menu -> Session Settings, Other Filters tab, set new filter to Exclude files Older than Certain Date.

[knnknn]

but I think you can perform all of these examples in BC's Folder Compare

These were just examples.

For example you cannot search through all .bcss files to find all files matching the criteria.

And I cannot simply send a .bcss file to someone who doesn't have Beyond Compare.

With a packer plugin this would be possible.

[Aaron]

Thanks. With a packer plug-in, a Total Commander user could open a .bcss file as an example. We won't be able to implement this type of plug-in soon, so other users would need to use our application (either registered or a trial) to view the .bcss files.

When sending another user a folder list, another option is to use the Edit menu -> Expand All command, then generate a Session menu -> Folder Compare Report to send them the contents of the directory.