[wplug] Compare and Combine two user accounts?

[George Larson]

I second Gary's suggestion.  Unison [
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/ ] would work great here, as would
uncounted other options (e.g., Dropbox, Copy, Box, BTsync, etc.)

You mentioned diff.  If there's a concern about the same file existing, in
different states of revision, then I would personally handle it by pulling
them all together, but separating them into directories.

For example:  'user.desktop', 'user.old.laptop', 'user.laptop' and maybe
'user.combined' with 'combined' being what I want to be the final product.

Once I had it all in one place, I'd find files that are complete duplicates
and files that exist in only one place put those sets in 'combined' and
move the original copies into an archive area.   Everything remaining
should only be files that exist in multiple locations that are not identical
(I'd use 'md5sum).

>From here we can either grab the files based on some criterion (programmatic
ally, of course, email this list if you need help) such as: most-recently
modified, largest copy, etc.  Or you can inspect the remaining files by
hand and keep the copy you like best.

Anything not 'kept' should be moved into an archive area, compressed,
burned to DVD, or *some* kind of back up.  If you don't keep the data about
in some form, you may later find yourself wondering if you destroyed
something needed.  It's always nice to know that you can go rummaging
around for the file, in a push-to-shove situation.

Good luck!  8D

On Sat, Jun 1, 2013 at 1:02 PM, Douglas Green <diego96 at mac.com> wrote:

> The problem: I had a laptop and a desktop, sold the laptop, and
> transferred the entire user account onto my desktop (as a new user). I now
> find myself searching for documents that are fragmented across two
> accounts- the original desktop account and the old laptop account.
>  Complicating the issue, I bought a replacement laptop which adds yet
> another account to the mix.
>
> Is there a way to utilize diff or rsync on my user accounts and combine
> all the data, setting, and applications into just one user file? I'm sure
> I'm not the first person to have this issue, so if there's another strategy
> please let me know! I'm definitely going to be more careful in the future
> about data fragmentation across devices- this is becoming a real problem.
>
> Thanks!
> -D
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