Stupid OS X Questions!!!

crazyswede

crazyswede

crazyswede

Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
1,608
Location
Liverpool, England
This is going to be a thread with a lot of stupid questions :D

I am new to OS X so be patient with me :eek:

And it might help other people...


First one...

WINDOWS:

Folder 'My stuff' (Contains: eroticstory.txt & system.ini)

Copy to another folder that already contain a folder called 'My stuff' (BUT contains: system.ini & bookmarks.txt)

It will ask if I want to replace -> I say yes please -> I end up with:

'My stuff' (Contains: eroticstory.txt(new), system.ini(replaced) & bookmarks.txt(left alone) )


But OS X:

Folder 'My stuff' (Contains: eroticstory.txt & system.ini)

Copy to another folder that already contain a folder called 'My stuff' (BUT contains: system.ini & bookmarks.txt)

It will ask if I want to replace -> I say yes please -> I end up with:

'My stuff' (Contains: eroticstory.txt(new), system.ini(replaced))

bookmarks.txt now gone!

I want to consolidate 2 folders... It would probably been enough to have said that instead of writting all that rubbish above :o:D
 
Last edited:
So essentially you want to merge the directories rather than replace the destination directory with the source directory.

You can do this in Terminal using cp -R PathToSourceDirectory PathToDestinationDirectory, but I don't think it's possible in Finder. A lot of stuff in Finder is Apple's Way Or The Highway. Lame.
 
Ok.. I will have a look at what you suggested. It's a shame they don't have a 'replace and merge' button beside the 'replace' button :(

Off to find the terminal window... it's hiding somewhere... is there keyboard shortcut to get it up?
 
Last edited:
Oh my....I didnt even know this was the default behaviour of mac osx.
I can imagine it could get annoying as 'merging' deletes files without warning!

I did a little searching and came up with Folder Merge this little app can merge folders.

Otherwise get used to the mac way of selecting the files within a folder and dragging that to the new folder rather than dragging the folder.
 
there is a way around this, instead of moving the directory, move the files. So open the first file in the finder and press command+a (select all) and then click and drag that selection and drop it on the second folder icon, this will only replace the files you are copying as you would expect if you had dragged and dropped a folder in windows.

So in fact it's not apples way or the highway, its just that mac way is different *but* you can do it the other way without any extra hacks or using the terminal... hope this helps?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom