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Is Binary Comparison same with MD5/SHA-256 file comparison?
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 11:54 am
by teve
Hi,
In Comparison advanced settings, there is "Binary comparison of existing files while building file list"; is it the same with MD5 / SHA-256 file comparison method done by other file copy software?
Thanks
Re: Is Binary Comparison same with MD5/SHA-256 file comparison?
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2020 5:43 pm
by tobias
Hello,
binary comparison is different in that it compares the complete content of the file. That means the whole file is transferred and verified.
Syncovery can compare existing files while scanning the folders, and also remember the results, so that it doesn't re-compare all files every time.
As an alternative, it can just verify all files after transferring them. The option for that is on the Files tab sheet in the profile ("Veridy copied files").
In some cases, a remotely generated MD5 checksum can be used to avoid having to completely transfer the file for comparison. This could be beneficial if you are copying over the Internet or a slow LAN. Remotely generated MD5s are possible with some FTP servers and cloud services, but the feature is generally rare. So usually it works only if you install the Syncovery Remote Service on the remote machine and configure it to generate checksums.