"Keep Both Files" is NO Substitute for "Do Not Replace"

Question

"Keep Both Files" is NO Substitute for "Do Not Replace"

Can someone please post a Terminal command sequence to disable the "Keep Both Files" option in the Finder copy dialog? It's useless to me and I've already wasted several hours trying to manually work around this bug and shut it off on my own. Anyone with a digicam hobby will quickly run into the huge drawbacks of the loss of this feature.

I routinely deal with thousands of individual files on a daily basis; the file names repeat very frequently and the files arrive from multiple sources, therefore these files do NOT all have unique identifiers and each batch can be hundreds of GB. They all need to be moved and backed up weekly or more frequently. On a daily basis I move between 250-500GB of files between directories and from devices to the computer, et cetera. Without this function there is literally not enough time in the day to carefully manage a production system, which equates to a waste of time, electricity, and brain power on mundane tasks. Who keeps their entire file tree on paper so they can refer during copying between directories? 😉

Windows 7's mostly useless "Keep Both Files" feature has no place in a system as useful as Apple's. It really doesn't help with anything other than to offer a rubber bumper to protect inattentive people from overwriting files, which was elegantly in place up until Lion. Come on, you can't GUI someone's inattention out of the equation. If you could, would I be typing this?....

Listen, by removing the "Do Not Replace" option from the finder copy dialog, I am forced to either increase storage space--I can't believe I need to explain this, but I will say "unnecessarily" just to be redundant--or alternatively I must copy EVERY FILE???!!!! So, if only 50 files out of 1,800 need to be copied I still have to move all 1800 or sort through them one by one.

You have got to be joking. Give me a Terminal rip to kill this behavior please. This is an amazingly full-fleshed waste of time. It seems obvious enough that this is a programming SNAFU. "Do Not Replace" has been removed from the Finder copy dialogue because Lion actually cannot do both that and "Keep Both Files."

So, who knows the code for Terminal to revert this behavior to the pre-Lion days? Post that sucka!!!! A lot of people are looking for it.

I swear I will regress to Slow Leopard just for this one single feature-- and sorry ya'll, I doubt I will be the only person who can't spend all day waiting for drives to back up.

OS X Lion-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 25, 2011 10:07 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 12, 2011 6:29 PM in response to Sambarbadonat

It's more like "selective copying" than "recursive copying." But regardless, here's a better way:

Hold the Option key when the warning of duplicate files appear. That will turn "Keep Both" into "Skip," letting you copy only the unique filenames.

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Answer 2

Sep 12, 2011 10:46 AM in response to Sambarbadonat

Okay, what we are griping about is called "recursive copying." There is a Terminal command for it.

A-and, the Terminal command is in bold if you already know how to do this. Otherwise, here's a primer for command-line interfacing. If you want to learn more about the cp command, type [ man cp ].

1. Open the Terminal application (in Utilities).

2. Type this code, which is a basic command for recursive copying ("do not replace" for us non-tech linguists):

cp -Rpn /originating file path/ /destination file path/

3. Hit return. If you're moving a large amount of data, say a few gigs or more, at this point the cursor will disappear and the file transfer will take place. The cursor reappears when the operation is done. You can do other things like normal on your computer at this point, but don't move or alter any of the files during the transfer (just like normal). While that cursor is gone there's a transfer going on. If you're curious if it's working (or distrustful like me), you can open a finder window at the destination to watch the files show up.

If you're wondering if you have to do all that typing, the answer is no. Type in the [ cp -Rpn ] exactly like that and then drag and drop folder 1 into the Terminal window. It'll give you a file path automatically. Then you only need to put a slash after it and then drop the folder you want to copy into onto the the Terminal window. You might have to type another slash. Hit enter.

Apologies to the person who posted this information on another site or here in the forums. I haven't found your post, but when I do I'll attribute. Many thanks!

[edited for spelling]

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Answer 3

Tony T1

Level 6

10,247 points

Oct 29, 2011 4:53 AM in response to mauerzahn

mauerzahn wrote:

it would be nice to have the option to set a default button too, either SKIP or KEEP BOTH depending on your personal workflow.

It would be better if it was just a 4th button

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Answer 4

JasonGA

Level 1

5 points

Jul 27, 2011 1:46 PM in response to Sambarbadonat

Prior to Lion, I also used the "Do Not Replace" function every day to quickly copy only the newest files from one folder to another without having to keep track of which files were new, etc. This would have been an ideal place to simply press Option to get an alternate command. If there isn't quick fix for this, I would pay good money for a 3rd party app that would enable BOTH options, "Keep Both Files" and "Do Not Replace".

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Answer 5

Sep 12, 2011 7:37 AM in response to Sambarbadonat

There are a few things about Lion I dislike (calender appearing in a leather sleeve??? is this still mac or am I allready using windows anyways?) but this is one of the most disturbing.

Seems like eventually apple too stops creating good design (and I'm talking of good design in terms not only of good looks but especially of usability) in favor of a severe missunderstanding of what the mass consumer might want.

well, the old guard is going - the capitalists take over and all they care for are copyright law suits against apple vendors (no, not computers... apples) in china and whatever design sells best. goodbye usability.

so please... please bring back "do not replace"!

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Answer 6

Oct 29, 2011 3:42 AM in response to Tony T1

It seems that right now, maybe since 10.7.2 you always (even with just 2 files) have the option to choose either "Skip" (= do not replace) and "Keep both" by holding the ALT key when in the copy-dialogue.

unfortunately however the german version (I don't know if it is the same in english) seems bugged, because I get both buttons at once overlapping each other - so it's kind of hard to tell what I really am pressing: "Skip" or "Keep both"....

it would be nice to have the option to set a default button too, either SKIP or KEEP BOTH depending on your personal workflow.

anyway, I'm happy again. pushing ALT while copying isn't all that bad - well... as soon as they fix the bug with the overlapping buttons!

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