You may need to download rsync (free). It is a command line program. What Dan suggested sounds like a GUI based version of rsync.
You can also rename your existing Documents folder to something like "Documents.tmp" and then restore your entire Documents folder from Time Machine to your local system. Then just tell Finder to copy Documents.tmp to Documents. It will prompt if you want to overwrite files before doing so. If it was me, I would backup my local drive, do a total Time Machine restore, and then sync my local user directory backup to what Time Machine restored. That way all your Apps, settings, and files you forgot to manually sync are preserved. More work up front, but probably less work overall. On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 1:47 PM, Dieselhead <126die...@gmail.com> wrote: > Yes, I am only talking about stuff in the documents folder. Music and > photos I will just move manually. nothing new there. Is rsync a built in > utility? I did a search but did not find it. > > > > Wouldn't it make the most sense to only copy your user directory files? I >> would be cautious against trying to copy OS files that way. You can >> probably rsync your user directory on Time Machine back to your new hard >> drive. Or better still, copy your user directory to a backup location, >> then use Time Machine to restore your computer, and restore your user >> directory using rsync from the the backup location. That way you get >> exactly what you had, plus any files you created. >> >> >> On Sat, Mar 10, 2012 at 12:02 PM, Dan Penoff <lwb...@yahoo.com> wrote: >> >> Gotcha. >>> >>> You will have to pay for it, but it's money well spent: >>> >>> Super File Synchronizer. >>> >>> I use it to manage my backups between my machines and my Xserve RAID >>> volumes. >>> >>> Highly configurable and can be scheduled. I highly recommend it. >>> >>> Dan >>> >>> >>> Dieselhead <126die...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> >The main thing is that I don't want to restore old files over the top >>> >of new files and lose newer info. >>> > >>> >Hard drive died, the dealer put in a new drive, installed the OS and >>> >whatever he could recover. I was about 10 days before I could get to >>> >my backed up files. I was looking for a utility that would compare >>> >the drive with the backup and give me a sort of what was not on the >>> >drive. >>> > >>> > >>> >>Not sure I totally understand what you are trying to accomplish, but >>> >>why not just restore the files to the machine and copy them to your >>> >>destination of choice using whatever means is necessary? >>> >> >>> >>Dan >>> >> >>> >>Dieselhead <126die...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >> >>> >>>Is there a utility or synch tool that will compare files in a time >>> >>>machine backup and restore the files from the time machine that are >>> >>>not on the current laptop hard drive? >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>One other approach I could take is to isolate the files from the past >>> >>>10 days or so, then do a full restore. After the restore, move the >>> >> >isolated files to replace the older files from backup. >>> >> > >>> > >>> >_____________________________**__________ >>> >http://www.okiebenz.com >>> >For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >>> >To search list archives >>> http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/> >>> > >>> >To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> >>> >http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> >>> ______________________________**_________ >>> http://www.okiebenz.com >>> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >>> To search list archives >>> http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/> >>> >>> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >>> >>> http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> >>> >>> ______________________________**_________ >> http://www.okiebenz.com >> For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com >> To search list archives >> http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/> >> >> To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: >> http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> >> > > > ______________________________**_________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com > To search list archives > http://www.okiebenz.com/**archive/<http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/> > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/**mailman/listinfo/mercedes_**okiebenz.com<http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com> > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
