comparing versions of files and folders

I have lots of backups on different media and I would like to move all my backups together and then locate duplicates. Is there a program that can compares files and folders, locate duplicates and flag them, and show differences in some way?

The files I'm working with are .txt, .doc, .odt, .rtf

I might want to do the same thing with jpg files too.

 

You're a day late, yesterday a website was giving away foldermatch, but it is still worth purchasing.
http://www.foldermatch.com/

some users on that site suggested winmerge
http://majorgeeks.com/WinMerge_d4861.html
http://winmerge.org/

I'vealso used free file sync in a pinch.
http://majorgeeks.com/FreeFileSync_d6588.html
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freefilesync/?_test=beta

 

WinMerge is great for comparing the Contents of text files.
Color coded differences with side by side view.
You can select text to be deleted or merged into the adjacent file.

 

That is what I thought, but Winmerge has expanded.. "WinMerge is an Open Source differencing and merging tool for Windows. WinMerge can compare both folders and files, presenting differences in a visual text format that is easy to understand and handle."

 

I'm familiar with winmerge and will take a look at it again. I have also found a good comparison program online called diffnow which I like a lot.

So far, everything I've looked at will only compare two files or two folders at a time. Is there any software that allows you to enter a file or folder and ask it to go through all of Windows Explorer and find all other files or folders that exactly match that one?

 

Sounds more like you want a duplicate file finder. I have used a few but never trusted them to actually delete the duplicates it found. I used the one in a program call Diskstate, http://geekcorp.com/diskstate/overview.php

 

foogoo,
I took a look at that. It shows options for multimedia, but later it gives an example of a .txt file in the pictures. It's kind of what I'm looking for, especially because it makes MD5 comparisons. Thanks for the information. If I decide to try it, I'll post back how it went. I'm going to keep looking a little longer.