What is PowerMerge?

PowerMerge is one of several synchronization programs that help you keep individual files, folders, or entire volumes organized and up-to-date. PowerMerge 1.0.2 was a useful program... Version 2.0 adds important new features.

Here’s a typical scenario. Suppose I decide to work at home. I open PowerMerge on my Mac at work, locate the files I want to work on, and have PowerMerge copy them to a floppy. At home, I copy the files onto my Mac. I finish my work and return to the office Monday morning, deadline met. Now I want to replace the files on my workplace Mac with the new files. PowerMerge can look at both the floppy disk and the hard drive on my workplace Mac and can replace the old versions of files with the new versions.

That’s synchronization at its simplest. But sometimes I just can’t remember which file is my working copy and which file is a different version, an archival copy, or ready for the Trash Can. What’s a gal to do?

Each time you open PowerMerge, it presents the preview screen. From this screen you can open files you’re not sure about (without leaving PowerMerge) and take a look. If you’ve modified both desktop and floppy versions of a file, PowerMerge can do a text comparison — either automatically or by using a third-party product like DocuComp — or PowerMerge can open both copies and let you eyeball them, line by line. You can also rename files, trash superfluous copies, as well as set PowerMerge to copy new files (or tell it not to copy a particular file anymore). To help identify files, a status box at the bottom of the preview screen lists file types and creation/modification dates, and also shows how you’ve set up PowerMerge to deal with each file. You can choose to have PowerMerge display apparent duplicates at the top of the preview screen.

PowerMerge can also be used as a backup program. You can lock the working volume, making it a one-way synchronization. You can designate — in the preview screen — the working volume as a master volume; again, the synchronization is one-way, but PowerMerge makes the contents of the backup, or slave, volume mirror the master volume, so you end up with an exact duplicate of the working volume. Lastly, for maximum flexibility you can select the two volumes and tinker with the settings each time you want to back up, especially if you want to keep several versions of a backup file or retrieve files from the backup volume without a full restore.

PowerMerge is a powerful file-management tool. If you’re using 1.0, or have never tried synchronization software, check out PowerMerge 2.0. I see a lot of software, so when I not only install but also continue to use a program over a year later, I know it’s a hit.

Courteau, Suzanne. (August 1994). PowerMerge 2.0. Macworld. (pg. 87).

Download PowerMerge for Mac

Architecture

Other/Non-Mac architecture

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II