How to Combine Folders on Mac OS X without losing files

    When you try to move a folder to a location where a folder of the same name exists, you cannot actually merge the two folders like you can do on Windows and Linux OS. You can replace the existing folder with the new one but you will end up losing all your files in the folder that you replaced. Even though there is a hidden merge option in the Finder that will help combining two folders, it is not as efficient as folder merging seen in Windows and Linux.

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    First let us take a look at how you can combine two folders without having to lose any data using the hidden merge option in Finder. When you try to copy a folder to a location where the folder of the same name already exists, you will get two options; “Stop” and “Replace”. Hitting “Stop” will only cancel the operation whereas hitting “Replace” will delete the old folder permanently. No option to combine the folder is shown by the Finder. 

    A hidden Merge option was introduce by Apple from the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion version. To make use of this Merge option you will have to hold down the Option key while you move your folder to a location where the problem arises. When you do this, you will get a dialog box with a Merge option in it and you can combine the two folders. Now you will have to face another problem that is if you have files of the same name on the folders. You will get another dialog having “Stop”, “Keep Newer” option and “Replace” options. “Stop” will cancel the operation, “Keep Newer” will overwrites the old files with the newer versions and “Replace all” deletes and replaces with the files of the second folder. There is nothing you can do about this problem.

    There is a second method using a terminal command called “ditto”. Way better than the Finder, ditto automatically combine folders. To make use of this open a terminal window. The ditto command is of this form:
                                                     

          ditto sourceFolder destinationFolder

For example: ditto -V ~/Documents/MyFolder ~/Desktop/MyFolder will merge the contents of MyFolder in Documents and MyFolder in Desktop. (the –V used in the command shows the entire operation. You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to).

    Third party applications like Cocaotech’s Path Finder can also be used to combine folders like in Windows and Linux. Maybe in the newer version of Mac OS X you won’t have to face this problem at all (Fingers crossed).