Touvaly for Mac

Touvaly is a novel app for making "pseudo" copies of files, folders, CDs and volumes, preserving folder structure. A pseudo copy of a file is an empty file with all the same attributes as the original file, such as creation date, modification date, type, creator, and name. You can use Touvaly to create virtual catalogs of large collections of files, and these catalogs will have a very small footprint compared to the original collection. You can search or browse the pseudo file catalogues by their "outer" file attributes, just as though they were the real files. Select the preference option to make pseudo files "openable" using Touvaly and when you double click them the actual file will be opened in the proper application.

Using the app is very easy:

Launch the app and the status window displays. Then simply drag a folder, CD or volume on top of the Touvaly application icon in the Finder or into the status window. Touvaly then prompts you to navigate to the destination of the pseudo copy (unless you set a destination in Preferences.) After you choose the destination Touvaly immediately begins to traverse the folder creating pseudo copies of all the files it finds inside it, preserving folder structure.

Preference options available:

• Only copy plain folders. Only copy plain folders and do not copy files, packages, applications, etc.
• Don't copy applications. Don't copy applications, but do copy files, folders and other packages (bundles, plugin's, frameworks, etc.)
• Make pseudo files openable. Select this option to have Touvaly open the original file when you double click the pseudo file (or drop it on Touvaly.)
• Copy resource fork. Preserve the resource fork of the file (useful for preserving custom icons.) Note that this will increase the size of the pseudo copy.
• Size threshold. Touvaly will not create pseudo copies of files whose size in bytes is less than this value. A real copy of the file will be made instead. Set to 0 or leave blank to turn this feature off.
• Copy Finder comments. Copy all file and folder comments.
• Append original file size to the Finder comment. Append the original file size, in bytes, to the comment of the pseudo file.
• Quit when done. Touvaly will quit itself automatically when the copy is complete.
• Log to console. Touvaly will log entries to a console log file detailing its progress.
• Verbose. Log more details than plain console logging.
• Copy to. Set a default destination for the copy.

How to use: drag a folder, CD or volume on top of the Touvaly application icon in the Finder or the main window. Touvaly then prompts you to navigate to the destination of the pseudo copy. After you choose the destination Touvaly immediately begins to traverse the folder creating pseudo copies of all the files it finds.

Various options are available using the Preferences window. For example, Touvaly can optionally record the original file size in bytes in the files comment or preserve custom icons.