FW Editor: What are your plans or objectives in the near future?
Allan Braun: The next release of Directory Report will be 64bit. This will allow more than 33 million files to be scanned. The 32bit version of Directory Report has been tested scanning 7 million files.

FW Editor: How and when did you start writing the code for Directory Report? What inspired you the most? Do you plan to develop new software, or are you more focused on optimizing the current ones?
Allan Braun: I started writing Directory Report 10 years ago. Its original function was to show a file's CRC32. I do not plan on developing another product. Maintaining Directory Report takes most of my free time.

FW Editor: Can you tell us more about each individual tool available in Directory Report?
Allan Braun: Directory Report saves the user money by combining many features into one tool rather than buying them seperately 1 Directory printer Print, or save to a file, the file's attributes. Print AVI, MP3, EXE, MSI and WAV properties Save to a text, XML, HTML, CSV file Save directly to Excel Save to the clipboard 2 Find duplicate files Find duplicate files based on the same name, size, CRC and/or comparing byte by byte Directory Report uses many passes to quickly skip over non-duplicates 3 Multiple rename files Rename many files in batch instead of one at a time Rename files based on MP3 attributes 4 Multiple file change date Change the created, accessed and modified dates in batch instead of one at a time 5 Multiple file change owner Change the owner of many files in batch instead of one at a time 6 Report total files and bytes per user 7 Show the folder size Directory Report looks just like the MS-Explorer but it always shows the folder size If you open a folder, it automatically shows you the size of all the subfolders This allows you to quickly drill down to folders taking all your space 8 Compare and synchronize two directories The output will show you if corresponding files are the same, different or not there 9 In all screens, select any two files and show their differences 10 In all screens, select any two directories and compare them

FW Editor: Using Directory Report the users can create duplicate files without consuming disk space. How is that possible?
Allan Braun: You can create a hardlink. This creates another directory entry which points to the same disk contents

FW Editor: How many files can be renamed at a time using Directory Report?
Allan Braun: Unlimited

FW Editor: What are the advantages of using Directory Report over any other similar product?
Allan Braun: Directory Report uses memory very wisely. The 32bit version can scan 7 million files. Many other programs die when scanning 1 million files. Directory Report uses many heuristics to speed up the process of finding duplicate files. Other programs are way too slow in finding duplicates Directory Report looks just like the MS-Explorer. It has a tree control on the left and file attributes on the right. Programs such as Windirstat and DiskSpaceFan show treemaps which are very hard to figure out and are mostly confusing eye candy

FW Editor: How can you describe Directory Report in one single word? Why?
Allan Braun: Useful. The multiple features are integrated together making Directory Report more useful than single function utilities.

FW Editor: Now, to end our small interview, is there any message you would like to send to Directory Report users?
Allan Braun: Please send me recommendations for new features. Many features came from users asking me questions.