Log changes to disc

I’m trying to find a utility that will show me the changes made to the disc between one snapshot and the next.

For example, I would like to take a snapshot of my disc before installing an app, so that I know what files it’s dumping on my disc and what files it is modifying. Even a more basic log file would do but although I can find various utilities to sync discs, compare individual files etc, I can’t find something for this.

Does anyone know if such a utility exists? Thanks!

I suggest the application !Cat. It will produce a csv file (typed as ‘DiscCat’) of the whole contents of the disc, [with CRC of file contents] and [without file datestamps]. Run it again after the install and then compare the two csv files using something like DOS ‘fc’. Every file that is added, subtracted, or has its contents changed will be identified.

You can then keep the csv files produced and do another comparison in the future to see if anything has changed. Note that any image filing systems (such as DOSFS, SparkFS, StrongHlp etc.) will cause archive files (DOS image files, zip files, Stronghelp manuals etc.) to appear as directories if they are active when you do the scan.

I shall probably write a utility to compare two such ‘DiscCat’ files that will produce output under the headings:
Files deleted
Files whose contents are unchanged but whose file datestamp has changed
Files whose contents have changed
Files added
but I get most of what I want by using ‘fc’.

Thanks Chris, I did notice !Cat but didn’t think to use it like that, I’ll give it a try.