When comparing TotalFinder vs File Manager Pro, the Slant community recommends File Manager Pro for most people. In the question“What are the best Mac file managers?” File Manager Pro is ranked 7th while TotalFinder is ranked 21st. The most important reason people chose File Manager Pro is:
It is kind of annoying to have tons of movies on the NAS, but having recognizable icons for the movies in a file manager can really help.
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Pros
Pro Adds dual panes to the Mac finder
A great feature of TotalFinder is the ability to have dual panes. This is really handy for moving files around.
Pro Adds cut/paste context menu functionality to Finder
You can cut and paste with just the mouse.
Pro Copy path to file or directory feature
You can copy the path to a directory or file using the context menu in Finder, options include POSIX Path, URL, Windows Path, UNC Path, HFS Path, and Terminal Path.
Pro Movie poster as file icons
It is kind of annoying to have tons of movies on the NAS, but having recognizable icons for the movies in a file manager can really help.
Pro Disk overview on click
You can know what's happening on your drive by clicking on a particular segment.
Pro Built in text editor
Sometimes a simple text file is just enough, being to open a text editor therefore can come in very handy. Be it to view, edit or generate a text file.
Cons
Con Requires special installation procedure in El Capitan and later due to "System Integrity Protection"
"System Integrity Protection" (also know as "Rootless") is a feature introduced in El Capitan that, among other things, inhibits applications to inject code on system apps (TotalFinder injects code into Finder).
For TotalFinder to work properly one must disable SIP temporarly to install. After installation a user can turn SIP back on without issue.
Instructions are detailed here.