Best Approach to Database for Folder Matching Program?

Question

Me: Programming teacher for 101 level programming in C, Python, Basic, assembler. A little Visual Basic. No experience with VC#.

 

My basic algorithm is something like:
1. Load entire folder contents for two folders to match.
2. Put any files with same name side-by-side.
a. If files identical, display both in green.
b. If not, display newer file in green, older file in red.
3. Any unique file gets listed on one side only with a blank shown on the other side.

If I hit the "Sync" button, all unique files get copied to the other side. All newer files write over the older files on the other side.

My options seem to be SQL database, list, or arrays. Which is fastest? What is the best way to proceed?