With the unix tools installed on all machines, you could have a single script on a single machine that does something like this:

my $find = "find /path -type f -print0 | xargs -0 md5"
for my $host ( @hostlist ) {
    open O ">$host.md5list" or die "$host.md5list: $!";
    print O `ssh $host '$find'`;
    close O;
}

# compare lists here, if you like, or use a separate script/tool to do
+ that
[download]

(updated the script to include "xargs -0", and to run the md5 part on the remote host, where it belongs -- note the single quotes around $find in the ssh command line.)

(another update: I should confess that I have no clue how you would actually execute a shell script on a remote windows machine... good luck with that.)

Thanks mate, this looks like it will do the job in an infinately simpler way than i was envisiging.
I really need to brush up on my *nix.

Cheers :o)

Thanks mate.......that looks like it will do the job. It's infinately simpler than my first idea! You have saved me loads of time...cheers!