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Software to find duplicate files

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Now I've worked through most of my job list, I'm getting to the PITA part of the list - sorting the hard drives out that I have.

Now I know I have a stack of duplicates scattered all over the place. Ideally speaking I want to run through them & get rid so I have only one lot - which will then be backed up. Not about 10 lots of one folder, 5 lots of another folder and only 1 lot of another with no backup of that one.

Basically get organised.

Now I've just tried out Auslogics as it's free & all went well. It picked up from one folder a few GB of files worth of duplicates - but that's precisely what they were. EXACT copies.

Now I know I also have a ton of files scattered across various folders where the filenames will be almost identical with one exception - one file will say -1 at the end of it or 01 or whatever because I've gone & downloaded the same file twice. The rest of the filename  is the same, the file size is the same, if it's a video then the video length will be the same, it's just that one will have a -1 at the end of the file name.

Is there such a software that will detect this so I can get rid of all these -1 files?
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Comments

  • Belenus
    Belenus Posts: 2,753 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 23 September 2022 at 5:45PM
    I use AntiTwin.

    http://www.joerg-rosenthal.com/en/antitwin/

    There are probably other options that do much the same.
    A man walked into a car showroom.
    He said to the salesman, “My wife would like to talk to you about the Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    Salesman said, “We haven't got a Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    The man replied, “You have now mate".
  • B0bbyEwing
    B0bbyEwing Posts: 1,556 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Belenus said:
    I use AntiTwin.

    http://www.joerg-rosenthal.com/en/antitwin/

    There are probably other options that do much the same.
    Sorry to repeat but I just want to double check in case you skim read & think I just want a basic duplicator (don't worry, I skim read all the time & often miss stuff so I'm not accusing you or anything)....

    That software will detect 2 files where they're mostly the same but not quite 100% the same will it?

    Example...

    photoofmycat.jpg
    photoofmycat-1.jpg

    dogvideo.mp4
    dogvideo-1.mp4

    It would flag that would it?
  • The amazing Directory Opus has a duplicate file finder. It's expensive but IMHO worth it.
    Before I bought Dopus I used Duplicate File Finder (great name!) by Rashid Hoda which was free and excellent, but his website doesn't seem to exist anymore and I don't know if any of the sites that claim to have the last installer are trustworthy.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    Now I've worked through most of my job list, I'm getting to the PITA part of the list - sorting the hard drives out that I have.

    Now I know I have a stack of duplicates scattered all over the place. Ideally speaking I want to run through them & get rid so I have only one lot - which will then be backed up. Not about 10 lots of one folder, 5 lots of another folder and only 1 lot of another with no backup of that one.

    Basically get organised.

    Now I've just tried out Auslogics as it's free & all went well. It picked up from one folder a few GB of files worth of duplicates - but that's precisely what they were. EXACT copies.

    Now I know I also have a ton of files scattered across various folders where the filenames will be almost identical with one exception - one file will say -1 at the end of it or 01 or whatever because I've gone & downloaded the same file twice. The rest of the filename  is the same, the file size is the same, if it's a video then the video length will be the same, it's just that one will have a -1 at the end of the file name.

    Is there such a software that will detect this so I can get rid of all these -1 files?
    Back up before you start using tools to delete stuff.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
    Fifth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 23 September 2022 at 8:31PM
    Auslogics already does what you need:



    See their help page for info

    https://www.auslogics.com/en/support/product/duplicate-file-finder/
  • If a file is named **Charlie** you cannot duplicate it as you can only use a file name once - you can also save the same data under other names - I do that often when compiling manuals. The original data is under *A* but the copy might be *G* in the new file when it will have a Personalised Header.applied.

    Of course if you have several backups then each may contain the same file.


  • B0bbyEwing
    B0bbyEwing Posts: 1,556 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 9 May 2024 at 12:42PM
    getmore4less said:
    Back up before you start using tools to delete stuff.
    To be totally honest with you, the only reason I mentioned backing up in the OP was to try and prevent the thread getting derailed in to a backing up thread as I thought if I didn't at least mention it, that's where the replies would end up ;) 

    Auslogics already does what you need:



    See their help page for info

    https://www.auslogics.com/en/support/product/duplicate-file-finder/
    Ahh that's helpful then :)
    I didn't think it did it because I ran it in a huge folder which I know will have examples of what I'm talking about & it didn't flag a single one.
    That'll be why then. I'll try it out.
  • B0bbyEwing
    B0bbyEwing Posts: 1,556 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    Just to confirm - ran a dummy test, checked ignore name/date & it seemed to work in the test. 
    Well, it didn't seem to work, it did work.

    I hadn't done that originally. If you think along the lines of how wizards work, I went that route before posting this thread & it did what it did well. I wasn't aware you could tailor the software with more specifics.

    Once you pointed that out & I found the feature to do it - it worked. 

    So, hopefully this should actually free up a LOT of space, and that aside, just organising it better irrespective of the space freed up.
  • Belenus
    Belenus Posts: 2,753 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Belenus said:
    I use AntiTwin.

    http://www.joerg-rosenthal.com/en/antitwin/

    There are probably other options that do much the same.
    Sorry to repeat but I just want to double check in case you skim read & think I just want a basic duplicator (don't worry, I skim read all the time & often miss stuff so I'm not accusing you or anything)....

    That software will detect 2 files where they're mostly the same but not quite 100% the same will it?

    Example...

    photoofmycat.jpg
    photoofmycat-1.jpg

    dogvideo.mp4
    dogvideo-1.mp4

    It would flag that would it?
    Yes. It has a number of options. 

    See this image.


    A man walked into a car showroom.
    He said to the salesman, “My wife would like to talk to you about the Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    Salesman said, “We haven't got a Volkswagen Golf in the showroom window.”
    The man replied, “You have now mate".
  • Hi,
    a quick google would've found you THIS, might be helpful.
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