How to find identical folders. Find and remove duplicate files

Hello, friends! In this article we will figure out how to implement find duplicate files on our computers. I admit, I don’t have such a problem. Usually, my computer has three partitions. The first system partition is from 50 to 100 GB, the second is for documents from 100 to 200 GB, and the third partition is for everything else. I have one folder for photos, one for music, and so on. Everything is transparent. The parents' computer is another matter. The hard drive is divided into three parts there. On the 3rd section there are two or three folders with photos + in each folder there are a bunch of subfolders. A photo folder was also subsequently formed on drive D. It’s hard to go through everything manually, and here programs for finding duplicate files will help us.

I don’t want to install a separate program for some function since there are many functions (for example, defragmentation or the same search for the same files). Accordingly, many programs will have to be installed on the computer. My position is as follows. The less you install, the more reliable and stable your computer works.

There are solutions. Find a program that is practically necessary for computer maintenance (that is, it will most likely be installed) and that would be able to search for duplicate files. It didn't take long to search. This is the already familiar and proven CCleaner from Piriform. Starting from version 4, CCleaner added this function and below we will see how it works.

Download the program from the official website

We install.

When you launch it for the first time, the window below will appear. If you select Yes, then when cleaning the computer by default, authorization on the above mail services may not be lost. Click Yes

Go to the Service tab on the left

Click on the Search Files button

To search for identical files, all you have to do is specify the necessary settings

There are not many settings and they are divided into three groups:

  • Coincidence
  • Pass
  • Where to look and places to exclude

Let's look at each group in more detail.

Coincidence

You can search for duplicate files by Name, Size, and Modified Date. You can also combine these criteria by checking more than one box. When organizing photos on my parents' computer, the first thing I do is search for a match by Name. Most likely there will be a bunch of files saved in different places. Then, it will be interesting to search for a match by Size. Since the photo can be renamed, but the size should not change.

How to effectively use the search for duplicates with the Changed checkbox enabled has not yet occurred to me. If you have options, please write in the comments. Perhaps if you took and added something to the photo without changing the name. But, in this case, with great probability, the size will change.

Pass

Which files should be skipped when searching for duplicates. The following options are possible here:

  • Bytes with size 0
  • Read-only files
  • Size less than x MB
  • System files
  • Hidden files

Where to look and places to exclude

Here, using the Add button on the Inclusions tab, you specify where to look for duplicate files. On the Exceptions tab, add places on your hard drive, flash drive, or external hard drive where you do not want to search.

In principle, everything is simple. To reset the settings, press the corresponding button.

When the filter is configured, click Find.

Sorting duplicate file search results

The result is an easy-to-view table with search results. Moreover, the table is formed immediately when any duplicate is detected.

Suspected duplicates are separated among themselves. The only thing I would like to see in this table is sorting by clicking on a column.

When you right-click on a file, a context menu appears that allows you to conveniently sort the search results. This is especially true if there are a lot of results.

The Exclude item allows you to remove all files from the folder you select. For example C:\Program Files. The Limit item will leave only files from the folder you select in the search results. The Select duplicates option allows you to select all files located in the folder you select. The remaining points seem to be clear.

The Open Folder option is very useful. Using it, you can quickly go in and see where the file is located and whether there are any identical files there that were not included in the results table or were eliminated by sorting.

All that remains is to figure out which of the files should be left and the rest deleted using the button at the bottom right.

Conclusion

This is how I’m going to look for duplicate files on my and other computers using good old CCleaner. For my purposes, the program's functionality is sufficient. If you need more, then DupKiller is worth a look. This is a free program, you can read about it and download it from the official website http://dupkiller.com/index_en.html. DupKiller has much broader capabilities to customize the search. It also includes viewing graphic files and listening to audio. An interesting feature is the ability to specify not an exact match of files, but up to a certain level (percentage).

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Carrying out effective general cleaning of your computer's disk space, along with using automatic Windows cleaning programs, also requires manual work to remove unnecessary files and duplicate files. To track unnecessary files, special programs are designed - disk space analyzers; they help filter the contents of computer disks according to certain criteria (in particular, by weight) so that the user can decide whether to delete files or leave them. There is also special software to search for duplicate files - either in the form of separate programs or small utilities, or as part of comprehensive software for cleaning and optimizing Windows. Below we will look at five programs for finding duplicate files. The top five included completely free programs with support for the Russian language.

When searching for duplicate files on the system drive C, it is better to indicate not the entire partition, but only individual folders where user files are stored. Duplicates found in Windows working folders cannot be deleted. If you find some heavy folders or files with unfamiliar names on your C drive, it is recommended that you get help about them on the Internet.

1.AllDup

AllDup is equipped with many different options for fine-tuning the search for duplicate files. Customizable options include choosing a comparison method, search criteria, priority for checking duplicates, using exclusion filters, including the contents of archived files, etc. It is even possible to change design themes and individual interface settings. The program is good, however, with a somewhat ill-thought-out interface. On its toolbar, all tabs - be it basic operations or additional functions - are listed as equivalent. And to help the user who launched AllDup for the first time master the specifics of the program, its creators equipped the interface with a floating widget in the form of a short guide, which step should be taken. In the “Source Folders” tab, you specify the search area - disk partitions, connected devices, or individual user folders on the system drive C.

Next, in the “Search Method” tab, set the search criteria. Here you can specify the search for duplicates and add extension, size, content, etc. to the preset search criteria for file names.

Duplicate search results can be sorted by size, path, file modification date, etc. Detected files can be deleted, their location can be opened in Windows Explorer, and other actions provided by the program can be applied.

To return to analyzing AllDup's duplicate search results at a later time without waiting for the scan to complete, the current results can be saved to a program file format or exported to TXT and CSV files.

The AllDup program has a portable version that does not require installation on the system.

2. Duplicate Cleaner

Another functional program for a highly customizable search for duplicate files is Duplicate Cleaner. The Duplicate Cleaner program exists in two editions - paid Pro and free Free. Although the latter is limited by the unavailability of some functions, its capabilities will be sufficient to effectively search for duplicates. Duplicate Cleaner Free allows you to set search criteria by file name, content, size, and creation date. Additional search criteria are provided for audio file data, as well as filtering by content types and file extensions. All these points are configured in the first tab of the program “Search Criteria”.

In the second tab of the program – “Scan path” – the search area is selected.

In the search results window, duplicates can be sorted, deleted, their location can be opened in Explorer, and other program options can be applied to them.

Duplicate Cleaner search results can be exported to a CSV tabular data format file. Data export is carried out both for the entire list of duplicates and for only files marked by the user. Duplicate Cleaner's advantages include a user-friendly interface and well-thought-out organization.

3. DupeGuru

DupeGuru is the simplest duplicate file search engine for those who do not have the time or desire to master all the intricacies of functional, highly specialized programs such as those discussed above. At the bottom of the small program window, a search area is selected and scanning starts.

Duplicate search results can be sorted by location path and file size. The context menu of DupeGuru search results contains only the operations necessary to work with found duplicates.

Search results are saved to a program file or exported to HTML.

DupeGuru is a cross-platform program, but only its older versions are adapted for Windows. The program installer for Windows 7 offered on the official website is also suitable for system versions 8.1 and 10.

4. CCleaner

At one of the stages of its improvement, the most popular cleaner for Windows, CCleaner, received a function to search for duplicate files. You can use this function in the “Service” section. To search for duplicates, search criteria are available by name, creation date, file contents, and file size.

Like the previous review participant, the CCleaner program in the duplicate search results environment is not particularly rich in functionality, but basic operations are present. This, in particular, sorts search results and deletes files.

5. Glary Utilities 5

A comprehensive program for cleaning and optimizing Windows, Glary Utilities 5 includes a utility for finding duplicate files. The same utility, if desired, can be downloaded separately from the official website of the program if the full power of the software package is not required.

The duplicate finder included in Glary Utilities 5 is simple, but convenient and customizable. You can start scanning duplicates immediately by selecting only the search area - disk partitions, removable devices or individual folders. You can further refine your search by clicking the “Options” button.

The options configure the criteria for searching for duplicates - by name, by size, by time of file creation. In some cases of thorough cleaning of disk space, you can change the preset selection of searching only among common file types to scanning all types.

The search results provide only the necessary operations for working with duplicates, in particular, deleting and opening the placement path in Windows Explorer.

For the convenience of the user, Glary Utilities 5 catalogs found duplicates by content type - documents, pictures, videos, programs, etc. For each type, the total weight of found files is displayed.

Good day.

Statistics are an inexorable thing - many users sometimes have dozens of copies of the same file (for example, a picture or a music track) on their hard drives. Each of these copies, of course, takes up space on the hard drive. And if your disk is already “filled” to capacity, then there can be quite a lot of such copies!

Cleaning duplicate files manually is not a rewarding thing, which is why I want to collect in this article programs for finding and removing duplicate files (even those that differ in both file format and size from each other - and this is a rather difficult task !). So…

List of programs for finding duplicates

1. Universal (for any files)

They search for identical files by their size (checksums).

By universal programs, I mean those that are suitable for searching and deleting duplicates of any type of file: music, movies, pictures, etc. (below in the article, “its own” more precise utilities will be given for each type). Most of them all work according to the same type: they simply compare file sizes (and their checksum), if among all the files there are identical ones in this characteristic - they show you!

Those. thanks to them, you can quickly find complete copies (i.e. one to one) of files on the disk. By the way, I’ll also note that these utilities work faster than those that are specialized for a specific type of file (for example, image search).

DupKiller

I put this program in first place for a number of reasons:

  • supports simply a huge number of different formats in which it can search;
  • high speed;
  • free and with Russian language support;
  • very flexible settings for searching for duplicates (search by name, size, type, date, content (limited)).

Duplicate Finder

This utility, in addition to searching for copies, also sorts them as you please (which is very convenient when there are an incredible number of copies!). Also, add byte-by-byte comparison, checksum verification, and deletion of zero-sized files (and empty folders too) to the search capabilities. In general, this program does a pretty good job of finding duplicates (both quickly and efficiently!).

Those users who are new to English will feel a little uncomfortable: Russian is not in the program (maybe it will be added later).

Glary Utilities

In general, this is not one utility, but a whole collection: it will help you delete “junk” files, set optimal settings in Windows, defragment and clean your hard drive, etc. Including this collection there is a utility for searching for duplicates. It works relatively well, which is why I will recommend this collection (as one of the most convenient and universal - as they say, for all occasions!) once again on the pages of the site.

2. Programs for finding duplicate music

These utilities will be useful to all music lovers who have a decent collection of music accumulated on their disk. I’m picturing a fairly typical situation: you download various collections of music (the 100 best songs of October, November, etc.), some of the compositions are repeated in them. It is not surprising that, having accumulated 100 GB of music (for example), 10-20 GB can be copies. Moreover, if the size of these files in different collections were the same, then they could be deleted by the first category of programs (see above in the article), but since this is not the case, these duplicates cannot be found by anyone except your “hearing” And special utilities (which are presented below).

Music Duplicate Remover

The result of the utility.

This program differs from others, first of all, in its fast search. It searches for duplicate tracks by their ID3 tags and sound. Those. she will listen to the composition for you, remember it, and then compare it with others (thus doing a huge amount of work!).

The screenshot above shows the result of her work. She will present her found copies to you in the form of a small tablet, in which a percentage similarity figure will be assigned to each track. In general, quite convenient!

A

Found duplicate MP3 files...

This utility is similar to the one above, but it has one undoubted advantage: the presence of a convenient wizard who will guide you step by step! Those. a person who launches this program for the first time will easily figure out where to click and what to do.

For example, in my 5000 tracks in a couple of hours, I managed to find and delete several hundred copies. An example of how the utility works is shown in the screenshot above.

3. To search for copies of pictures, images

If you analyze the popularity of certain files, then the pictures will probably not lag behind the music (and for some users they will surpass them!). It’s hard to imagine working on a PC (and other devices) without pictures! But finding pictures with the same image on them is quite difficult (and time-consuming). And, I must admit, there are relatively few programs of this kind...

ImageDupeless

A relatively small utility with fairly good performance in finding and eliminating duplicate images. The program scans all the images in the folder and then compares them with each other. As a result, you will see a list of pictures that are similar to each other and you will be able to make a conclusion about which one to keep and which to delete. It is very useful, sometimes, to thin out your photo archives.

ImageDupeless example

By the way, here is a small example of a personal test:

  • experimental files: 8997 files in 95 directories, 785MB (archive of pictures on a flash drive (USB 2.0) - gif and jpg formats)
  • gallery occupied: 71.4MB
  • creation time: 26 min. 54 sec.
  • time for comparison and output of results: 6 min. 31 sec.
  • result: 961 similar images in 219 groups.

Image Comparer

I have already mentioned this program on the pages of the site. It is also a small program, but with fairly good image scanning algorithms. There is a step-by-step wizard that starts when you first open the utility, which will guide you through all the “thorns” of first setting up the program to search for duplicates.

By the way, just below is a screenshot of the utility’s operation: in the reports you can view even small details, where the pictures are slightly different. In general, it’s convenient!

4. To search for duplicates of films, videos

Well, the last popular file type that I would like to dwell on is video (films, videos, etc.). If once before, having a 30-50 GB disk, I knew in which folder where and what movie takes up how much (and they were all at odds), then, for example, now (when disks became 2000-3000 GB or more) - they often occur the same videos and films, but in different quality (which can take up quite a lot of space on your hard drive).

Most users (yes, in general, me too 🙂) don’t need this state of affairs: it just takes up space on the hard drive. Thanks to a couple of utilities below, you can clear your disk of identical videos...

Hello Dear Friend.

When working with files and documents, we often make backup copies of important data. In one folder in another in a third... And then we even forget how many copies of this or that file we made and where on the disk they are stored.

As a result, free disk space is eaten up by unnecessary copies of files and folders. How can you find duplicate files on all your drives and delete them?

Everything is very simple, we will use a small free utility with support for the Russian language - Soft4Boost Dup File Finder.

You can download the program here:

After installing the program, the main window will open:

If we check the box next to “Ignore file names”, then the search will not use matching file names, the search will be based on the internal contents of the file. This is very important, because identical files can have different names. Fortunately, all the tips in the program are in Russian.

Just below you can select the type of files to search for duplicates.

Select the required drives or individual folders (by clicking on the plus signs). Then you need to click on the folder image with the right arrow to add the desired list of folders for scanning by the program.

In this window, select the method for deleting files. The first option is added to the trash can with the option of recovery. Please remember that the basket size is limited. To increase the size of the recycle bin, go to the properties of the recycle bin icon on the desktop and set the size in megabytes.

You can also choose the permanent option, but I recommend deleting to the trash first. If something goes wrong, you can always restore the file.

Click the “Search” button.

After the scanning is completed, a window with duplicate files found will open in front of you.

Select the checkboxes for the files that you want to delete and click the button at the top of the “Fix problems” window; the selected duplicates will be deleted.

In this simple way you can get rid of numerous duplicate files on your disks.

Among the disadvantages of the program, I would note the inability to view found files by double-clicking the mouse. It would be very convenient to immediately view the file and remember what kind of file it is.

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What is not stored on the hard drive! Copies and copies of copies, created just in case, gradually disperse into different folders, and now we forget about their existence. If you decide to restore order and free up space by deleting unnecessary duplicate files, special utilities forWindows(most of these programs are free).

DuplicateRemoverFree

The program has a fairly simple interface, but provides many features. Duplicate Remover Free allows you to search for files with the same size and name, as well as duplicate images and duplicate documents. You can scan an entire disk partition for duplicates or exclude individual directories from the search (for example, directories with backup copies or system folders). Also, searching for identical sound files and video recordings can be done using file tags (which can be useful, for example, when updating your home music library).

DuplicateFileFinder

Duplicate File Finder from Auslogics has similar functionality. The utility can find duplicate files of all types. In addition, it can only search for copies of audio files, images or videos - thus, system files are guaranteed to remain safe.

AllDup

AllDup is another program that also cannot be ignored. This powerful, free Windows utility allows you to search for duplicate files based on several parameters: same name, same size, duplicate creation time, etc. The program checks checksums for supposedly identical files (you can select the calculation algorithm in the settings), so the probability of deleting different files of the same size is zero. The utility can also search for similar images in JPG, PNG, etc. formats. This can be useful when deleting copies from a home photo archive (for example, duplicates of the same photograph - with and without a frame). AllDup is distributed both as a classic installer and as a portable version that does not require installation.

DupeGuru

This utility can be recommended to fans of cross-platform solutions. The program is released in the form of packages for Ubuntu and Mac OS X (there is an unofficial version for Windows 7, which is fully functional in later versions of the OS). Using it is quite simple: select the directory in which we are looking for copies of files and start scanning. After some time, the program will find duplicate files and you can delete them.

Windows"Disk Cleanup"

Don't forget about the standard Windows program, which will help free up some space. This utility does not search for duplicate files, but it can remove some outdated and unnecessary information from the system.

1. To launch it, press the Win+R key combination, write cleanmgr.exe in the input field and click on the OK button.

2. Select the disk that we want to clean.

3. Check the boxes next to the required items (you can almost always safely delete temporary files, sketches, and DirectX texture builder cache) and click OK.

4. After a few seconds (or a couple of minutes, depending on the performance of the computer and the number of files), unnecessary information will be deleted.

In modern versions of Windows, you can use other built-in system tools. For example, you can launch PowerShell, go to the directory you need with the cd command and execute the following script:

ls *.* -recurse | get-filehash | group -property hash | where ( $_.count -gt 1 ) | % ( $_.group | select -skip 1 ) | ls

After some time, PowerShell will display a list of files of the same size. If you replace the last ls command with del, the files will be deleted immediately (but it is better to look through the list and delete everything unnecessary manually, so as not to accidentally destroy useful information).

However, I would like to remind you that it is extremely undesirable to manually delete duplicate files from the system directories of drive C (Program Files, Program Files (x86), Windows, etc.). The result of such “cleaning” of the disk may be the inoperability of the operating system. The same applies to deleting files from the /etc, /bin, /usr directories on UNIX-like systems. Particular care should be taken when deleting files using administrator (or root) rights. And, of course, don’t forget about backups - there is always a small chance of accidentally deleting the necessary information, so it’s better to be on the safe side.