duplicate files tool for finding and deletein them - ?

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ronpl
Deinonychus
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04 Jan 2013, 11:44 am

do you have an idea about which one is good?

i don't want to download stuff that i don't know much about what they contain

tnxvm



answeraspergers
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04 Jan 2013, 4:46 pm

i just found a duplicate file finder app

tho thats for duplicates on your drive not finding what a file really is before you download it



ronpl
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05 Jan 2013, 6:47 am

i'm using windows 8



Kenjuudo
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05 Jan 2013, 8:56 am

Total Commander contains a duplicate file search tool. Amongst a plethora of other useful tools.


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ronpl
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05 Jan 2013, 11:19 am

cool
i remember this piece of software
i even remember it was from germany
is it you making it?



ronpl
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05 Jan 2013, 11:34 am

well
i've tried to understand the duplicates search but it was to complicated to understand what to delete

any other option (a different program)?



Cornflake
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05 Jan 2013, 12:17 pm

You're looking for a program which will decide for itself what files to delete - it will somehow know what ones you don't want? :?
I think that's going to end in tears quite quickly...

At some point after being shown a list of duplicate files, you are going to have to look though them and decide what to keep.
Software can't do that for you.
True, you could just tell it that having found duplicate files, it should delete them without comment - but that's probably not a very good idea unless you're certain the duplicates can be safely thrown away.


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ronpl
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05 Jan 2013, 12:19 pm

no
i want a program that will tell me which ones i can delete

TC is just outputting a list that i don't know what to do with and the list looks too complicated



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05 Jan 2013, 12:23 pm

ronpl wrote:
i want a program that will tell me which ones i can delete
How would it know?
All it can do is show you a list.


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TallyMan
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05 Jan 2013, 12:32 pm

I wrote my own app for Windows to do this task. Depending on what types of files you are deduping you can get it to react in various ways upon finding a file with the same name. e.g. if the files are identical (byte for byte) just delete the most recent version. If files with duplicate names are found but different contents it gets more complicated. Do you want to keep both files, keep the most recently modified, keep the largest file, if image files display both side by side so you can chose manually. You can also get duplicated files (by content) but with different file names or in different folders - what criteria do you want to apply there regarding which one to keep. There is a lot involved in deduping files. Any tool you download to perform this task is going to have lots of options... and if it doesn't don't touch it as no tool can know which files you really want to delete.

I've seen similar problems with registry cleaning tools. Once in a while I get a support call from someone who's used CCleaner on their registry and it has destroyed their software licences. Third party software trying to decide what is used and not used by other software is essentially a bad/dangerous idea.


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ronpl
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06 Jan 2013, 2:40 pm

can anyone give me a link but not to TC?



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06 Jan 2013, 4:14 pm

Really? You want someone to use Google for you? 8O
Asking Google to search using the string find duplicate files returns several links to other programs. Would one of those be Ok?


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ronpl
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06 Jan 2013, 4:15 pm

Ive tried that but did not knew how not to get viruses



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06 Jan 2013, 4:38 pm

I guess the best you can do is to go for those programs attracting the best reviews and only download them from the primary source - but you may end up being pointed at Total Commander again. :lol:

It does look pretty comprehensive though and I'm sure that the simplest cases like "I don't care - just delete the duplicate files" is easily achievable because it's so basic a request.
Take those options and look through them one at a time - there are probably several you can disable, even if just temporarily for now while you learn how to use it (ignore comparing images, for example) - which will help make the list of options you might want to consider even smaller and easier to get to grips with.


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ronpl
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15 Jan 2013, 8:59 am

Why - how can anyone here tell?
You're showing a picture of one icon with no context or explanation.


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