Search for duplicate folders on your computer. The best programs to find duplicate files

Good day!

I think that many users have dozens (or even hundreds) of gigabytes of pictures, wallpapers, videos, music, and other files on their disk. And I should note that in different directories (in wallpaper collections, for example) there can be quite a lot of copies (doubles). Often, after removing them, it is possible to free up several gigabytes of space on the HDD!

To search for duplicates, there are special programs and utilities. They are ways to scan your HDD(i) and present you with all the same. Further, as a rule, you will only have to tick off what to delete - and voila, the place is cleared!

In this article, I will give a few of these "cleaners" that will help you free up space on your hard drive. So...

Addition!

Top 14 programs for finding duplicates (same files)

Universal (search for any files)

Universal programs for finding duplicates are suitable for working with any files: documents, photos, videos, etc. As a rule, their work is based on finding files of the same size and checksum. Those. these programs look for exact copies that match 100%!

Due to this, their speed of work is quite high. However, they cannot find, for example, almost identical pictures that are saved in different formats and different resolutions. To do this, you need to use special The software I recommend below...

computer accelerator

This utility with a speaking name from Russian developers. In general, it is designed to remove junk files, fix errors in the registry, control startup status, etc., but there are special tools in its tools. a module that allows you to find duplicate files. See screenshot below.

So, after running this function, you will be prompted to specify the folders (which will be analyzed), and click the search button. After a while, the program will present you with all the duplicates found - all that remains is to remove the "excess".

For example, I analyzed my Music folder and found out that I have 311 mp3 takes of 2.65 GB. Moreover, this folder is not so big for me. The result is in the screenshot below.

Of course, if you have a lot of collections on the disk (pictures, music, etc.) - the amount of free space can be much larger!

Note : free version The program works in full mode for 5 days.

CCleaner

One of the most famous PC cleaning utilities. However, not many users know that it has a function to search for duplicates in its arsenal (moreover, a very good function!).

To open this option: you need to download latest version programs in the menu "Service" select "Search for duplicates" , specify the settings and click the button "To find" .

I note that the search is fast enough, you can filter files by their size, name date. You can also manually specify specific drives (folders) to be searched. In general, quite convenient!

Glary Utilities (Glary Duplicate Cleaner)

Glary Utilities is an excellent set of utilities for all occasions. Contains all the most necessary tools for cleaning, maintaining and optimizing Windows. I have repeatedly recommended this complex on the pages of my blog ...

There is one small utility in its firmware arsenal Glary Duplicate Cleaner. It allows you to quickly find duplicates of a wide variety of file formats: TXT, RAR, ZIP, MP3, WAV, AVI, JPG, BMP, etc. (in general, all the most popular ones are definitely there, see the screen below).

Configuring Scan Options / Glary Duplicate Cleaner

There is also a small filter with search criteria: by name, size, time. There is an option to skip files of a certain size (for example, you can skip files that weigh less than 100 KB).

Note that the package Glary Utilities free, and fully translated into Russian. In general, rating 5 on a 5 point scale!

AllDup

This is a small free utility that will scan all your drives very quickly and remove all duplicate files. The developers note that their search algorithm is 10-30% faster than other similar products.

Personally, I did not check the speed, but I would note the following: the utility works in all Windows 2000, XP, 7, 8, 10 (this is some kind of advantage!).

After the search, the AllDup utility will present you with the results: you can familiarize yourself with each duplicate and delete it directly from the program interface. Conveniently!

Duplicate File Finder

A free tool for cleaning disks from duplicate files. The program compares files on the specified disk (directory) byte by byte. There are standard filters: file extension, name, creation date, and size.

The search result (an example is shown in the screenshot above) can either be viewed in the program itself (and make a decision), or exported to HTML, CSV and TXT files. By the way, I would note that the program has a fairly convenient viewer that allows you to view a picture, text, video.

Total Commander

This famous Commander (a good replacement for Explorer) also has a file search function. To open it - click on the "magnifying glass" icon in the top menu of the program (see the screen above).

Of course, there are not so many opportunities here, but nevertheless ...

To search for photos, pictures, graphics

These programs can search not only by the size (checksum) of the file, but also by the content of the picture. For example, you have several identical desktop wallpapers located in two different folders (but these pictures have different sizes and resolutions).

So, the programs above would not have found these duplicates, because they "can't" appreciate what is shown in the pictures. In this case, you must use the special tools (about them below) ...

Image Comparer

This is a very small utility that specializes in finding similar images. I note that it compares not just the size, but what is shown in the picture (see the screen above). All popular image and photo formats are supported: RAW, JPEG, J2K, BMP, GIF, PNG, TIFF, TGA, etc.

After the search, you will see a list of duplicates: by going through it, you can view all copies and delete those that you do not need. What is interesting: the program shows you the percentage of similarity of certain pictures (the difference between them is highlighted when viewed with squares).

Of the minuses: if you specify a large disk (several terabytes) - the program will take a very long time to scan. I recommend going through the pictures with coarser tools before using it. (for example, CCleaner, AllDup, etc., see above).

Dupe Guru Picture Edition

A very simple utility that is designed to quickly search for identical pictures. I note that similar pictures will be found even if they have a different format (for example, JPG and Tiff as in the screenshot above).

Of the benefits of the utility:

• visual comparison of pictures;
• the program is completely free;
• simple interface, made in the style of minimalism;
• Russian language support;
• the ability to export search results;
• support for all the most popular Windows versions XP, 7, 8, 10.

ImageDupeless

Program ImageDupeless allows you to find duplicate images regardless of the size of the files, their format, resolution, etc. characteristics (it will "look" for you all the pictures and find similar ones).

The program also has a very interesting function of recording images on CDs (creating original CD galleries).

Note: to save time, compare newly arriving pictures with an existing gallery (this way you will save a lot of time, because a full scan of all the pictures on the disk is much longer than already searching in the created gallery).

Comparison result: Please note that the resolution and size of the pictures are different!

Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder

The program uses advanced algorithms to compare graphic images available in pictures and photographs. Thanks to this, it is possible to find similar and identical pictures, even if they have a different format (GIF, PNG, JPG, etc.) and resolution.

I note that the user has the option to specify a sign of similarity (i.e. you can set, say, to find only those pictures that are 95% similar to each other).

After the search: you can view all found duplicates and manually delete everything you don't need. By the way, the program places 2 identical images next to each other (see the example above) so that you can visually see the difference. Very convenient!

To search for audio and video files

Audio Comparer (Electronic ear)

Audio Comparer - the program will listen to almost 300 tracks in 10 minutes.

Audio Comparer is not as simple an application for finding duplicates among music files (MP3, MP2, MP1, WMA, AIF, WAV, WavPack, FLAC, APE, AAC and OGG) as it might seem at first glance... It " listens" to music and compares the tracks with each other according to a special algorithm: the comparison is based on the audio track, and not on the size or file name (as is done in many other analogues).

Thanks to this, the same tracks can be found even if they are saved in different formats. Audio Comparer is a kind of electronic ear that can listen to all your music very quickly.

I note that there are quite a few such programs, so each deserves special attention! I recommend to get acquainted!

Dupe Guru Music Edition

A very interesting dupeGuru Music Edition program for finding the same and similar music tracks. There are search filters available: by bitrate, information in tags, duration, size, etc.

All the most popular formats are supported: MP3, WMA, AAC, WMA, OGG, FLAC. After the search, the found duplicates can either be deleted or transferred to other directories.

I would also note the presence of the Russian language and support for modern OS Windows 7, 8, 10 (including 64 bits).

Music Duplicate Remover

Music Duplicate Remover - utility allows you to easily and quickly find copies of audio files located in different folders (disks) and saved in different formats. Thanks to the "electronic ear" technology, it is able to listen to all your songs on the disk, analyze them and provide you with a report with all similar tracks (an example of such a report is shown in the screenshot above).

I note that the utility also works fine with standard presets (i.e. after downloading and running it - there is no need to delve into the settings for a long time, you can immediately start scanning).

Note! Music Duplicate Remover supports the following audio formats: MP3, WMA, OGG, FLAC, APE, WAV.

Duplicate Video Search

A fairly powerful program for deleting identical videos saved in different folders (suitable for those who have a lot of all sorts of videos, music videos, top 100 collections, etc.). It will help you "scroll" your collection of files and remove all duplicates.

I note that the program uses a unique "cast" technology (i.e. a kind of "electronic eye"), which allows you to find similar videos, even if they are saved in a different format, they have a different resolution and they are compressed with a different codec.

Peculiarities:

1. the following video formats are supported: AVI, MKV, 3GP, MPG, SWF, MP4, WMV, WTV and FLV (see screenshot above);
2. search for full copies of videos and similar ones (where there is an excellent resolution, bitrate, format, codec);
3. the program automatically selects the video with the worst quality among all takes (however, you can manually specify which copy to delete);
4. convenient and visual presentation of search results: thumbnails for each video and the path to the directory where it is stored;
5. right from the program window, you can either view the video or delete it.

Video Comparer

Video Comparer - a program designed to search and compare videos on your hard drive. In a relatively short period of time, it can view all your videos and show you in a convenient table all the files that repeat each other (full takes, similar videos, videos with the same content but different quality, etc.).

I note that the program has various filters that will allow, for example, to search for videos only of a certain format (or set the duration of the video).

Peculiarities:

1. supports formats: 3GP, AVI, ASF, ASX, WMV, VOB, XVID, MP4, MPEG;
2. the ability to search among hidden files;
3. the ability to automatically select similar videos for deletion;
4. video filters by duration, quality and extension;
5. convenient presentation of search results: preview for each video; size; the folder where it is located; title; similarity percentage.
6. possibility Reserve copy in a separate folder;
7. logging;
8. support for almost all popular Windows XP, 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits).

Additions, as always, are welcome.

Successful work!

With the advent of hard drives of 10 GB and more, the question of scarcity of disk space no longer arises, but this does not give us a reason to carelessly squander disk space, which can be successfully given to more useful things, such as MPEG4 movies :)

So let's imagine that we have a huge collection of something that is located in various folders and seems to be classified. It can be collections of music in mp3 format, drawings, cliparts, fonts, abstracts, texts, distributions and other rubbish, so to speak, that we keep "just in case" :) The only problem is that among these collections there are duplicates. These are exactly the same files that simply differ in name or even have the same names but are located in different directories. A natural conclusion suggests itself - to kill the twins. But how to find them?

Go to the directory in which, as you suppose, the duplicates are located and call the "Search" tool (Alt + F7, and I always confuse it with Alt + F8, which by the way brings up the history of commands typed on the command line). If you haven't noticed yet, there are three tabs in the search dialog that opens. Feel free to open the middle tab "Advanced".

At the very bottom of the advanced search dialog, you can see "Search for duplicates" - check the box there, and a little lower select the search conditions for duplicates: by name, by name and size, by name by size and by content, or by size and content.

Feel free to click "Start Search!" and Total Commander will find you duplicates, which will be listed in the search results window and will be separated by a dotted line.

The most convenient thing now is to click on the "Files to panel" button and the search dialog box will disappear, but in one of the file panels a temporary panel will be opened in which all duplicates from the results window will be listed. Now I advise you to press Ctrl + Q and you can check if the files are really duplicates before deleting the file.

If you do not see images gif jpg psd and others, do not play music in mp3 format and video, then you do not have installed or configured

A program for finding duplicate files is most often necessary for users who store a large amount of music, photos and documents on the disk.

And, although you can delete such extra copies manually, specialized applications can save a lot of time.

Especially if the files are located in different folders or in hidden directories. You can search for such duplicates using the universal software or designed for a specific data type.

In the first case, the search speed increases, in the second, the probability of finding all copies increases.

Universal Applications

Universal applications for finding copies mainly work on the principle of comparing file sizes. And, since the probability of matching the number of bytes for different photos is almost zero, the same values ​​​​are considered a sign of a duplicate.

Sometimes the algorithm provides for checking names, which is also an important parameter for searching, especially since the same data in most cases matches the name.

The advantages of the programs are the ability to find files of any type with their help and the relatively high speed of work. The disadvantage is the lower accuracy of detection. So, for example, none of these utilities will consider the same photo saved with a different resolution as a duplicate.

1. DupKiller

An application that searches for files with almost any extension can be downloaded for free on the official website of its manufacturer.

Among the differences of the program are the interface in Russian, fast work and a large number of settings.

With DupKiller, you can compare files by size, by date, and by content (the latter feature is supported only for certain types).

Rice. 1. DupKiller program window.

2. Duplicate Finder

The Duplicate Finder application allows you not only to search for duplicate files with different extensions, but also to sort them.

For the convenience of users, the utility settings allow you to search by size, by checksums, and by name.

In addition, it can be used to delete empty folders and "null" files. And among the shortcomings, one can only name the lack of support for the Russian language.

Rice. 2. The result of the Duplicate Finder application.

3 Glary Utilities

The program is not one utility, but several at once - for fixing the registry, for cleaning the disk, and even for managing security.

One of the applications in the set allows you to search for duplicate files. Among the advantages of the utility is the Russian interface.

The disadvantages include a certain slowdown in the computer when using the application.

Rice. 3. Utility for finding duplicates as part of the Glary Utilities package.

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4. CCleaner

The main task of the multifunctional program CCleaner is to clean hard drive computer (as well as tablets and smartphones, since the application also has versions for Android). And among its advantages can be noted:

• ease of setup;
• setting multiple search criteria;
• the ability to ignore some files (with a certain size or creation date, as well as system or hidden ones).

Important: If files with a size of zero are found, they do not need to be deleted. Sometimes it can be information created in another operating system (for example, Linux).

Rice. 4. The CCleaner system optimization program can also search for duplicate files.

5.AllDup

Among the advantages of another program, AllDup, one can note support for any modern operating system. Windows systems- from XP to 10th. At the same time, the search is carried out inside hidden folders, and even in archives.

Although the comparison of information by default occurs by file names, so it is advisable to change the settings immediately. But in the process of searching, each found duplicate can be viewed without closing the application.

And if a copy is found, it can not only be deleted, but also renamed or moved to another location. Additional benefits of the application include a Russian-language menu and completely free work for any period of time.

In addition, the manufacturer also releases a portable version in order to look for copies on those computers on which the installation of third-party software is prohibited (for example, on a work PC).

Rice. 5. Search for files using the portable version of AllDup.

6. DupeGuru

Another useful application that searches for duplicates with any extension is DupeGuru. Its only drawback is the lack of new versions for Windows (while updates for Linux and MacOS appear regularly).

However, even a relatively outdated utility for Windows 7 copes well with its tasks when working in newer operating systems. With its help, even system files are easily detected, and the menu is intuitive and Russian-language.

Rice. 6. Detection of copies using the DupeGuru utility.

It is noteworthy that, in addition to the usual universal option, the manufacturer has created a utility for searching for files of a certain type. There is a separate version for images and another one for music.

And, if necessary, clean your computer not only from documents and system files (which, by the way, must be deleted very carefully - sometimes it’s even worth leaving an “extra” copy than to disrupt the system’s performance), it’s worth downloading these applications.

7. Duplicate Cleaner Free

The utility for detecting copies of any file Duplicate Cleaner Free has the following features:

• filtering data by extension;
• Russian interface language;
• the possibility of free use;
• high speed work.

Its disadvantages include slight restrictions when searching for images (for this it is recommended to purchase a paid version) and not quite accurate translation of individual menu items from English. However, due to its efficiency and ease of use, the application enjoys a certain popularity.

Rice. 7. Search for duplicates using the Duplicate Cleaner Free utility.

Search for duplicate audio files

If the results of the search for duplicates do not suit the user, you can consider an option designed for certain files. For example, for music accumulated on a disk.

Such a need often arises when loading several albums and collections of the same artist at once - often the same tracks appear in different folders.

They can have similar sizes and differ, by and large, only in names. Especially for this, there are utilities for searching for similar melodies.

8.Music Duplicate Remover

Among the features of the Music Duplicate Remover program are a relatively fast search and good efficiency. In fact, this application, as it were, “listens” to the composition and compares it with other audio files.

At the same time, of course, its operation time is longer than that of universal utilities. However, the amount of data checked by the program, as a rule, is ten times less, so the average duration of a check rarely exceeds a couple of hours.

Rice. 8. Detection of copies of music and audio files by albums.

9.Audio Comparer

Among the advantages of the Audio Comparer utility are a very simple menu and a quick search for copies of music. So, among several thousand audio files, it finds copies and duplicates (of course, if any) in just 1-2 hours.

At the same time, neither the size of the track nor its bitrate (bit depth, that is, the quality of the sound, the change of which leads to a different amount of data with the same duration of the melody) does not matter for detection.

Rice. 9. Find duplicates with Audio Comparer.

10. Dupe Guru Music Edition

The application is one of the additional versions of the free utility DupeGuru. The speed of its work is less than that of the universal version, but the probability of detecting a duplicate audio file is several times higher.

The principles of operation and the interface almost completely repeat the basic program, and one of the main advantages is that Music Edition considers music with the best bitrate to be “originals”. And, it means that removing duplicates will not lead to the loss of higher quality audio files.

Rice. 10. DupeGuru version for finding duplicate music.

Find copies of photos and other images

Just as often, the user may need to remove duplicate images. Especially if there are several collections of personal photos on the hard drive, sorted by date or location.

With the help of special software, extra photos and pictures will be detected and destroyed, and there will be more space on the HDD (SDD, flash drive and other drive).

11. Dupe Guru Picture Edition

The application for finding the same pictures is another option for the DupeGuru utility, which can also (and even desirable) be downloaded even if you have a universal version. At the same time, photo analysis also takes longer than searching for files of any extension, but the result justifies itself.

Images are determined even when there are several duplicates of the same image on the disk, but with different resolutions and, accordingly, sizes. In addition, to increase efficiency, files with any graphic extensions are checked - from .jpg to .png.

Rice. 11. Image search with another version of DupeGuru.

12. ImageDupeless

The ImageDupeless program is characterized by high speed and small size, which can be important when used, for example, to download 2G mobile Internet.

At the same time, it is distributed free of charge and has a Russian interface. And the manufacturer periodically releases updates to it, increasing the efficiency of image search.

Rice. 12. Stylish ImageDupeless application interface.

13. Image Comparer

The advantages of the Image Comparer application, in addition to a simple interface, include the presence of a step-by-step wizard that allows you to learn how to quickly and efficiently search for images.

This feature distinguishes the utility from most others, for which you will have to read help files that are not always correctly translated (and sometimes even provided only in English).

In fact, the application is another version of Audio Comparer, and is also distributed under a "shareware" license - that is, the user will have to pay for certain functions.

Rice. 13. Image Comparer app is a good way to find duplicate pictures.

Find copies of movies and videos

In addition to music and images, another type of data, duplicates of which are searched separately, are video files. After all, if you have 1-2 or even 4 terabytes of hard disk space, even movies can be “lost” on it.

Or home videos distributed in different directories. You can save space by deleting video copies using specialized utilities, the number of which is much less compared to applications for finding other files.

14. Duplicate Video Search

The operation of the Duplicate Video Search program is based on the comparison of bitrates, sizes and titles.

At the same time, different formats are also compared - .avi, .mpeg4, .mkv, etc. And the results are given in the form of thumbnails with file characteristics.

Rice. 14. Duplicate Video Search video search results.

15.Video Comparer

Video Comparer is highly efficient. However, it has a significant drawback for the domestic user - the utility is free only for the first 30 days (after which you will either have to purchase full version, or carefully clean the registry and install the trial one again).

In addition, the program interface is only English. However, for those people who constantly work with video at a professional level, you can think about buying an application.

Moreover, it costs only 20 euros for home use and is very fast - up to 500 videos of any size are checked in 40 minutes.

Rice. 15. Identify duplicate videos with Video Comparer.

conclusions

The advantages of programs for finding copies of files are serious enough that at least one of them should be installed on every computer.

Especially if the user is constantly downloading various information from the network. With the help of utilities that detect duplicates, you can save more than one hour of your time and several gigabytes of disk space.

Duplicate File Finder is a program for finding duplicates. It finds and removes identical files, thanks to which you free up space on your hard drive. It also works with removable media.

Search and removal of duplicates occurs with the help of a convenient wizard. You need to select disks or individual directories and specify the type of files - you can select all types or individual ones (for example, images or videos). Next, specify the search criteria - skip files larger or smaller than the specified size, enable or disable search by name, date, and attributes. You can also enter the text that is contained in the title (this will help narrow down the search).

After you have set all the parameters, Duplicate File Finder will start searching for duplicates. When completed, the results will appear in the table. Identical files are displayed side by side, so you can compare them by directory, size, and last modified date. Highlight junk files and click Remove. Files are deleted to the Recycle Bin, own archive (from which they can be restored) or permanently (depending on the settings you have set).

Program features

The Duplicate File Finder program can be downloaded absolutely free.

One of the most quick ways clog the hard drive - storage of duplicate files. Surely many are not even aware of their existence ... they can have different origins: random copies, many identical downloads, and so on. One thing is for sure - they can really create some problems for you.

A lot of duplicates are created because of the need to keep the file "safe" ... for example, before editing a document, I could make a copy just in case, and then forget it ... or I already have such a document, and I downloaded it again from the mail. Unfortunately, there can be a lot of such duplicates and it turns out that you fill up the free space with useless information.

With these tools, you can calculate and remove duplicate files in minutes and free up a lot of valuable hard drive space. I will only consider free utilities, so you have nothing to lose!

Search for duplicate files. Overview of the best tools

This utility is probably my favorite tool for finding and removing duplicates, because it has a lot of great features: It is cross-platform, completely free, and also has an advanced labeling and selection algorithm.

What are non-clear duplicates? Several identical files may have different names. For example, you may have two files on your computer: example-file.avi And example file(1).avi- the utility understands this very well and can also mark them as a duplicate.

By the way, the utility also has other editions: Music Edition and Picture Edition, optimized for finding duplicates in graphic and audio files - even if they are recorded in different formats. This is very important, because it is audio and graphic files that most often become duplicates.

Duplicate Files Finder is an application that searches for duplicate files (which have the same content but not necessarily the same name) and allows the user to delete unnecessary files.

Duplicate Files Finder can only find exact duplicates. The principle of its work is to enumerate all the files on the computer by size and compare them by content. On the one hand, this is logical, but it is quite sad for video and graphics. (after all, depending on the compression algorithm, they can have a different size), but for everything else the program is just great.

Thanks to this comparison algorithm, Duplicate Files Finder is much faster than its competitors.

AllDup is a powerful duplicate search tool created by one person, Michael Thummerer. The utility has a number of settings for searching for duplicates from: file name, extension and data type, date of creation and modification, and many more different parameters.

AllDup has many useful features and great flexibility in terms of finding duplicates, but you have to pay for the functionality. The interface here is not at all friendly and this can drive an insecure user into a dead end. However, if you can figure out the program, then this application will be a good tool for finding duplicate files.

Duplicate Cleaner requires fine manual settings before you can use the functionality of this program to one hundred percent.

With manual configuration, you can choose in which folder you want to find duplicates, and not scan the entire computer, as some other programs offer us. As a result, you can delete these duplicates, move them all to a separate folder, or create shortcuts to the only necessary file instead. In general, the impressions are positive - so I recommend it.

If you are a Windows user and want to get rid of endless copies of images, then SimilarImages will be more than ever for you. Images are, in my opinion, the most common source of duplicate content on a computer. For example, I know that I have a bunch of duplicate photos in different folders ... and given their number, I have no desire to deal with them manually.

The program has flexible settings and can detect inaccurate duplicates - this is especially true due to the presence of artifacts that appeared during the image compression process.

The great thing about SimilarImages is that it shows you two images when it finds duplicates, and you can decide whether to keep them or remove the duplicate.

Conclusion

Just like in real life, when unwanted junk creates a terrible mess in your home, duplicate files can accumulate on your hard drive. Such files are very difficult to delete, because you forgot about it, and ordinary system cleaners will not find them - as they are legally found on the hard drive.

Use the programs that I have listed for you to find duplicate files to free up space on your hard drive. If you know about other utilities - share with us in the comments.

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