The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Duplicate file finder?

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by CompUG, Jan 22, 2011.

  1. CompUG

    CompUG Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    40
    Messages:
    611
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I'm looking for a program that can help me find duplicate files I might have and delete them. I downloaded "Fast duplicate file finder" but it sucks it freezes on me and slows down my computer and isn't very fast. Is there any other software out there that does what i need it to do?

    Thanks..
     
    CompUG, Jan 22, 2011
    #1
  2. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    801
    Messages:
    3,881
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    105
    well, you have to let the software do it's job.

    dupe finders work by reading EVERY SINGLE FILE and either generating a checksum for comparison or doing a bit by bit comparison.

    This will not be instantaneous. Or even necessarily very fast.

    How many files do you have on your computer?

    Have you excluded any directories, such as %systemroot%?

    patience grasshopper.
     
    newsposter, Jan 22, 2011
    #2
  3. kingbob

    kingbob Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    58
    Messages:
    366
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I've used Fast Duplicate File Finder and I was happy with the results. As stated above, the more files you scan, the longer it takes. It should only be necessary to run it occasionally so it's not something that you would have to put up with on a regular basis.
     
    kingbob, Jan 22, 2011
    #3
  4. chimpanzee

    chimpanzee Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    683
    Messages:
    2,561
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    like newsposter said, you are asking the software to do a job which is limited by your HDD, what else the program can do ?

    Of course it can be written to like the indexer and not impacting your desktop operation but that would mean it would take more time to complete the task.

    just fire it up at night and get the result when you wake up.
     
    chimpanzee, Jan 22, 2011
    #4
  5. Starfire990

    Starfire990 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    Personally I prefer easyduplicatefinder. Not only did it find all the exact duplicates in my pictures and music, but i has this music tag option that found matching songs. I had a bit of work going through all the matching music to make sure that it did, and picking the best copies to keep, but after that I saved so much space. and no more duplicates I think I cut the number of songs that come up in half and they were just duplicates. My kids just keep downloading more stuff so I really do need the space.

    you can get it at Easy Duplicate File Finder - Remove Duplicate Files
     
    Starfire990, Jan 24, 2011
    #5
  6. wfriction

    wfriction Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    4
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    wfriction, Jan 24, 2011
    #6
  7. Bullit

    Bullit Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    122
    Messages:
    864
    Likes Received:
    9
    Trophy Points:
    31
    I prefer Exact Duplicate Finder. It can delete by directory.
     
    Bullit, Jan 24, 2011
    #7
  8. CompUG

    CompUG Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    40
    Messages:
    611
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Thanks for the advice guys....
     
    CompUG, Jan 24, 2011
    #8
  9. sgogeta4

    sgogeta4 Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    2,389
    Messages:
    10,552
    Likes Received:
    7
    Trophy Points:
    456
    Glary Utilities has worked out for me for their duplicate file remover.
     
    sgogeta4, Feb 1, 2011
    #9