Duplicate Files (Lots of 'em)

[caribiner23]

I've been using the COVID-19 quarantine as an opportunity to clean up and organize my digital life. It's been a very satisfying exercise!

I've now moved on to the multiple file backups that I burned to CDs/DVDs, spanning 20 years. I copied the contents of all the discs to a massive external USB drive and now I want to blast through it and get rid of any duplicate files, which I believe makes up at least 80% of what's on there. These are documents, photos, music files, and who knows what else.

I am less concerned about photos and music, as I've been diligent about keeping those organized and in iPhoto/Photos and iTunes/Music.

What do you folks recommend for a duplicate file cleaner? I figured I would ask in here for some real-life feedback.

Thanks!

 

[Jessica Walker]

Hi, I understand your situation, I recommend Duplicate Files Fixer.
It is a great tool to find and remove duplicate files be it is photos, videos, documents, songs, or any other file. The interface is so easy that even a kindergartener can use this tool.

 

[jdelgado]

Hi,
I was in a similar situation sometime ago. There are several programs that can do this. However, I found out that the best choice will depend on your workflow.
For example, Duplicate Detective is good for comparing complete folders. I also use dupGuru, which allows to define "references" that are useful to compare files with respect to a "reference". Gemini2 is fast and allows comparing files that are similar.
Others that I tried are Duplicate Finder, Decloner and Tidy up. In the end, I mostly use Duplicate Detective and dupeGuru.

 

[caribiner23]

Thanks to both of you! Going to check them out this weekend.