The program finds identical files on the computer. Find and remove duplicate files in Windows using five free programs. To search for copies of pictures, images

After constantly using a computer, large amounts of data accumulate on its disks, i.e. all sorts of photographs, videos, films, music, documents, etc. This data takes up a lot of space. But very often duplicate files take up too much space.

In Windows, unfortunately, there are no normal built-in tools for finding duplicate files. There is an option to do this through the PowerShell command line, but it is very inconvenient, especially for beginners. Therefore, it is easier to use third-party programs. One of these is called AllDup. It is completely free, available in Russian, supported by all Windows operating systems and, finally, quite easy to use.

Downloading and installing the AllDup program

The program can be downloaded for free from the official AllDup website. Below is the link to the download section:

The program is available in 2 versions: regular installation and portable (Portable). The portable version is different in that it does not require installation on a computer, i.e. the program can be launched directly from the downloaded folder.

To download, click the “Server #1”, or “Server #2” or “Server #3” button (if the first button does not download, backup servers are provided) under the desired version of the program.

For the latest versions, always refer to the official AllDup website!

Installing the program is very simple, one might say it consists of successive clicks “Next”; no special settings need to be made. Therefore, this process will not be considered. See also How to disable or remove OneDrive in Windows 10 and.

Finding duplicates using AllDup

After installing the program, run it. The main window for search settings will open:

Setting up a search includes several steps:

Select folders on your drives where AllDup will look for duplicates.

Folders are selected in the "Source Folders" section. You can mark entire local drives or individual folders on your computer. Usually, users roughly guess where duplicates may be located, and in this case it is better to select specific folders, because a complete search across all disks, firstly, can take a lot of time (depending on the amount of data stored), and secondly, it will give you a bunch of duplicates of those files that are not of interest to you (for example, duplicates of any Windows system files that are better not to touch at all).

So, select the desired folders/drives to search in the window by checking the boxes next to them. If the folder you need is not in the list, you can add it manually by right-clicking (hereinafter “RMB”) in the window and selecting “Add Folder”.

Explorer will open, where you just need to select the desired folder and it will be added to the list.

It is better to leave the remaining parameters as they are at this stage. See also Ways to hack your passwords and Limiting operating time in Windows 10.

Method for finding duplicates.

This is an important step where you configure what criteria AllDup will use to determine the presence of duplicates. You can set several criteria at once. The thing is that similar files cannot always be considered duplicates. For example, you have 2 identical photographs, but one of them has a small black dot, even if it is 1 pixel in size. In this case, it is a different photograph because its content is different. On the other hand, these 2 photos may have the same file name, the same file extension, and when you select the last 3 criteria, the program will regard these photos as the same when searching.

File name;

File extension;

File size;

File contents.

With this choice, you will certainly accurately find duplicate files.

Thus, mark the criteria and you don’t have to configure anything else at this stage.

File filtering.

You can configure the program so that during the search it finds only files with the extensions you need, for example, only JPG photos, only MP4 videos. This is very convenient when you know which duplicates you want to get rid of first (for example, from a video, because it can take up a lot of space) and then you don’t want to rummage through all the files in the search results, of which there can be thousands. Or you can filter files by size, for example, find only those larger than 1 GB.

Thus, on the “File Filter” tab, enable the “Use file filter” option (1), check “Inclusive” (2), and then below (3) select the file extensions that the program will find. Files with any other extensions will not appear in search results.

Most likely, the list of extensions will not contain all the extensions you may need. To add an extension there, right-click and select “Add filter by entering text.”

In the window that opens (1), enter *.file_extension, where instead of “file_extension”, respectively, indicate the file extension you need so that the program finds these files in the search.

For example, if you want the program to find videos in AVI format, write *.avi and click “OK” (2). The "*" symbol means that the file names can be anything.

At the same stage, you can configure filtering of files as a result of a search by their size, for example, to filter out those that are smaller than the size you specify. Enter the options you want below, under the "File Size" heading. In my example, the option is enabled to exclude files whose size is less than 500 KB. You will also be interested in the Tool for recording user actions when problems occur and Computers and laptops on Windows 10 do not start. How to fix it? .

These are all the main stages of setting up a search; the rest can be omitted.

Now, to start searching for duplicates, click the “Search” button at the top of the AllDup window:

The search process will begin.

The more files in the folders you specify are on your disks, the longer the search will take.

After the search is completed, the program will display the found files with duplicates in the form of a table.

The first thing that is better to do right away is to save the search results, because if you close this window with the results now, then you will have to perform the search again. To save, click the button with the image of a floppy disk, or select “Search result” in the top menu and click “Save search result.”

Now, even if you turn off your computer, and then launch the program again, you will be able to get to the search results again.

You can sort the search results by different parameters by clicking on the column headings in the table. The most useful sorting criterion, in my opinion, is file size. Therefore, if you want the largest files found to be displayed at the top of the table, then click on the “Size (Bytes)” column.

The next thing that is better to configure for ease of viewing the results is the displayed size. Initially, the program shows the file size in bytes, which is not very convenient. It is better to display in megabytes or even gigabytes. To do this, click the button marked in the screenshot below (1), then check one of the options (2):

Now I’ll dwell on how to actually use the search results, how to view and remove unnecessary duplicates...

The program divides the found duplicates into so-called groups. One group is all found copies of the same file, including the original (it will also be displayed in this group).

To view duplicates of one of the groups, you need to open it by clicking on the arrow. Example:

Once you have expanded a specific group, you can check what kind of file it is by opening it. To do this, simply double-click on the file in the group, or right-click and select “Open file”. The file will be opened through a standard Windows program, through which you usually open all files of the selected type.

To delete duplicates, check them, right-click and select one of the options: deleting the file to the Windows Recycle Bin, or permanently deleting it.

Accordingly, do not delete all files from the group, because this way you will delete both duplicates and the original at once! For example, if there are 3 files in a group, then by deleting 3 at once, you will delete both the original and 2 duplicates. In this case, to keep only one single copy of the file, you need to remove 2 files from the group.

This way you can check each group separately and remove duplicates. But if a lot of information has been found, it can be done simpler. Make sure that the program automatically selects all files in each group except one (i.e., only duplicates), after which you can get rid of all duplicates at once, or before that, go through and double-check whether everything marked is exactly to be deleted.

To automatically mark duplicates, go to the “Select” menu (1) and check and enable one of the options there (2), for example, “Select all files except the first file.”

As a result, the program will select 2 duplicates in each group, and leave the first file in the list unselected. Those. this way you will mark 2 duplicates, and the original will remain unmarked. Or you can use the “Select” menu to try other options that are convenient for you.

Once the program has marked the files, you can double-check your selection if required. And to quickly delete everything unnecessary or perform some other action, click the button marked in the screenshot below:

In the window that opens, you will see the total volume of the selected files, i.e. how much space the found duplicates take up and the number of selected files. At the bottom you need to select an action on the selected files. You can delete files through the recycle bin, delete them permanently (the “Delete files” item), copy or move files to a folder, and also rename the found duplicates. If you are sure that the marked files are duplicates and you no longer need them, then it is easier to delete them, but in any case, the choice is yours.

So, select the desired action (1) and click “OK” (2). You don't have to configure anything else here.

After this, the program will perform the action you selected on the previously marked files!

That's basically the whole process :) To exit the search results, just close this window. If you have saved your search results, then if you need this result again, you can get to it through the “Search Result” section (1) in the main program window. The results you saved will be displayed in the table (2). To open the desired result, simply double-click on it.

Conclusion

AllDup is a very convenient program for finding duplicates of your files on your computer. There is essentially nothing superfluous in the program; it has all the necessary tools, filters and parameters for quickly processing a large volume of found duplicates. Of course, there are similar programs that probably also do their job well. So far I have only tried AllDup and I don’t see any point in changing it yet.

Duplicate File Finder is a program for finding duplicates. It finds and deletes identical files, so you can free up space on your hard drive. Also works with removable media.

Searching and removing duplicates occurs using a convenient wizard. You need to select drives 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 - skipping files larger or smaller than a specified size, enabling or disabling search by name, date and attributes. You can also enter the text that is contained in the title (this will help narrow your searches).

Once you have set all the parameters, Duplicate File Finder will begin searching for duplicates. Once 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. Select unnecessary files and click "Delete". The files are deleted to the Recycle Bin, their own archive (from which they can be restored) or irretrievably (depending on the settings you have made).

Features of the program

Search and delete identical files.
Search for duplicates using various criteria - directory, file name, size, creation date, etc.
Displays the total size of files that can be deleted.
Multiple types of deletion
Interface in Russian.
Supports Windows XP and higher.

Duplicate File Finder is absolutely free to download.

After a long, constant use of a computer, large amounts of data, i.e., all sorts of photographs, videos, films, music, documents, etc., accumulate on its disks, whatever one may say. When data takes up a lot of space, this is normal, for example, I myself have more than 600 GB of necessary data, and for others it’s even more. But very often duplicate files take up too much space.

Such files can appear when, for example, you transfer them from somewhere to a new location on the disk, forgetting that you already have such files on this disk. And it’s okay if there are a lot of duplicates of all kinds of documents, but when there are a lot of duplicate photos, music and especially videos, then this, as a rule, will take up a lot of your disk space. I recently checked and found that duplicates are eating up about 100 GB. on the hard drive, which, in my opinion, is quite a lot :)

In this article, I will show you an easy way to find all duplicate files in Windows on your drives, so you can easily check them and quickly delete everything you don't need.

Downloading and installing the AllDup program

The program can be downloaded for free from the official AllDup website. Below is the link to the download section:

The program is available in two versions: regular installation and portable (Portable). The portable version is different in that it does not require installation on a computer, i.e. the program can be launched directly from the downloaded folder.

To download, click the “Server #1”, or “Server #2” or “Server #3” button (if the first download button does not occur, backup servers are provided) under the desired version of the program.

Direct links to download the latest version (March 2017) of AllDup: standard version, portable version. For the latest versions, always refer to the official AllDup website!

Installing the program is very simple, one might say, it consists of successive clicks “Next”; no special settings need to be made. Therefore, I will not consider this process.

Learn more about the nuances of installing programs for Windows

Finding duplicates using AllDup

After installing the program, run it. The main window for search settings will open:

Setting up a search includes several steps:

These are all the main stages of setting up a search; the rest can be omitted.

Now, to start searching for duplicates, click the “Search” button at the top of the AllDup window:

The search process will begin.

The more files in the folders you specify are on your disks, the longer the search will take.

After the search is completed, the program will display the found files with duplicates in the form of a table.

The first thing that is better to do right away is to save the search results, because if you now close this window with the results, then you will have to perform the search again. To save, click the button with the image of a floppy disk, or select “Search result” in the top menu and click “Save search result.”

Now, even if you turn off your computer, and then launch the program again, you will be able to get to the search results again.

The next thing that is best to configure for ease of viewing results is the displayed size. Initially, the program shows the file size in bytes, which is not very convenient. It is better to display in megabytes or even gigabytes. To do this, click the button marked in the screenshot below (1), then check one of the options (2):

Now I’ll dwell on how to actually use the search results, how to view and remove unnecessary duplicates...

The program divides the found duplicates into so-called groups. One group is all found copies of the same file, including the original (it will also be displayed in this group).

To view duplicates of one of the groups, you need to open it by clicking on the arrow. Example:

Once you have expanded a specific group, you can check what kind of file it is by opening it. To do this, simply double-click on the file in the group or right-click and select “Open file”. The file will be opened through a standard Windows program, through which you usually open all files of the selected type.

To delete duplicates, check them, right-click and select one of the options: deleting the file to the Windows Recycle Bin or permanently deleting it.

Accordingly, do not delete all files from the group, because this way you will delete both duplicates and the original at once! For example, if there are 3 files in a group, then by deleting 3 at once, you will delete both the original and 2 duplicates. In this case, to keep only a single copy of the file, you need to remove 2 files from the group.

To automatically mark duplicates, go to the “Select” menu (1) and check and enable one of the options there (2), for example, “Select all files except the first file.”

As a result, the program will select 2 duplicates in each group, and leave the first file in the list unselected. That is, in this way you will mark 2 duplicates, and the original will remain unmarked. Or you can use the “Select” menu to try other options that are convenient for you.

So, select the desired action (1) and click “OK” (2). You don't have to configure anything else here.

After this, the program will perform the action you selected on the previously marked files!

That's the whole process :) To exit the search results, simply close this window. If you have saved your search results, then if you need this result again, you can get to it through the “Search Result” section (1) in the main program window. The results you saved will be displayed in the table (2). To open the desired result, simply double-click on it.

Conclusion

AllDup is a very convenient program for finding duplicates of your files on your computer. In fact, there is nothing superfluous in the program; it has all the necessary tools, filters and parameters for quickly processing a large volume of found duplicates. Of course, there are similar programs that probably also do their job well. So far I have only tried AllDup and I don’t see any point in changing it yet.

A modern hard drive is created with an impressive amount of free space for storing information. However, this does not mean that there is no need to “take care” of the disk, freeing it from garbage and duplicate files.

The presence of duplicate files clogs the disk with unnecessary records of information. When the time comes to increase the free space of “junk” disks, considerable time will be spent on detecting duplicates - after all, the volume of your hard drive is very large. Therefore, finding and deleting duplicate files must be done on time. Let's look at a number of applications that can search for such duplicate files.

Total Commander

The first application we will consider is the popular Total Commander. Its functionality is wide, it also provides a tool for searching for duplicate files located in different directories of your hard drive. The operation we need is available in the general search module.

The search module is called using hotkeys or by traditionally going to the main menu, where you will need to select the “Search files” function. A call via hot keys is made by simultaneously pressing the combination “Alt+F7”.

The search module offers a range of general and advanced function tabs. However, initially we will need to select the disk or directory in which we need to conduct discovery. This is done on the General Settings tab. Then, let's go to the "Advanced" tab.

In the search module, open “Disks” and select drive “D”.

Let's go to the "Advanced" tab.

At the bottom of the selected section there is a function for finding duplicate files. We only need to configure this function by checking the required boxes next to the desired options. For example, as shown in the image below. In our case, search actions occur on volume D.

Total Commander displays the found duplicates in a small window in which you can barely see anything.

By clicking the “Files to panel” button, we will display them in the main window. Now, you can freely remove them if you are sure that such an action will not cause unstable operation of programs and the entire system as a whole.

We get the result in the main window.

Looking for duplicate files in CCleaner

The recently updated CCleaner also provides a duplicate file search feature. This application is a well-known and popular garbage cleaner on PC, so the presence of such an option in it is absolutely natural. The “Search for duplicates” function can be easily found on the “Service” tab of the program.

CCleaner detects duplicate files using several parameters: name, size, date, content. It also offers a number of useful options that allow us to skip or add a number of special files to our operation: hidden, system, read-only, zero size. To launch the search module, just click the “Find” button.

After completing the operation, the user has the opportunity to select and delete detected duplicates.

Size Explorer Pro

This application is a powerful tool for exploring disk volumes and connected disk devices. One of its functions is to search for duplicate files.

In order for SizeExplorer to begin detecting duplicates, it first needs to analyze the section where it needs to search.

The menu that opens will offer you a number of functions, including “Find duplicates.” Clicking this option will open a dialog with options for setting up the search module.

Let's define the detection functions.

Let's search for duplicate files using the size-name-content scheme. Detection will take some time, but after the process is completed, we will see a complete list of duplicates in a separate window. At the same time, the program gave us many duplicates of incomplete similarity, according to a certain percentage of similarity.

Search results for identical files:

This is how you can select duplicates:

Let's use Ainvo Duplicate File Finder

There is another program available on the Internet that is of interest for detecting duplicate files. This is Ainvo Duplicate File Finder. This application is easy to use, so even a less experienced computer user can use it. To use the program, just click “Search for identical files”.

The application immediately begins a search, which lasts quite a long time, so you will have to be patient.

First, the disks are examined, then the application processes the found material, and only after that additional processing occurs, the result of which is the detection of duplicate files. To see the duplicates found, you will need to open the “Identical files” window.

As you can see, in the settings two sections are selected for the operation.

Master Ainvo has completed the operation - now we can open a window with links to duplicates.

As you can see, there are a lot of duplicates and the program immediately selects what it thinks are duplicate files.

There are 2137 duplicates selected that can be removed using the wizard. It is also possible to view a report on duplicates.

The report opens in a web browser.

Brief summary

The hard drive needs maintenance from time to time. One of the preventive procedures is to clean volumes of garbage, most of which are duplicated files. To detect duplicate files located in different directories, you can use special programs. Among the most worthy applications that can detect duplicate files are: Total Commander, CCleaner, SizeExplorer Pro, Ainvo Duplicate File Finder.

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

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

Especially if the files are located in different folders or in .

You can search for such duplicates using universal software or one designed for a specific type of data.

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

Content:

Universal Applications

Universal applications for finding copies mainly work on the principle of comparing file sizes.

And, since the probability of the same number of bytes in different photos is practically zero, identical values are considered a sign of a duplicate.

Sometimes the algorithm provides for checking names - also an important parameter for the search, especially since the same data in most cases also matches by name.

The advantages of the programs are the ability to find files of any type with their help and the relatively high speed of operation. Disadvantage: lower detection accuracy.

So, for example, none of these utilities will consider the same file saved with different resolutions to be a duplicate.

1. DupKiller

And among its advantages we can note:

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 detected, they do not have to be deleted. Sometimes this may be information created on another operating system (for example, Linux).

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

5.AllDup

Among the advantages of another program, AllDup, we can note support for any modern Windows operating system - from XP to 10.

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 during the search process, each duplicate found can be viewed without closing the application.

And if a copy is found, you can not only delete it, but also rename it or move it to another location.

Additional benefits of the application include completely free work for any period of time.

In addition, the manufacturer also produces a portable version in order to search 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 (although updates for MacOS appear regularly).

However, even a relatively outdated utility 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 in Russian.

Rice. 6. Detecting copies using the DupeGuru utility.

It is noteworthy that, in addition to the usual universal option, the manufacturing company has created a utility for searching for files of a certain type.

There is a separate version for images and another for music.

And, if you need to clean your computer not only from documents and system files (which, by the way, need to be deleted very carefully - sometimes it’s even worth leaving an “extra” copy rather than disrupting the system’s functionality), it’s worth downloading these applications as well.

7. Duplicate Cleaner Free

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

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

Its disadvantages include minor limitations when searching for images (for this it is recommended to purchase a paid version) and not entirely accurate translation of individual menu elements.

However, due to its effectiveness and ease of use, the application enjoys some popularity.

Rice. 7. Find duplicates using the Duplicate Cleaner Free utility.

Finding duplicate audio files

If the search results for duplicates are not satisfactory for the user, you can consider an option designed for specific files. For example, for accumulated on disk.

This need often arises when downloading several albums and collections of the same artist at once - often the same tracks end up 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 relatively fast search and good efficiency.

In fact, this application “listens” to the composition and compares it with other audio files.

At the same time, naturally, its operating time is longer than that of universal utilities.

However, the amount of data checked by the program is usually tens of times less, so the average scan duration rarely exceeds a couple of hours.

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

9.Audio Comparer

Rice. 10. DupeGuru version for finding duplicate music.

Finding 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 photographs on your hard drive, sorted by date or location of shooting.

With the help of special software, unnecessary photos and pictures will be detected and destroyed, and there will be more space on (and other storage).

11. DupeGuru Picture Edition

The application for searching for identical pictures is another version of the DupeGuru utility, which can also (and is even desirable) to be downloaded even if there is a universal version.

At the same time, photo analysis also takes longer compared to searching for files of any extension, but the result is worth it.

Images are detected 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 scanned - from to .png.

Rice. 11. Search for pictures using another version of DupeGuru.

12. ImageDupeless

Moreover, 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 interface of the ImageDupeless application.

13. Image Comparer

Especially if the user constantly downloads various information from the network.

Using utilities that detect duplicates, you can save more than one hour of your time and several gigabytes of disk space.

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