Find duplicate files on your computer. Find duplicate files: three best programs. Search for identical files


Duplicate files- This is garbage that makes it difficult for your computer to work. As the number of duplicates increases, performance decreases significantly and the volume of free space falls sharply. To save hard drive space and get the most out of your computer, you need to remove unwanted files from your computer. The easiest and most harmless way to free up memory is to delete files that are present in multiple copies. This can be done manually, but there is a high risk of missing something, or automatically; many programs have been developed for this that allow you to do everything for you. We'll look at the best of the best in this article.

Universal search for duplicate files

The program for finding duplicate files can be specific, which can only work with a specific format Windows elements. For the simple user there is another category - universal application. It is capable of processing files regardless of resolution. In most cases, such programs will be sufficient.

CCleaner

This program Duplicate File Remover is world famous for cleaning up system junk, but not every user knows that it has more functions.

The popularity of the application was ensured by the following advantages:

  • Easy installation;
  • Ability to set various search filters;
  • There is a function whitelist, where files are placed that should not be deleted due to their importance.

It is worth adding that at first glance empty files are not always like that. There is a high probability that they are intended for a different operating system.

Duplicate Cleaner Free

Removing duplicate files is easy with Duplicate Cleaner Free.

Its main characteristic features:

  • Ability to filter system elements by extension;
  • Built-in Russification;
  • The program does not require payment for basic use;
  • High performance indicators.

Like all programs, it has disadvantages, these include:

  • Minor restrictions regarding photo filtering; functionality can be expanded in the paid version;
  • Minor inaccuracies in the translation of the interface.

Free programs with powerful tools are valued today, and the current application is one of them, which is why it is so popular.

DupKiller

Duplicate files on your computer can be found and deleted using the DupKiller application.

It is worth choosing the program due to the following advantages:

  • Free distribution, you can download the file directly from the official website;
  • Russified interface;
  • Fast file processing speed;
  • Lots of customization options.

In the application, the comparison is made by various parameters: size, creation date, content type (only works for certain extension types). This ensures maximum accuracy in duplicate detection.

Glary Utilities

Glary Utilities– this is a complex software solutions to optimize your computer, here you can adjust the registry, clean up the disk and influence the security of the operating system as a whole. One application in the suite specifically works with duplicates.

Key benefits of the application:

  • There is a translation into Russian;
  • You can keep your computer clean in a number of ways;
  • Good results.

When you activate file search, the computer begins to slow down a little, so it can be difficult to use system analysis and surf at the same time.

Duplicate Finder

Would you like to sort detected clone files by size, type, extension, etc.? - Then you have found the right application. Thanks to the built-in filter in the search results, it is possible to sort by various filters. The ability to detect empty files is also built-in.

The only significant drawback is the lack quality translation interface into Russian.

AllDup

Another high quality functional application– AllDup.

It has many advantages, the main ones can be highlighted:

  • The ability to handle the new generation operating system Windows 10, as well as support for the outdated but beloved XP;
  • The search for duplicates is performed in all places except system folders. This includes hidden directories and archives;
  • Initially, comparison of duplicates is performed by name, which is not very effective; it is better to initially change the operating principle, but there are a lot of behavior options;
  • There is a function preview detected search results, which will allow you to determine whether the file is important. If you want to save the file, you can rename it and change its location;
  • Full Russification of the menu;
  • There is no demo mode, it works for free all the time;
  • Present portable version, which provides the ability to work with the program without installation.

DupeGuru

No less useful application, which provides quality search duplicate files of any direction and extension - DupeGuru.

Unfortunately, there is no support for new versions of the Windows operating system, but for Mac and Linux there are regular and high-quality updates. Considering that the program is outdated, it copes with the task perfectly and frees up a considerable amount of disk space. Even new operating systems support the program. It can detect and delete even files stored in system folders. The menu does not pose any difficulties; most users immediately identify functional elements.

Finding audio duplicates

If you need to search among audio files, it is better to consider specialized solutions for these purposes. Even universal options do a good job, but they cannot compete with these programs. If you have a lot of songs and need to sort them, you should choose the following applications.

Audio Comparer

The minimalist menu provides not only quick search, but also an intuitively simple menu.

The program is able to operate with thousands of files and detect duplicates within 1-2 hours, and these are quite impressive results. The program is able to compare and detect the presence of clone files even for melodies with different sizes and bitrate.

Music Duplicate Remover

What's special about the application:

  • Relatively fast search;
  • High efficiency in identifying clones;
  • In fact, the application is capable of smart filtering, as if it listens to files and compares them with each other, because of this the speed is somewhat reduced.

It is extremely rare for a program to run for more than a few hours, so choosing the utility is completely justified.

Image Search

ImageDupeless

The main condition for choosing a program is high performance speed and quality comparison. Both factors can be attributed to the ImageDupeless application.

Its small size is well suited for computers with low performance and limited internet connection. Free distribution and excellent quality Russification ensures the popularity of the program in many systems. Regular updates make its speed and accuracy gradually better.

Image Comparer

The application has a whole range of advantages:

  • Simple and intuitive interface;
  • Built-in step-by-step instruction. There is no need to look into the help or search for instructions on the Internet, the tips will help you do everything quickly and reliably;
  • Shareware distribution.

Some menu items are translated poorly or remain completely English language, but this does not interfere with understanding the meaning.

Software methods for working with duplicates are many times superior manual execution procedures, although such a possibility exists. Thanks to analysis, it is often possible to free up about 5-30 GB of memory, and sometimes more. For an SSD disk or flash drive, this volume is very significant.

If you have any questions about the topic " Best programs to find duplicate files", you can ask them in the comments


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Many users are unaware of how much identical copies files are stored on their hard drive. Meanwhile, they all take up space that could be used for something needed. If you are running out of space on your hard drive, then finding duplicate files on your computer is one of the best ways to best solutions to clean it up a bit.

You may have copies of files in a variety of formats stored on your computer: images, music, videos, or any other format. Such files can be stored in different directories and on different drives(if you have several of them). In addition, they may also differ in size or even extension. Therefore, searching for them by hand is a difficult and time-consuming task.

The best solution to find duplicate files on your computer would be special software. Now there are many various programs, searching for and removing duplicate files, and all of them are divided into two types: universal and focused on a specific type of data (music, images and video). The first option will allow you to quickly and without unnecessary problems remove duplicates of any format, however, compared to the second, it is much less accurate. So choose which one is preferable for you, and let's look at the most popular programs together.

Universal programs for finding duplicate files on your computer

As mentioned earlier, universal programs are capable of searching for duplicates of any format, but are inferior in accuracy to more targeted versions. There are two main parameters by which such programs compare files with each other: size and checksum. Although this approach increases search speed, it allows you to find only completely identical files, and not all of them. If you are satisfied with this option, then let's look at the most popular programs among Internet users.

Without exaggeration, the DupKiller program can be called the most popular in our homeland. And it’s not surprising, because it has quite a lot of advantages and practically no disadvantages. The first thing that captivates us with this program is, of course, complete and high-quality Russification. The second is the speed of work, it is very high here, and this despite the fact that the accuracy of the search here is pleasantly surprising. In addition to size and content, DupKiller also compares files by their modification date. The developers did not forget that the program is universal, and therefore it compares almost all existing this moment file formats. Add to this user-friendly interface and extensive customization of functions and you will understand why this program is so loved.

You can download it for free on the official website.

Program Duplicate Finder is not much inferior to the previous option and even has several individual advantages. So, the program not only finds similar files, but also sorts them. In addition to finding and deleting duplicate files, it also deletes empty folders and “null” files. The search here is carried out by size, checksum and file names.

Despite all this, the program is still not as popular among Russian users as DupKiller, although main reason This is most likely due to the lack of a Russian version of the program.

Glary Utilities

The third most popular program for finding duplicates on a computer is Glary Utilities. The peculiarity of this program is that it performs whole line various functions to speed up your PC: from cleaning the registry to managing security, and removing identical files just one of its many functions. The program has been completely translated into Russian and is in free access. Its only drawback is the serious load it places on the system, which is why the computer can seriously freeze while the program is running.

Programs for finding copies of audio files

Programs for finding copies of audio files will definitely be useful to music lovers who store large amounts of music on their PCs, and especially to those who like to download various collections of music, because such collections very often contain the same compositions. The statistics are that approximately every tenth audio recording from seasonal collections best music you already have on your PC. So consider this: if you have, for example, one hundred gigabytes of music on your PC, then at least ten of them are duplicates.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that such files may differ in both name and size. The only criterion by which such copies can be found is an audio track, which can be distinguished either by ear or by means of special programs. We will talk further about the best programs capable of finding duplicate audio files.

Best qualities Music programs Duplicate Remover Its speed and search quality are considered. The principle of its operation is that it listens to all audio recordings and remembers them, and then compares them with each other and looks for matches. Of course, this procedure takes much longer than checking universal programs, and therefore the speed here is fast only if you compare it with similar programs. The average scan time is about two hours per hundred gigabytes of files (which, by the way, is about three songs per second).

Program Audio Comparer is quite similar to the previous option both in terms of search principle and in terms of effectiveness. She is not inferior to her either in speed or accuracy. It is worth mentioning separately that it has a kind of wizard that helps users understand the basic principles of the program when they are just starting to work with it.

Another program that deserves your attention is Dupe Guru Music Edition. Even the original version of the Dupe Guru program is quite competitive and boasts excellent speed and accuracy. But what is especially interesting is the small modification made by the developers in Music versions Edition.

In the work of programs, looking for duplicates There is such a thing as “original file,” which means a file that will not be considered a copy and, after cleaning, will remain on your PC. Usually, the original is the file that was found before its copies; in rare cases it is given to the user to choose.

But Dupe Guru Music Edition, except ordinary comparison by sound, also makes a comparison by the quality of the audio file and, after checking, makes the original the file whose quality was higher than the rest. That is, after deleting copies, you will only have the highest quality version of the composition on your PC.

Duplicate photo file search program

A large number of identical images in PC memory is also a very common problem among users. But at the same time look for identical pictures manually is almost the most difficult thing. Besides that identical images can be different formats, resolution or quality, so they are usually not signed yet, unlike the same video or audio files. Viewing and remembering all the pictures yourself, and then looking for copies in nameless lists is a thankless task, and therefore the help of a program that will search for duplicate files on the computer for you will be more useful than ever. Below are the best programs for finding duplicate photos on your computer.

Image Dupeless

The first program that will suit you for this purpose is Image Dupeless. This program will find everything pretty quickly similar images, which are on your computer, and will offer them to you detailed list with the ability to compare them with each other. The approximate time for checking this program is about half an hour per gigabyte of files (which in turn is about one thousand images of average quality).

The program is completely translated into Russian and is distributed free of charge on the Internet. At the same time, it is one of the easiest programs of this kind.

Application Image Comparer is shareware, that is, you can download it without any investments, but you will have to pay extra to use certain functions. In terms of speed and size, the program is not inferior to Image Dupeless, but in addition it has several more advantages. Many users call the main advantage “a wizard for working with the program,” which helps you get comfortable “at first.”

However, what really looks interesting is the file verification procedure. The Image Comparer program will not only find copies of files, but will also set the percentage of their matches and even mark different places directly in the photo. This approach greatly simplifies checking for duplicates.

Based on all of the above, we can without a doubt call Image program Comparer is the easiest to use.

Once again the Dupe Guru program, but this time a slightly different version. Searching using Dupe Guru Picture Edition takes a little longer than using other applications, but the search quality is much higher. The program compares absolutely all images stored on your PC, regardless of their format, resolution or size.

Finding and removing duplicate video files on your computer

Here we come to the last type of duplicate files - video files. Of course, in order for identical films to appear on your computer, there must really be a lot of them, but in this case, even one copy will weigh up to several gigabytes, and therefore it is definitely worth checking. Several applications will help you with this.

Duplicate Video Search will allow you to find identical video files quickly and efficiently. It searches for copies based on video titles, sizes, and bitrates. In general, the program is nothing special, but it still has one interesting function in its arsenal.

We have already encountered the concept of “original file”, and now it’s time to remember it again. The fact is that the Duplicate Video Search program, just like Dupe Guru Music Edition, selects as the original file the one whose quality is the highest and it is the one that will remain on your computer after the search for duplicates is completed.

Main plus Video programs Comparer is its speed. The program uses a rather interesting algorithm, in which it compares not the entire video, but only its individual fragments, which saves verification time.

The program also has disadvantages, for example the lack of Russian localization. True, thanks to the simple and clear interface this does not greatly affect the work process, and you can use the application on an intuitive level.

What really hinders the growth of the application’s popularity is the lack free version. What Video Comparer can offer you is trial period, for a period of thirty days, and then you will have to pay 20 euros for further use programs.

This concludes the article about finding duplicate files on your computer. As you can see, this procedure It can hardly be called difficult, but it will allow you to free up quite a lot of space on your computer. Checking for duplicate files will never be superfluous, because, as mentioned earlier, many users do not even realize how many identical files they have before checking everything.

Surely, any of us have duplicate files accumulated on our disk over time. Files in "Downloads" that you have downloaded several times, identical photos and musical compositions, lying in such depths that hands simply cannot reach them. You can get rid of all this manually, but they will do the work for you much faster special utilities, searching for identical files.

A very popular “cleaner” that probably everyone has installed. Yes, he's not only looking system garbage and clear history and browser cookies, but also remove duplicate files.

Platforms: Windows, Mac.

Price: free, $24.95 for premium version.

The program searches for files with the same or similar names and identical content. Works well with music and can find similar music files, even if they have different tags. In addition, dupeGuru can compare images to find not only identical, but simply similar photos.

Developed for Mac and Linux. Version for Windows more is not supported by the developer, but it can be downloaded from the official website - it is fully functional.

Platforms: Windows, Mac, Linux.

An advanced file search application that, among other things, can remove duplicates. SearchMyFiles has flexible filters so you can customize search results the way you want.

Platforms: Windows.

A popular Mac application that searches for the same or similar files and shows you the difference between them. Copies in “Photos”, in the iTunes music library - nothing will pass by Gemini 2. The developers have announced a smart duplicate search mechanism that remembers which files you leave and what you decide to delete.

Platforms: Mac.

Although AllDup is free, it does a lot. Searches for, deletes, copies and moves duplicate files, including identical audio recordings with different tags. Present flexible setup search. Using the built-in viewer, you can examine files and choose what to delete.

Platforms: Windows.

Duplicate File Finder quickly and efficiently finds duplicate files. Provides interesting opportunity search for duplicates not only on the hard drive, but also in local network. Can work with images and music, comparing both tags and content. The preview function will help you figure out what to really delete and what to leave. Unfortunately, quite a few options are not available in the free version.

Platforms: Windows.

Price: free, $29.95 for premium version.

Universal file manager, which can do anything with your files. Including finding duplicate files. You can enable the search for copies option on the search parameters tab, in the same place where you specify other attributes of the searched files.

Platforms: Windows.

DupeGuru looks like the most attractive option. It's free, but it offers everything necessary functions to rid your disk of accumulated junk. The only sad thing is that development of the Windows version has been stopped. Windows users For those who don't want to pay for commercial alternatives, AllDup is more suitable. And CCleaner and Total Commander- these are more universal and widespread solutions that are probably already installed on everyone.

After permanent use computer, large amounts of data are accumulated 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 command line PowerShell string, but this is very inconvenient, especially for beginners it will be difficult. Therefore it is easier to use third party programs. One of these is called AllDup. It is completely free, available in Russian, supported by everyone operating systems Windows is 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 given) under the required version programs.

Behind 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 no need to produce. That's why 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:

    Selecting folders on your drives where AllDup program will look for duplicates.

    Folders are selected in the "Source Folders" section. You can mark entire local drives or separate folders on your computer. Usually, users roughly guess where duplicates may be located and in this case it is better to choose 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 you are not interested in (for example, duplicates of all sorts of system Windows files, which 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 have to select the desired folder and it will be added to the list.

    Other parameters on at this stage It's better to leave it as is. See also Ways to hack your passwords and Limiting operating time in Windows 10.

    Method for finding duplicates.

    This important stage, 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 photos, 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 photographs may have same name files, 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, MP4 video only. 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 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. Specify required parameters at the bottom, 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.

How more files in the folders you specified is located 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 top menu“Search Result” 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 your 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 in standard program Windows, through which you usually open all files of the selected type.

To delete duplicates, check them, right-click and select one of the options: delete file in Windows Recycle Bin, or permanent deletion.

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 overall volume 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 choose required action(1) and click OK (2). You don't need 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 desired result just double click on it.

Conclusion

AllDup - very convenient program to find 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 fast processing a large volume of duplicates found. Of course there is also similar programs, which probably also do their job well. So far I have only tried AllDup and I don’t see any point in changing it yet.

Deleting identical files (copies of the same file) or folders can free up free disk space and reduces unnecessary trash in the system, which has a positive effect on speed systems. Sometimes duplicates are created by the user himself (for example, the same photos are copied to different folders, located inside the same physical disk), in some cases they remain after using different software. The function of searching for unnecessary copies is performed by many applications, most of which are distributed as free ( for free). Let us describe the operation of several such applications.

Removing duplicates using Total Commander

We use Dupeguru

This software is designed solely to scan the system for copies and does not perform other functions.


AllDup to detect duplicates

The design of the program is made in a beautiful and easy-to-use style. Immediately after launch, a window appears with a brief management for finding duplicates. You can search anywhere physical disk entirely by checking the required local drives.

Or add individual folders by clicking on the arrow next to the " Source folders" and selecting " Add folders».

Let's try to find duplicates in the Games folder in local disk"WITH:\"

Activate the tab " Search method", setting up the criteria. By default, the option to search for duplicates only by similar names, if necessary, tick the required settings. It is advisable to enable search by extensions, otherwise the software may show files with similar names even if they are not copies of each other.

Afterwards, press the button start search.

Once completed, a new window will open with results, in which we tick unnecessary files , right-click on file, which is supposed to be cleared of duplicates (open context menu) and select " Delete all other files from this group permanently" to delete copies. In this case, the original itself will remain untouched, only duplicates will be deleted.

How to use DuplicateCleaner Free

A very thoughtful application for finding and removing duplicates on your computer. In this case, you can perform search all files in normal mode, search for copies of images or music, or identical folders.

Launch the application. First of all, we set up the search criteria, for this in the section “ Additional options » mark the setting « With the same name" and go to the tab " Scan path»

Select a folder, press the button additions selected folder into included paths and click the button " Scan».

We wait for the end of the scan, which will display statistics detected duplicates in a separate window. We close the window.

In the " Duplicate Files» the list is displayed the same files, mark unnecessary ones and press the menu “ View", select the item " Deleting files»

In the window that opens, click “ Delete file(s)" In this case, it is advisable to include deletion in Cart so that you can restore the necessary files.