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I have a ton of needed files on my PC that are all over the place, and I would like to clean them up somehow. Does anyone know a good tool I can use to find duplicates or something like that?

I wrote one that compares MD5 and filesizes of files, but it's a console application and not very easy to use, and there must be something better available. At the same time googling and downloading random crap I see on the netz is not what I do anymore, so I was hoping someone here can advise a good, verified tool.

So far files are all over the place, and I have to keep them somewhat synchronized between 2 computers, so I have a lot of laptop_date1\desktop\desktop\desktop, laptop_date2\desktop\desktop\desktop stuff there that's a complete nightmare to browse. Any tips?

Duplicate files finders at http://doubles.sourceforge.net/

It probably goes without saying but be careful not to trash any system files. Some of these programs can be set to auto pilot.

I have tried CloneSpyon Windows which seemed to work ok.

Madman wrote:

I have a ton of needed files on my PC that are all over the place, and I would like to clean them up somehow. Does anyone know a good tool I can use to find duplicates or something like that?

Try Total Commander 7.x from ghisler, which I've been using everyday for the past decade. Its file indexing is not the fastest but it's a stable and fast-enough 2-pane file explorer/manager, it can find duplicates as well as single files, search filters galore, synchronize by content as well as date, network and ftp, batch rename using masks and file attributes, other stuff too numerous to mention.

@trackerben Cool I didn't realise Total Commander was so versatile. Would be great if it was cross platform too.

Burn the data to a DVD and then delete it. Copy the data back to the PC if you need it.

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

Burn the data to a DVD and then delete it. Copy the data back to the PC if you need it.

That's one way to approach it, but you need a lot of DVDs nowadays, considering capacity constraints. You could, of course, store backups on BD-R/RW, but that method - and the appropriate burner drives - are still much more expensive than DVD counterparts, and a questionable value unless you have income to burn.

Over longer spans of time though, it might not actually pay off - and it will take a load of shelf space as an added perk. Consider a 1+ TB portable backup drive and weigh the costs and convenience.

Once you've gotten the dupes removed, sounds like it's time to get religion about organizing your files.

Meadows wrote:

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

Burn the data to a DVD and then delete it. Copy the data back to the PC if you need it.

That's one way to approach it, but you need a lot of DVDs nowadays, considering capacity constraints.

How much real data is one likely to have though? Once you take out ripped media and system files, I'd say most computer backups can fit onto a couple 4.7GB DVD without too much trouble. Especially if you are using compression.

You're making a ton of unwarranted assumptions about what he's got.

I wouldn't use compression on any backups I'd like a fighting chance at recovering if the disc goes a bit bad, either.

The free utility, EasyCleaner, can find duplicate files.

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

Burn the data to a DVD and then delete it. Copy the data back to the PC if you need it.

That makes even more mess Then you have copies of data on PC, copies on Laptop, and copies on DVD (I use an extra HDD instead of DVD, I upgraded the system disk, so I got one spare disk for backups now, cheaper per GB and faster).

So all that times Laptop\desktop\desktop\old_desktop\desktop\*.*, and there is a problem

bthylafh wrote:

Once you've gotten the dupes removed, sounds like it's time to get religion about organizing your files.

Any tips on that? I tried to invent my own system, but it always ends up in even more mess

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

How much real data is one likely to have though? Once you take out ripped media and system files, I'd say most computer backups can fit onto a couple 4.7GB DVD without too much trouble. Especially if you are using compression.

With RAW photos it's about 200Gigs I guess, but these I backup in one folder, so they are somewhat ordered. The worse part is school papers, presentations with prerendered videos from my programming projects, compiled executables, database backups for test projects, pdb files (~100MB per project). They are not large, but all over the place, with different revisions. All in all it adds up.

I wonder if you can use some sort of SVN with dupe detection for documents, presentations, videos etc.?

I will study the tools linked here, thanks a lot!

I organize stuff hierarchically in folders.

Say you have a few top-level folders: one for documents, one for pictures, another for music, another for videos (i.e. what Win7 does). Put the stuff into the correct folder, then create folders for subject matter, say a folder named "Summer Vacation" under the Pictures folder. If you take a vacation yearly, then create 2009, 2010, and 2011 folders inside that. Maybe you went to three places in 2010, so if you want to get fancy create a folder for each destination in the 2010 folder. Then stick the pictures where they go. I'd go a step further and make the filenames reflect what's being shown.

For music, I organize by artist, then by album. Sometimes I do it by genre, then artist, then album.

My brain works well with this scheme, but your mileage may vary. Other people may like having a program organize things for them, like Picasa does for pictures. The strength of my system, IMO, is that it doesn't care what program you use to look at stuff.

The last time I needed to do cleanup and eliminate duplicates and older versions of files, I used Microsoft's free SyncToy:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=15155

Aether wrote:

The last time I needed to do cleanup and eliminate duplicates and older versions of files, I used Microsoft's free SyncToy:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=15155

The post you replied to was a necro of a really old thread by a spammer. You must've posted as I was deleting/banning...

Doh! All I saw was the month May; I missed that it was May 2011!

May I try to renew this thread? Are there any feedback on gzip?

agnes8 wrote:

May I try to renew this thread? Are there any feedback on gzip?

Gzip is a file compression tool, not a tool for finding duplicate files or cleaning the system. Completely different thing.