How To

How to Find and Remove Duplicate Files from Hard Drive

There is a number of reasons why it is important to avoid having duplicates of files on your hard drive. Having duplicate files can take up hard drive space which may be valuable if you are running low on space. Getting rid of duplicates also makes the hard disk tidy and will avoid any confusion involving the same file located in different places.

Duplicate Files

So what can you do when you want to get rid of all the duplicate files on the computer and what software is available that can help with this task? In this post we will take a look at some of the best duplicate file removers to help you get rid of all your duplicate files.

How to Find and Remove Duplicate Files

There are many free applications out there such as Duplicate Cleaner free by Digital Volcano offers a piece of software that has a high-quality interface and very easy to use. DupeGuru is another company that develops applications that can search and delete duplicates from the hard drive. Both programs are very good at what they do. Duplicate cleaner stays a little ahead with a nicer interface.

In this tutorial we will use Duplicate Cleaner by Digital Volcano. Download Duplicate Cleaner from Digital Volcano’s website. Use the non-cnet version to download.

Duplicate Cleaner Download Page

Once downloaded, install the program and then open it.

Duplicate File Cleaning 1

Under the search criteria tab you will find some options. If it seems to be complicated just leave it as is. Then click on the scan location tab.

Duplicate File Cleaning Search Location

Select a drive or multiple drives here. You can also select folders. After that click on ‘Scan Now’ button located on the top under the menu bar.

Scanning for Duplicate Files

Duplicate Cleaner will scan your drive or folder at this point.

Selecting and Removing Duplicates

Once the scan is completed, you will see all the duplicate files. Select all the files that you want to delete by clicking the check boxes. Afterwards click on ‘File Removal’ button to delete them.

It also offers advanced options. These include images, music and general files. But you need to upgrade to pro version to use them. Its very simple but effective, with a focus on doing the job well without the addition of any annoying features which are not needed. Images can be a type of file which are often duplicated on a hard drive and therefore you may wish to choose an application which is designed specifically for this type of file. There a number of programs that do this very well and will scan the image to make sure that it is a duplicate. This means that you can delete images that are duplicated even if they have a different file name.

Choosing a program such as the ones that I just described are extremely useful for individuals who use the computer on a regular basis and deal with a wide range of files which can easily become duplicated. By keeping one of these applications on the desktop, you will be provided with an easy solution for deleting duplicate files whenever it begins to become an issue. It is also important to consider a file duplication finder which is designed for a specific type of file, and this is especially important if you work within a specific medium, such as that of imagery or music and consistently have problems with duplicating files. If you need any help don’t forget to ask by commenting below.

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