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Duplicate Photo Remover

D

danielowenuk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 18, 2011
275
37
I have a folder with a large number sub-folder and photos.

I want to remove the duplicates, but I don't want half in one subfolder and half in the other (if that makes sense).

Photos/2013/Weddings/Steve/photo1.NEF
Photos/2013/Weddings/Steve/photo2.NEF

are the same as

Photos/2013/August/picture1.NEF
Photos/2013/August/picture2.NEF

I don't want to end up with;

Photos/2013/Weddings/Steve/photo1.NEF
Photos/2013/August/picture2.NEF

Any suggestions?
 
I had previously looked at Gemini but though £7 for this sort of app seemed a touch steep.

Might just have to stop being tight and get it purchased.
 
Stumped up the £7 last night, still needs a fair amount of management but overall I am happy with the purchase.

When there are two folders;

A.jpg
B.jpg

and

1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg

Gemini doesn't offers A.jpg and 1.jpg as duplicate and I can remove either (say I remove A.jpg), the next offering I could remove 2.jpg which leaves the files a little messy, but I might just have to trawl through them after removing the duplicates to make things a little neater.
 
Daniel,

This sounds like a perfect task for the Singlemizer.

Singlemizer has a concept of folder priorities. Just like in your case, sometimes we have folders with original files and folders that are possibly full of duplicates.

You can download the app and find duplicates for free.

When you feed folders to the Singlemizer, specify them in order of decreasing significance. The app will use this information to chose original files among the duplicates. This way only duplicates from a particular folder will be deleted and originals will be kept together.

attachment.php


Hope this helps!

Best wishes, Konstantin Pavlikhin.
Developer of Singlemizer.
 

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I can't help with an app to clean up what you have but you might want to consider migrating to a digital asset manager like iPhoto, Aperture, or Lightroom. Maintaining photos in a folder structure will only become more problematic as you increase your library.
 
glenthompson said:
I can't help with an app to clean up what you have but you might want to consider migrating to a digital asset manager like iPhoto, Aperture, or Lightroom. Maintaining photos in a folder structure will only become more problematic as you increase your library.
Click to expand...

This is (BY FAR) the best advice in this thread.

/Jim
 
I agree. And that is definitely the next step, I am looking to backup the photos to DVD prior to taking that step so removal of duplicates at a file level is required first.

Next step is import to iPhoto and begin to tag and rate etc
 
danielowenuk said:
I agree. And that is definitely the next step, I am looking to backup the photos to DVD prior to taking that step so removal of duplicates at a file level is required first.

Next step is import to iPhoto and begin to tag and rate etc
Click to expand...

I would think that it would be a lot easier to get rid of duplicates once you do your original sorting within a DAM first.

/Jim
 
flynz4 said:
I would think that it would be a lot easier to get rid of duplicates once you do your original sorting within a DAM first.

/Jim
Click to expand...

I could have the wrong idea, but in my experience with Lightroom (incredibly limited) it was an non destructive application, which is not really the desired effect. Also it would involve tagging/rating/naming more photos that I want to.

Nearly completed the removal with Gemini at the file level anyway, and I am eyeing up the different asset manager, I think it could be iPhoto first then Aperture at some stage, mainly because of the easier iPhone/iPad integration.

Plugged the wifes iphone in last night and having a direct backup to iPhoto is something I hadn't even considered (very new mac user).
 
not too much help here but I purchased Gemini a little bit ago. (Thought about the Mac Clean Sweeper or whatever their other app is called but that's like $30-40+) Anyway, Gemini is nice to get rid of lots of files, not just photos.

The other thing, once you have a DAM in place (I started with iPhoto and moved to Aperture last year) is to start looking at the photos I took about 10 years ago and looking back seeing they weren't in focus, DELETE. I used to think, "well, they aren't great but the moment I captured was good" and that style of thought just leads to more "mess"

Tagging and Rating are another great thing to get into...though it can seem more difficult, but once you can take a few moments and get some done, it helps.


**I will have to check out that Singlemizzer app
 
danielowenuk said:
I could have the wrong idea, but in my experience with Lightroom (incredibly limited) it was an non destructive application, which is not really the desired effect. Also it would involve tagging/rating/naming more photos that I want to.

Nearly completed the removal with Gemini at the file level anyway, and I am eyeing up the different asset manager, I think it could be iPhoto first then Aperture at some stage, mainly because of the easier iPhone/iPad integration.

Plugged the wifes iphone in last night and having a direct backup to iPhoto is something I hadn't even considered (very new mac user).
Click to expand...

The primary application of a DAM is photo organization. The editing capabilities (while good) are secondary.

It seems to me that if you organize first, Including the duplicates... then it become easier to remove dups.

/Jim
 
flynz4 said:
The primary application of a DAM is photo organization. The editing capabilities (while good) are secondary.

It seems to me that if you organize first, Including the duplicates... then it become easier to remove dups.

/Jim
Click to expand...

I think I am slightly stuck in my windows way, and I did want the specific JPEG/Raw files to backup instead of having just one library file (plus that won't fit on a DVD).

I do also have some video files that iPhoto won't support, so it could have been problematic trying to do it DAM first.
 
danielowenuk said:
I think I am slightly stuck in my windows way, and I did want the specific JPEG/Raw files to backup instead of having just one library file (plus that won't fit on a DVD).

I do also have some video files that iPhoto won't support, so it could have been problematic trying to do it DAM first.
Click to expand...

iPhoto/Aperture/LR all allow you to keep your photos separate if you want. Even if you keep them in the library... all the pictures are still "in there" in a folder format. The program just removes the complexity for you.

Staying stuck in the "windows way" of doing things is like trying to run marathon with ball and chain attached to your leg.

Finally... backing up to DVD is the worst possible backup. They are tiny and they decay... and when that happens, the entire thing becomes unreadable. Just move to more contemporary backup including local drives, and cloud. You will be much better off.

/Jim
 
I've been quite satisfied with Hyperbolic Software's "Tidy Up." I'm not comfortable generally handing over the decision making to an app, but Tidy Up will let the user make the call, or auto delete. So far, the logic has been perfect. Other apps may do the same, dunno. Lots of options, or run via wizard.
 
Through some weird quirk involving photostream I seem to still have duplicates in my iPhoto library (although much less than before).

I have tried the iPhoto Duplicate Remover that didn't rid me of all duplicates, might try Duplicate Annihaltor as that seems a little more sophisticated.
 
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