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Program to find & delete duplicate files

Bigtree

Bigtree

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 7, 2007
333
110
Since I have switched from windows I have many duplicate files and even triplicate files! I was told (from a Mac Genius ) that leopard won't let you look at your picture files. So I want to rid the excess and save some hard drive space.

Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Bigtree said:
... I was told (from a Mac Genius ) that leopard won't let you look at your picture files. ...
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You are asking a questions about a future OS about an issue that is of no interest to developers. You need to be clear about what you are asking for. Do you want to delete duplicate files or just duplicate picture files?
 
I want to clean up all files (pics and other files) before I install Leopard.
 
dirt farmer - your reply may have been in response to a very old thread... but perfectly timed for me! :) Thank you!
 
+1 for dupeGuru. I just downloaded it last night after stumbling across this thread.

After numerous "duplicate file finder mac osx", "fslint osx" style Google searches, I'd have to say that it's pretty hard to come up with much. I'd installed TidyUp! and Chipmunk demos, but neither of them really seemed to do the trick for me, so there was no way I was forking out money on them (though I do think some of the paid-for ones have file analysis of photos and music to identify "similar" files which dupeGuru doesn't - it only detects exact matches).

I really like dupeGuru's option to "delete and replace with hardlink" for duplicates as an alternative to just deleting. (Warning - I haven't tried the following yet - do at your own peril) - if you move files around, TimeMachine doesn't detect them as the same file, thus doesn't create hardlinks on your TimeMachine drive, wasting space. dupeGuru *could* free up space on TimeMachine whilst keeping the file directory structure the same.
 
grazanaut said:
+1 for dupeGuru. I just downloaded it last night after stumbling across this thread.

After numerous "duplicate file finder mac osx", "fslint osx" style Google searches, I'd have to say that it's pretty hard to come up with much. I'd installed TidyUp! and Chipmunk demos, but neither of them really seemed to do the trick for me, so there was no way I was forking out money on them (though I do think some of the paid-for ones have file analysis of photos and music to identify "similar" files which dupeGuru doesn't - it only detects exact matches).

I really like dupeGuru's option to "delete and replace with hardlink" for duplicates as an alternative to just deleting. (Warning - I haven't tried the following yet - do at your own peril) - if you move files around, TimeMachine doesn't detect them as the same file, thus doesn't create hardlinks on your TimeMachine drive, wasting space. dupeGuru *could* free up space on TimeMachine whilst keeping the file directory structure the same.
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Thanks for the post. I was also in search of such software that can clean all duplicate files, language binaries, large unwanted files etc. I downloaded "Dupreguru" but problem is its not fulfilling any of my requirement also It seems confusing to me. Then I tried "Tidyup" & Googled "Stellar Speedup Mac". I found stellar speedup mac little bit more worthy till now. Working on the same and will update here once I finish up till then do anyone having any ideas?
 
So guys hope you doing well!! I have a good news, from last two days I was working on Stellar Speedup Mac. As I promised, here is glimpse of my analysis:

Below is screen shot of the working of software for you as I tried to find language files:
phpR1AxHLPM.jpg


I can never imagine that my Mac could have about 1 GB of unwanted language files. Speedup Mac present all them in form of tree infront of me and without wasting even a sec I pressed remove. I quickly tried other options:Large files, Duplicate Files, Universal binaries, cache/temporary files and finally found my mac really speed Up...:) :)
There is one more option: "uninstaller" I haven't tried yet.
 
Last edited:
niksimpsons said:
I can never imagine that my Mac could have about 1 GB of unwanted language files. Speedup Mac present all them in form of tree infront of me and without wasting even a sec I pressed remove.
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Removing these files can cause unintended consequences. For example if you have Microsoft Office, this can cause future updaters to fail. It probably does the same for Office 2011.
 
I use Mackeeper for finding duplicates, work very well plus does a lot of other things as well!!!!
 
sparkies02 said:
I use Mackeeper for finding duplicates, work very well plus does a lot of other things as well!!!!
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I highly recommend avoiding that app completely, based on the many problems people have reported with such apps, and I find it highly suspicious that so frequently those promoting it are doing so with their first (and many times, only) post in this forum.

You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Some can even degrade, rather than improve system performance.

Some remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process. These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space.

Some of these apps delete caches, which can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt. Caches exist to improve performance, so deleting them isn't advisable in most cases.

Many of the tasks performed by these apps should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

 
GGJstudios said:
I highly recommend avoiding that app completely, based on the many problems people have reported with such apps, and I find it highly suspicious that so frequently those promoting it are doing so with their first (and many times, only) post in this forum.

You don't need "cleaner" or "maintenance" apps to keep your Mac running well, and some of these apps can do more harm than good. Some can even degrade, rather than improve system performance.

Some remove files/folders or unused languages or architectures, which does nothing more than free up some drive space, with the risk of deleting something important in the process. These apps will not make your Mac run faster or more efficiently, since having stuff stored on a drive does not impact performance, unless you're running out of drive space.

Some of these apps delete caches, which can hurt performance, rather than help it, since more system resources are used and performance suffers while each cache is being rebuilt. Caches exist to improve performance, so deleting them isn't advisable in most cases.

Many of the tasks performed by these apps should only be done selectively to troubleshoot specific problems, not en masse as routine maintenance.

Mac OS X does a good job of taking care of itself, without the need for 3rd party software. Among other things, it has its own maintenance scripts that run silently in the background on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, without user intervention.

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+1

I think OS X does a great job of maintaining itself. Every now and then I will run Disk Utility to keep the permissions in check. For the most part though, I just use it and it works. ;)
 
tekmoe said:
Every now and then I will run Disk Utility to keep the permissions in check. For the most part though, I just use it and it works. ;)
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Some people repair, or recommend repairing permissions for situations where it isn't appropriate. Repairing permissions only addresses very specific issues. It is not a "cure all" or a general performance enhancer, and doesn't need to be done on a regular basis. It also doesn't address permissions problems with your files or 3rd party apps.
Disk Utility repairs the permissions for files installed by the Mac OS X Installer, Software Update, or an Apple software installer. It doesn’t repair permissions for your documents, your home folder, and third-party applications. You can verify or repair permissions only on a disk with Mac OS X installed.
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Does Disk Utility check permissions on all files? Files that aren't installed as part of an Apple-originated installer package are not listed in a receipt and therefore are not checked. For example, if you install an application using a non-Apple installer application, or by copying it from a disk image, network volume, or other disk instead of installing it via Installer, a receipt file isn't created. This is expected. Some applications are designed to be installed in one of those ways. Also, certain files whose permissions can be changed during normal usage without affecting their function are intentionally not checked.
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If repairing permissions results in error messages, some of these messages can be ignored and should be no cause for concern.
 
smotania said:
I use gemini its paid but its work for me when i was migrating from win to mac
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I use the old version of Gemini (1.5.17) and I'm very happy with it. However, I didn't like the new version. It finds similar files in pictures such as burst shots and treats them as duplicates. You have to go through each of those carefully if you want to keep them, and that's a lot of work.
 
I use compare folders for the Mac App Store.. to compare (the has checking is extra)

There is also Araxis Find Duplicate Files but if defaults to hash checking, (comparing exact unmodified files)..

Useless, you are comparing original copies files only, it's useless. Plus, the 'hash check' while more accurate way of comparing, takes much longer. Compare Folders is way quicker... That's a fact.

I used to use Gemini as well (new version), but it found a lot more duplicates than there should of been
 
GGJstudios said:
Some people repair, or recommend repairing permissions for situations where it isn't appropriate. Repairing permissions only addresses very specific issues. It is not a "cure all" or a general performance enhancer, and doesn't need to be done on a regular basis. It also doesn't address permissions problems with your files or 3rd party apps.

If repairing permissions results in error messages, some of these messages can be ignored and should be no cause for concern.
Click to expand...
This sounds like an interesting work. I am gonna do it for sure.
 
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