I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to delete duplicate files. I had to go through all and check off which ones to delete. I just didn't have the time to do it. My suggestion is this. Set up the function so that when all the duplicates are listed, we can click a box that says, "delete all files except one copy". This would be very quick and save us untold amounts of time. As it is now, not many have the time to go through hundreds and select each one to delete.
Dangerous idea could easily cause problems with windows. Not all duplicates should be removed
There has got to be a way! I needed to clean duplicate files for a long time. Now I purchased CCleaner Pro, it shows me the gazillion duplicate files, but I have to select each one individually!? it will take forever and makes the function useless. there should be an option to select all then exclude some, or a warning of what files not to delete and prompt to delete all duplicates but system ones. Im going to have to get my money back because if i cant delete files quick and efficient, then I might as well do it by myself for free.
CCleaner will do the biggest job of finding the duplicate files, saving you the time of comparing every every file in every directory yourself. That would take you days if not months.
But once it has found the duplicates only you can decide which is the one you want to keep.
And of course some will be system files, backups, etc. that should not be deleted.
I like the idea that maybe there should be a quick settings option to only to scan the user directories, /pictures, /documents, /videos, etc. and leave everything 'system' alone.
(But some people do save files in strange places, by mistake or on purpose).
Of course you can always set that yourself; tick the 'System files' box in 'Ignore' and then use the 'Include' (and/or 'Exclude') options to compare only the user directories you want.
image the scenario, you have 1000's of pictures, scattered across multiple folders.
most are there because you put them there but there will be some that have been made simply by dragging a folder and dropping it in the wrong place, making a copy.
or sliding the mouse mid-double click and relocating a folder.
you then use Dup File Finder, showing you all those pictures - how does it know all the pics in "Holiday in Paris" is the legit folder and "Holiday in Paris - Copy" is the duplicate.
image the angry screams when it deletes the wrong one.
if you want to use it, feel free - but the caveat is - have a very recent backup of either the entire system or of the files being deleted before so.
I'm having this same difficult time deleting a lot of duplicate files. One idea I have (now that I've backed everything up) is to check the containing folders and delete entire folders. This will save me from clicking thousands of files.
I hope that is a good suggestion.
Hi barbie v,
CCleaner is a very good software but not to remove duplicates (too limited in functionality).
To have help with the automatic deletion, we must use software dedicated to the deletion like [removed by moderation]... They can choose the duplicate to delete according to your criteria (size, date, quality of the image, ...). It saves time, but watch what you do!!!