Duplicate image finder doesnt scan whole external hard drive!

[Jonnyaaaaaa]

Hello,

I have a simple ask! :-)

Im looking for the right settings on my c cleaner (free) duplicate image finder to scan a very messy external HD for duplicate files...It picks some files...but not others. 

Do I need to pay for the c cleaner to get better options? 

Thanks! In advance...

Jonaaaa

[nukecad]

There is no difference to the Duplicate Finder in the Free and Pro versions.

If it isn't finding what you want, and you are sure that there are duplictes to be found, then it will be in the way that you are setting the search parameters.

Firstly there are the 'Match by' and 'Ignore' settings on the main interface.
Then you can go further by specifying filetypes, wildcards etc. when you add/edit a pathname to search.

For example if you have the 'Match by' to search for 'Modified date' then it will not find otherwise identical files with different dates.
Or if you set it to search for 'Content' then it will not find 2 photos where one has been resized, or had say red-eye reduction applied, one has been modified so the contents are slightly different.

One thing that can often be overlooked by new users is whether you have set the search path to look in subfolders or not.
eg. if you have set it to search "E:\pictures\" and don't specify to search subfolders then it won't look in "E:\pictures\photos\", or "E:\pictures\holiday\", or any other subfolder, it will only compare the files that are saved in "E:\pictures" itself.

 

If that isn't your issue then if you could tell us your settings, screenshots like above are good, we can try and work out what the problem might be.

[Jonnyaaaaaa]

Thanks...I'll come back to you soon. Thanks for your input :-)

[Jonnyaaaaaa]

Thanks Nukecad, I have found the answer. I unchecked the box with File size under 1mb...and mached by name and content plus I included files in subfolders. I also just selected Name in 'match by'...Would using just Name be sufficient?

Thanks,

Jonathan.

[nukecad]

As you can see in the screenshots above I usually search for duplicate files using size and content for the matching.

If they are true duplicates then the contents (and so the size) will be identical no matter what the name is.

Remember what I said about things like red eye reduction in photos, that will change the contents just a tiny bit so it's no longer a duplicate on contents.
(CCleaner won't find 'similar' image content like that, although some other dedicated duplicate finder apps can do that you then have to judge for yourself just how similar they are).

Searching on names can be useful, but can also give false impressions depending on the name(s).
As a simple example "Photo_01.jpg" in any particular folder may be totally different to "Photo_01.jpg" in a different folder.