Photo Duplicates: Is there a good program for removing duplicate photos from my computer? Free ones would be good, but I guess you will get what you pay for.

Jerry B Loc: Dyckesville, Wisconsin

Is there a good program for removing duplicate photos from my computer? Free ones would be good, but I guess you will get what you pay for.

cm0830 Loc: Lebanon TN

Duplicate File Finder is really good. There is a free version with limited options. I bought the 29.95 version and it is great. I think you might be able to find it at Cnet.com under downloads. Good luck.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Jerry B wrote:

Is there a good program for removing duplicate photos from my computer? Free ones would be good, but I guess you will get what you pay for.

There are two types of duplicate finders. The basic type looks for the same file name. The better type actually knows what files are identical, regardless of name.

I avoid these programs, since I am afraid of deleting files accidentally. I intentionally keep duplicates of some images. For example, I might have the same picture in a Vacation folder and a Boat folder.

anotherview Loc: California

In Bridge in Photoshop, you can sort your images by date created, by name, and so forth.

If you sort your images by date created, then your images will appear side-by-side for the date of creation, even if the image names differ. You can evaluate duplicates for deletion this way.

Just take care in deciding which images to delete.

Of course, your images when deleted do not actually disappear from your computer. Instead, your images go to the Trash Bin. You can visit it to review "deleted" images to Restore them intact, if you wish, to their original location.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

anotherview wrote:

Of course, your images when deleted do not actually disappear from your computer. Instead, your images go to the Trash Bin.

How can I delete images from the LR catalog - the list in the left panel?

Mr PC Loc: Austin, TX

Are you on a PC or Mac? On my PC, I can right-click on a folder or file in LR5 in the Library view and there is a Remove... choice in the menu. This removes from the Catalog, but not from the disk. Or is your question if you remove a photo from the disk outside of LR, how do you get rid of the entry in the LR Catalog? I assume the same way. Hope this helps...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Mr PC wrote:

On my PC, I can right-click on a folder or file in LR5 in the Library view and there is a Remove... choice

That sounds good, too.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Jerry B wrote:

Is there a good program for removing duplicate photos from my computer? Free ones would be good, but I guess you will get what you pay for.

I've used Clonespy for a number of years. It's very good, finds duplicates, lists them, and lets you decide what to do from there.

I've tested it by renaming duplicate files and if found the duplicate. I've provided same file names, but different files, and it wasn't fooled by that trick either. It checks across all the directories you specify, as well.
--Bob

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

rmalarz wrote:

I've used Clonespy for a number of years. It's very good, finds duplicates, lists them, and lets you decide what to do from there.

I've tested it by renaming duplicate files and if found the duplicate. I've provided same file names, but different files, and it wasn't fooled by that trick either. It checks across all the directories you specify, as well.
--Bob

Thanks. I'll take a look.

EDIT: Got it. The opening window suggests reading the help file. "Otherwise you might easily kill your system."

That's a pretty strong warning.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

jerryc41 wrote:

Thanks. I'll take a look.

EDIT: Got it. The opening window suggests reading the help file. "Otherwise you might easily kill your system."

That's a pretty strong warning.

Jerry,
Removing files is always serious business. This is not, and shouldn't be, a set and forget application. It is something that serious thought should be used along with the app. However, it is a very good one, as I wrote earlier. I've never had any problems with using it, but I've also paid attention to what I was doing.
--Bob

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

rmalarz wrote:

I've used Clonespy for a number of years. It's very good, finds duplicates, lists them, and lets you decide what to do from there.

I've tested it by renaming duplicate files and if found the duplicate. I've provided same file names, but different files, and it wasn't fooled by that trick either. It checks across all the directories you specify, as well.
--Bob

I ran CloneSpy, and after 8 minutes, it had looked through 37,000 files. Then it beeped and opened a window with a pair of duplicates. I selected one and deleted it. A few seconds later, it did the same thing with two other files. It stopped until I deleted a file.

I'm sure this isn't the way it's supposed to work. I'd think it would give me one big list of all the duplicates.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

jerryc41 wrote:

I ran CloneSpy, and after 8 minutes, it had looked through 37,000 files. Then it beeped and opened a window with a pair of duplicates. I selected one and deleted it. A few seconds later, it did the same thing with two other files. It stopped until I deleted a file.

I'm sure this isn't the way it's supposed to work. I'd think it would give me one big list of all the duplicates.

Jerry,
Are you sure you have a large number of duplicates?
--Bob

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

rmalarz wrote:

Jerry,
Are you sure you have a large number of duplicates?
--Bob

Out of over 37,000 - Yes. After it did all the scanning, it showed me two duplicates, and I had to do something before it showed me the next two, etc. It showed me two, and then two more, and then two more. Doesn't it present a long list of duplicates?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

jerryc41 wrote:

Out of over 37,000 - Yes. After it did all the scanning, it showed me two duplicates, and I had to do something before it showed me the next two, etc. It showed me two, and then two more, and then two more. Doesn't it present a long list of duplicates?

Jerry,
It should show all of the dups at one time, at least the copy I used did. Look through the documentation and see if there is a setting that will allow all of them to display at one time.

The other possibility is that the files are in different directories and it is going one directory at a time. However, it's always showed me all of them at the same time.

Please, be aware. It's been a couple of years since I've needed to use anything to remove duplicates. I've been a lot more careful as of late than I used to be.
--Bob

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

rmalarz wrote:

Jerry, br It should show all of the dups at one ti... (show quote)

I'll try it again tomorrow.