I Need to get Organazised (Page 2): Do duplicate file (images) finders work? If so, which is best? Is there a risk of losing photos?

old poet

Do duplicate file (images) finders work? If so, which is best? Is there a risk of losing photos?

DWU2 Loc: Phoenix Arizona area

Take a close look at Lightroom Classic (not the cloud-based version of LR). With the subscription, you'll also get Adobe Photoshop CC, but don't worry about that at first. Just concentrate on Lightroom. Your photos will be stored where you put them, and not in the Adobe cloud. There'll be a learning curve with LR, as there is with any software product. Take your time and learn the basics. Just remember that once you begin using LR, any photo deletions or moves should be made with LR, not outside of LR. There are add-ons to LR intended to help locate duplicates, but really, LR has several features of its own to help with that.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Les Brown wrote:

Do duplicate file (images) finders work? If so, which is best? Is there a risk of losing photos?

They are aids. They work, but......yes you can delete the wrong files if not carefull. You, the operator, must compare the dups and decide which to delete. It is not an automated process, only an aid. You must ALWAYS be carefull and use caution. Go slow and easy.

redlegfrog

axiesdad wrote:

I have a computer full of pictures I have taken, many (all?) of them duplicated in two or more files, some different photos in different folders with the same file names, etc. etc. A couple of days ago I did a search for jpgs and some pictures showed up up to a dozen times. In other words, I have a mess that has been created over about a dozen years and I need help sorting it out. I would appreciate any suggestions.

I found that changing the name of my photos really helped me to organize. I use "Graphic Converter" by Lemke software It does all kinds of other stuff so its 40 dollars well spent.
It is my go to software for organizing because of the simplicity of name changing, batch or single. They have a free trial.

Bob Mevis Loc: Plymouth, Indiana

I keep my pics
On my C drive and name the parent folder by subject and date. I then back those up to an external drive. This has worked for me for years. I am planning on adding another external drive very soon.

Cameraman

axiesdad wrote:

I have a computer full of pictures I have taken, many (all?) of them duplicated in two or more files, some different photos in different folders with the same file names, etc. etc. A couple of days ago I did a search for jpgs and some pictures showed up up to a dozen times. In other words, I have a mess that has been created over about a dozen years and I need help sorting it out. I would appreciate any suggestions.

Hi:

This is what I would do. Subscribe to Adobe Photoshop. It is only $10 per month. Along with that subscription you will also get a program called Bridge. (You will take, may be, a month or two to organize all the photos so it may cost you only $20 for two months and when you are done, unsubscribe.)

Collect all photos that look like they were taken the same day or week or month. Then open this file in Bridge. Now you can
View, sort, By Date Created
All photos will get sorted by date and time created.
Now you can easily see the duplicate next to each other and you cna keep one of them and delete the rest.

Yes, it will take time but you have made kind of a mess and it will take time to sort it out.

Good luck.

Cameraman

togajim

For starters, I agree you need to backup, backup, backup. 2TB solid state hard drives are under $100

Second, it depends upon how your brain works. Some people like organizing by dates, I organize mine by subject matter. For example, Nature might include birds, astronomy, foliage, waterfalls; birds might include waterfowl, raptors, woodpeckers, while astronomy might include moon, sun, nebulae. Plus, I'm now going back to pix on negatives (>25+ years ago) and scanning them, so I'm finding that organizing by subject matter works best for me. Depends upon how granular you want to get. I'm approaching 10K pictures on negatives!

Xpatch Loc: New York, Antigua, GT.

Photo mechanic plus

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

I am in the same predicament as axiesdad, but after looking into a couple of the suggestions here, I may be on the road to organization. My initial trial is with "Photo Organizer By Systweak" to see how it goes. So far it seems to be a big help. It organizes by date and also by camera brand and model. I may try another two or three to find the right fit, but for now doing my research and trials. Thank you, axiesdad, for posting the thread and to others for the responses.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

PhotogHobbyist wrote:

I am in the same predicament as axiesdad, but after looking into a couple of the suggestions here, I may be on the road to organization. My initial trial is with "Photo Organizer By Systweak" to see how it goes. So far it seems to be a big help. It organizes by date and also by camera brand and model. I may try another two or three to find the right fit, but for now doing my research and trials. Thank you, axiesdad, for posting the thread and to others for the responses.

I can never remember what the date was I shot something and don't want the same place in different date or camera folders.
I have to do mine by subject, then sub-directories for multiple dates. The camera model is in the metadata, along with date taken. I just have mine saved in various folders.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

To find the date taken on a Mac
On My Mac I open pictures click with 2 fingers on the picture and then click on the list that pops up on "Get INFO" and the information that opens has the date taken.