Easy duplicate finder free Archives

When your Mac is running low on disk space it may begin to act unusual, slow down or lock up. The solution sounds easy, right? Delete files to free up space! However, it can be tedious to find files to delete on your Mac, especially if you have a large hard disk. One of the easiest ways to free up space on your Mac is to delete duplicate files. When using the right tools this doesn’t have to be a complicated task!

Below, we have put together a list of 5 popular free duplicate file finders for Mac which will make finding and deleting duplicates on your Mac much easier:

1. Disk Drill

Disk Drill is a well respected, powerful data recovery app that offers many additional features for free! One of the best bonus features Disk Drill offers is the free duplicate finderfor Mac. This feature allows you to analyze internal and external drives and find duplicate files on Mac. You can find duplicate files such as songs, videos, images and documents, just to name a few.

Disk Drill is one of the best duplicate file finders available free for Mac. Disk Drill only requires a small amount of disk space to run and a computer that supports Mac OS X 10.8.5 or later. Using Disk Drill is quite intuitive and easy, even if you are not a computer expert.

All you need to do is download the app from Disk Drill’s website, double-click on it and follow the installation steps. Once installed, launch the app and select “Find duplicates”.

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Locations can be selected either by dragging folders into the Duplicate Finder or by selecting “Add folder” and then browsing through your computer until the folder is found. Several folders can be selected at a time. Once the folders are selected, you can select “Scan” and Disk Drill will show a list of duplicate files. Selected duplicates can then be removed quickly and easily.

Bonus: If you make a mistake and accidentally delete the wrong file, Disk Drill has an added advantage over other apps as it’s designed for powerful file recovery. Disk Drill can scan and recover files quickly with support for most files and partitions.

You can download the Basic Edition of Disk Drill for free from the CleverFiles Website.

2. MacClean

MacClean is a free tool that helps you locate and remove duplicate photos, songs, apps, documents and other files from your Mac. This duplicate file finder for Mac is available in English, Spanish, German, French and Japanese.

We've covered many ways that you can save space on your storage drives over the years, most recently discussing how to manually go through large files and testing cleanup utilities, resetting Windows to its default state without losing your files, and methods for deleting the Windows.old backup, in all scenarios potentially reclaiming several gigabytes of storage in the process. Deleting duplicate files on your system could easily result in clean out that is similarly sizable if only a few large files are found.

Windows doesn't make it easy to deal with duplicate files all by itself. While there are many options for accomplishing this sort of task with batch files or PowerShell scripts, we assume most people would prefer something that doesn't involve a command prompt.

Without installing third party software, your only option is running a search for a specific file via Windows Explorer and manually deleting the duplicates that appear. This isn't helpful, of course, if you don't know which files have duplicates.

Those of you using the powerful File Explorer alternative Total Commander may know already that it includes the ability to search for duplicate files (it's on the second search page) among the dozens of other features it provides over the Windows File Explorer aimed at power users.

If you'd rather not add any additional third party software to your system or learn your way around a new file explorer, it's worth mentioning that CCleaner has a duplicate file finder built in (Tools > Duplicate Finder), if you happen to use that already. Note however we're not as fond of CCleaner as we used to be and there are better alternatives these days.

Third party tools to find duplicate files

You're probably going to need one of these tools...

We've installed all of the above and unless you're after some specific feature, CloneSpy gets our recommendation for having a light, albeit somewhat cluttered interface. CloneSpy displays just enough options by default, it's also free and can be run in "portable" mode without being fully installed, which we tend to like for this kind of utilities.

For a more intuitive interface with simpler functionality than the above, we like Wise Duplicate Finder:

On the premium end of things, Duplicate Cleaner is easily the most popular duplicate tool in our download section, touting loads of features and displaying them in a modern-looking interface that is responsive and scales well with a custom Windows DPI.

If you only plan to run a few quick scans and then uninstall it, the software offers a 15 day trial but costs $29.95 for a lifetime license.

Although you have to uncheck crapware during its installation, Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is free and features a GUI that is about as modern feeling as Duplicate Cleaner yet walks you through the scanning process with a series of prompts instead of opening to a switchboard full of options.

As a final mention, DupScout seems like a decent alternative to CloneSpy if don't care about having a portable installation yet want a relatively clean interface that isn't quite as dated or barren (add a profile on the left to get started).

Visualize Those Large Files

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Finding Duplicate Files on macOS

Duplicate File Finder Remover on the Mac App Store comes highly recommended, with a ton of features on top of a very intuitive UI. Some advanced features are available at a cost, but that's entirely optional.

Two more recommended apps for macOS users: Trend Micro's Dr. Cleaner is free and offers a disk cleaner and big file finder. While Disk Inventory X is a dedicated tool to show the sizes of files and folders in a treemap graph, similar to the Windows example above.

Other Useful Tips

Duplicate file finders scan your hard drive for unnecessary duplicated files and help you remove them, freeing up space. Here are our picks for the best duplicate file finders, whether you’re looking for something easy to use, an application you may already have installed, or a powerful tool with the most advanced filters.

You shouldn’t use these tools to remove duplicate files found in system folders like the Windows and Program Files folders. Windows and the programs you use may need these duplicate files in different locations to function properly.

Find and Delete Duplicate Files the Easy Way with Duplicate Cleaner Pro

If you’re really serious about finding and killing duplicate files, your best bet is Duplicate Cleaner Pro, which has an extremely simple interface with powerful features to delete duplicate files. This software isn’t free, but they do offer a free trial that you can use to test whether you like it. And of course, you don’t have to worry about crapware or spyware.

The Best Easy-to-Use Tool: Auslogics Duplicate File Finder

Many duplicate file finders are rather complex, and packed with many different options. Auslogics Duplicate File Finder is different from most, offering a simple interface that walks you through the process. It has other convenient features everyone should appreciate, such as a built-in preview pane that allows you to view images, listen to music files, and preview videos so you can see what files you’re deleting.

Some reviews knock Auslogics for bundling additional junkware with this application, but they’ve cleaned up their act somewhat since then. The installer did offer to install Auslogics Driver Updater when we installed the duplicate file finder, however. Be sure to uncheck any additional software offered during the installation process, as you don’t need a driver updater.

This application has sensible default settings offers a simple wizard that will walk you through the process. It will search non-system folders on all connected drives by default, but you can easily select which drives and folders you want to search in the sidebar. By default, it will search for images, audio files, video files, archives, and applications, but you can select only one type of file or have it look for all file types. You can easily tell it to search for files with a specific word or bit of text in their name if you’re looking for a specific file.

Once you’ve performed a search, you’ll see a list of duplicate files and you can easily view previews of them and other information. Or, to further narrow things down, you can click the “Filter” button and filter by date, size, or file type. Select the files you want to delete and click the “Delete Selected Files” button to send them to the Recycle Bin.

The Best Tool You May Already Have Installed: CCleaner

CCleaner is a popular tool, so there’s a good chance you already have it installed. CCleaner’s main feature is its junk file remover, which frees up space on your hard drive by removing unnecessary temporary files, but it also has quite a few other built-in tools, including a duplicate file finder.

Launch CCleaner and click Tools > Duplicate Finder to find this feature. It’s available on all versions of CCleaner, so you don’t need to pay for CCleaner Pro to use it.

CCleaner’s default settings are sensible, and will allow you to search for duplicate files on your C: drive while ignoring system files and hidden files. You could also choose to search a specific directory by clicking the “Add” button on the Include pane and selecting that folder. Be sure to select “Include files and subfolders” option while adding a new folder to ensure CCleaner searches any folders inside the folder you specify, too.

This tool’s interface for viewing duplicate files isn’t fancy, and doesn’t have all the same preview options Auslogics Duplicate File Finder does. However, it does allow you to easily select which files you want to delete and even save the list of duplicates to a text file.  but it’s a basic interface that allows you to select which files you want to delete and even save the list of duplicate files to a text file. You can right-click a file in the list and select “Open containing folder” if you want to view the file itself on your system.

The Best Tool With Advanced Filters: SearchMyFiles

SearchMyFiles is a more advanced application with more customizable filters. It can search for files created, modified, or accessed only between specific dates and times you specify, for example.

This tool is created by NirSoft, who also creates many other useful free tools that never contain bundled junkware. Like many other NirSoft applications, it’s a portable app.

Launch it and you’ll see a complex looking search dialog. You’ll want to select “Duplicates Search” in the Search Mode box at the top of the window and then choose folders to search by clicking the “Browse” button to the right of Base Folders. For example, you could select C:\ to search your entire C: drive for duplicates. Configure whatever other settings you like and click “Start Search” to search for duplicate files. You’ll see a list of duplicate files arranged into groups, and you can select which ones you want to remove.

Many websites recommend dupeGuru as one of the best duplicate file finder tools, but it’s no longer officially supported on Windows. You shouldn’t download an old version of dupeGuru anymore, either—the developer says he’s seen reports of bugs on Windows 10 and doesn’t have time to fix them.