Windows: Find and delete duplicate pictures
Anyone who frequently loads pictures from the Internet and saves them on the hard drive or repeatedly backs up pictures from their mobile phone will at some point have a lot of duplicates on the hard drive. GIGA shows you how you can find duplicate images and delete them selectively, even if they have different names.
The images are called P6020254.JPG or P7080816.JPG, are 7MB each and there are thousands of them. Even with photo management you can no longer master this flood. Inevitably there will be a lot of duplicate images. Fortunately, there are programs that can specifically search for duplicate images and help you to make room again.
Find duplicate images by name
Finding that P6020250.JPG among 2000 other photos is a difficult task. But if you then want to look for duplicates on your drives, it can turn into a Sisyphean task. But here you will find support from programs such as the freeware AllDup, which you can use to specifically track down files that are present several times.
Like a fisherman, the program works with different nets, with filters that you can adjust more and more closely. In the simplest method, AllDup searches for it same name before the file extension. So find P6020250.JPG as well as P6020250.PNG or P6020250.DOC.
If there are too many and too imprecise findings, then the network simply pulls closer:
First of all you look for images of the same name in the same format. Then they should too same file size to have. This type of filter is quite effective. The search for results in a much stronger limitation Creation date or modification date. A lot can slip through if files were given a different date while copying, for example. In this case you have to resort to the last resort – the Search for identical file contents. In this way, the program really finds all files that are identical down to the last bit, even if their names are completely different.
Annotation:
AllDup is not an artificial intelligence. As long as the name is not identical, no duplicate images will be found that only differ in resolution. Searching for identical file content does not help either, because it is different.
Find duplicate images with identical content
Digital cameras number the photos from the beginning. But even the import of the Windows camera ensures that you give the pictures different names – which in turn are numbered. You get other photos from friends – with a completely different naming concept. At some point there will be a mixed culture of files that have found their way onto your record in one way or another. Here a search for the same file name leads to nothing and one has to find more effective means.
Nobody knows whether the pictures “DSC012427.JPG” and “Tim at the fountain.JPG“Are identical. At some point you made a copy of one of them in order to pass it on. Little by little such duplicates accumulate and in such a case you wouldn’t even have the chance to catch them looking for the same name. But AllDup can help you here too.
If you find duplicate images and want to be sure that they are really duplicates, then you have to either check each picture yourself – or the program compare the file content. AllDup offers you exactly this function. A real comparison of the file contents – byte by byte. For example, if you change just one letter in a text file, the program will notice the difference. But if, on the other hand, an identical image is on the hard drive several times under different names, you will only find out this way. Of course it takes time. In any case, much longer than a simple name comparison.
At the end, the program presents you with a list of his finds. And then at the latest it is time to take another look at the result for yourself. Definitely when looking for duplicate pictures by name. But to be on the safe side, even with identical image content. After all, you still have to decide which of the duplicates can be removed.
