Windows 10: How do I compare two folders and delete duplicate files?

A Google search shows a few programs and none of them I'd trust on general principle, you know, the flashy type websites which you know the program is probably full of ad ware or something nasty? Any reliable program that can take two folders and display them side by side and let you select and delete any duplicate files?

:)

 

finding and deleting duplicate files

Download and install DupeGuru from
http://www.hardcoded.net/dupeguru. Be sure to use the correct version for your operating system, including 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows.

Proceed to install it...

Step 2: Select a folder to scan

Launch DupeGuru and you’ll be asked to select which folders to scan. It’s worth limiting this scan so that it completes quickly while you familiarise yourself with the program, so click the + button and select your My Documents folder, then click the Scan button.

Step 3: Check the list of found files

DupeGuru will then scan the selected folder and display a list of files that it thinks are identical, based on their content, with the ‘original’ file highlighted in blue. The list also shows the size of each file for a quick manual comparison and a Match column
that shows how confident DupeGuru is that the files are the same.

Step 4: Delete or move the duplicate files

Once you’re satisfied that the duplicate files have been correctly identified, select Mark All from the Mark menu to select the duplicates. Then, using the Actions menu, you can delete the duplicates or move them all to another folder, regardless of where they
are currently. This is often a better option, since you can delete the files later, when you’re completely sure you don’t need them.

Step 5: Find duplicate files in other ways

Select Preferences from the View menu to see DupeGuru's various options. Here you can select whether to compare files by Filename, Contents or Folders (duplicate folders). If you use the Filenames option, you can also select the Filter Hardness to match similar
filenames, as well as identical ones — the ‘harder’ this setting, the more exact the match.

Finding duplicate images

Finding duplicate images is rather more involved, since a computer can’t compare the content of an image file in the same way as a document. So this requires a separate application — DupeGuru Picture Edition. This is also a free download for Windows, Mac and
Linux and works in almost the same way.

Step 1: Download and install DupeGuru

Download and install DupeGuru as before. It used to have a separate version called DupeGuru PE (Picture Edition), but now all the features are rolled into the standard edition. Again, be sure to use the correct version for your operating system, including 32-bit
or 64-bit versions of Windows.

Step 2: Scan for duplicate photos

Launch the program and select one or more folders to scan. This might take longer than scanning for documents, as images are generally bigger file sizes. When it’s complete, be sure to use the Details view to compare the duplicate images to check they’ve been
correctly identified before moving or deleting them. Though DupeGuru is remarkably accurate.

Step 3: Find photos that are almost idenitcal

DupeGuru can also identify images that are not quite duplicates, such as two photos of the same subject where you moved the camera slightly. You may not want to keep these near-duplicates, so select Preferences from the View menu and reduce the Filter Hardness
slider to match more images.

You’ll need to experiment with this to get the best results and be sure to only delete the files you no longer want — DupeGuru has no idea which ‘original’ you want to keep.

Source:

http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/computing/how-t...

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised
on the site before you decide to download and install it.

 

Trouble deleting a folder

Thanks for the suggestion but it says "delete folder failed for E:\....." for each folder I try.

*Confused

Will I be forever stuck with these unnecessary folders? *Oh Well hwell:

 

is there any software to comparing files???

It works, but I'm not sure it would be suitable for the task that the OP is facing; i.e. comparing "tens of thousands of files".

AFAIK it has significant limitations:

• The exact folder locations of the files to be compared must be explicitly entered
• It can only compare the contents of a maximum of two folders at a time.
• The files to be compared must have the same exact name, otherwise misnamed duplicates can be missed.
• There is no built-in function that automates (preferably by a GUI) a summary display of duplicate files and a means to deal with them (i.e. choose which duplicates to move, delete, etc).

Doublekiller, which I referred to above, is a simple, elegant GUI program which addresses every one of these deficiencies.