Duplicate Files Searcher Reviews

This project hasn't been updated in a long time and that's a shame. It's very easy to use and it's got good documentation. It is just a little too easy to crash. The crashes won't harm your files, they just make you wish this tool had a little more TLC. I was disappointed by many duplicate file tools but I stopped looking when I found this one. Be sure to download the full version, dfs22.zip, as others have noted.

Note: This page does not have the full version but only the source code. You have to go here for the full version: www.sourceforge.net/projects/dfr/files/Duplicate%20Files%20Searcher/2.2/ Then download the "dfs22.zip" file and follow the instructions here: www.duplicatefilessearcher.net/faq/faq.htm Don't use the links on that page as you may get confused as I did. The "Java Runtime Environment" is probable already installed on your machine. To test it: www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp If an error, make sure it is not disabled in browsers. Download and install if not. After trying out many duplicate file removers (some had major flaws and bugs), I have settled for this. It is bullet proof. I tested it out on many simulated duplicates and octuplets. It picked every one and I could not fault it. You can choose many filters and searching options. In the results, you can select all except one and delete or move the duplicates and there are other choices also. The program is easy to follow and easy to use and has a good help pdf.

Dfr is great! Thanks.

Unzipped file contained no install files or executables. Unable to do anything with it. Uninstalled. deleted. Had to delete/uninstall the .zip program also needed to "unzip" this. How is a simple "Nice, thank you" the "most helpful positive review??? I tried using the "most helpful" review to ME, at least one with instructions on the use of this product, by John, posted on 2010-08-24, but even that did not work. There is nothing in this .zip that works. Please update this program, or heck, even this website. I will change the rating if it ends up working ever. One star of five. Thanks for the effort.

Nice, thank you

Great tool! Very helpful for me. Thanks !

Zipped file contained no install files or executables.

Read John's notes carefully. This can be made to work by following his instructions, but if you deviate even a teensy bit it won't work?! *Lots* of features are just broken...sadly! I wish the developer would fix this for we the Unix-challenged. But I'm grateful for this at least...thanks. Note that the number of files it seems to be able to scan at once without crashing depends not on the absolute number, but on the approximate number of duplicates within the files. If there are many, sometimes only as many as 3K files can be scanned at a time. That is, basically 1.5K duplicates seems to be about its limit I think. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE UPDATE THIS WORTHY PROGRAM!!

Works well with some caveats, and is the best free tool for this purpose I've been able to find for MacOSX so I'm posting this HowTo in the hope of helping others. First off, it didn't work at all when I downloaded the main (scr) link, but did when I clicked the Files tab here and then the Duplicate Files Searcher folder icon and then the 2.2 folder icon and then the link to download dfs22.zip (http://sourceforge.net/projects/dfr/files/Duplicate%20Files%20Searcher/2.2/dfs22.zip/download). Double clicked the dfsfull.jar file inside the unpacked folder and it launched (NOTE: I suggest using this app while offline, because it phones home and gives a bogus upgrade notice). Lots of minor interface and functional glitches, but I was able to get it working for my purpose of deleting duplicate files from a maze of folders and subfolders on an external HD. It doesn't give any obvious way to open external drives even though they're mounted and showing fine in Finder, BUT it's easy if you're in the Directories tab and click Add, then drag the HD icon from Finder into the Open box and click Choose for the HD or the parent of the HD's folder you want (click the actual folder and it doesn't work). I found it didn't work any better if I clicked the Searching Options tab and selected Check File Length before searching, and might increase the crash risk. Just click "Start," and when it stops click the "Results" tab. After clicking "Select all except one" and scrolling thru the list to choose which version I'd keep, I just clicked "Delete selected files." It did crash consistently with anything above about 10,000 files to search. My solution was to divide the many tens of thousands of files I'd been storing into folders sorted by size and each containing less than 10,000 files. Doing that it worked fine and would finish in a minute or two. The symptom I noticed with large folders (>10k file count) is it would take a LOT longer to search, then during the "Comparing" phase the progress bar would disappear leaving flashing text. The rest of the interface is pretty much self-explanatory, even if kinda klunky. I found a bit of help in the FAQ on their website: http://duplicatefilessearcher.net/ Hope this helps, because this little tool was very useful for me and was worth avoiding the purchase of something that might not work much better, just to do this one-time file cleanup. ymmv :)