Removing Duplicates - Manual Labor or Dedicated Apps?

Using a Mac for work always means that you will end up having a mess on your hard drive. Lots of documents, PDFs, images, schemes you no longer need take up precious space on the drive and create true chaos.

Anyway, the most dreadful thing, at least for me, is duplicated files. Removing these files can take hours and even days, so you need to be really patient. Another way out is to use special software. As a Mac user, I’m very careful with selecting third-party apps, however, I’m also pretty lazy, so removing the duplicates manually is definitely not an option for me.

Hope this user tip will help those seeking methods of duplicates removal.

First of all, I’d like to point out that you can always delete a document and any other duplicated file by simply dragging it to the Trash. If there are lots of things you need to delete, you can select them one by one or by pressing cmd + A.

Fortunately, it’s quite easy to remove duplicate music files using iTunes. You need to open iTunes, go to the ‘View’ menu, and choose ‘Show Duplicate Items’. This will list all songs that have copies and you will be able to delete them. Unfortunately, I can’t demonstrate this as my music library is not very large and there are no duplicates there.

Now let's move on to the trickiest part of the user tip - using third-party apps capable of detecting duplicates among documents, music tracks, photos, videos and basically all types of files. There are many applications on the App Store and outside Apple’s virtual marketplace that can help you clean up mess on your Mac. I have decided to test a couple of these apps.

[IMPORTANT] PLEASE BE INFORMED THAT I AM NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY COMPANIES DEVELOPING APPLICATIONS I MENTION IN MY USER TIP. I USE THE SOFTWARE AT MY OWN RISK AND DON’T URGE ANYONE TO INSTALL/PURCHASE ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS FOR MAC.

Duplicates Cleaner

Duplicates Cleaner was the first free application I saw. Once opened, the app asks you to choose a folder to scan.

After the scan you see a window with two options letting you either view duplicates or rescan the folder. Once you hit the ‘View Duplicates’ button, you will be able to select each duplicate manually or use the ‘Multi Select’ option to remove all duplicates.

Pretty easy and comprehensible, but depending on the size of folder one selects and types of files it contains, the scan can take pretty much time.

PrimeFile

PrimeFile is another free application from the App Store. It has a clean and simple interface. The scanning process is accompanied with something like an animated chart shoving the types of files included in the selected folder as well as the progress.

Once the scan is over, PrimeFile highlights the name of the duplicate file, shows its preview and lets you select and remove the files you don’t need.

There’s also a handy ‘Auto Select’ button that automatically selects the files that should be deleted.

Frankly speaking, PrimeFile’s functionality is pretty similar to the one of the aforementioned application. The main difference is design, so if that matters for you, my recommendation is to consider using PrimeFile.

MacKeeper Duplicates Finder

I have also decided to test an application with quite a questionable reputation. I’d like to point out that I got something like a 3-day trial version of this app thanks to my friend who thought it would be great to see how well it works on his machine and then eventually got me into installing this piece of software on my Mac. This app is MacKeeper.

I’m not yet familiar with all the features of the application (the only exception is Anti-Theft I mentioned in one of my previous user tips), but what I can say for sure is that the Duplicates Finder section works as it should. Once you hit the ‘Start Scan’ button, you will see all duplicates in the selected folder. Unlike Duplicates Cleaner, MacKeeper offers possibility to leave the file that was recently edited and remove all prior copies by clicking the ‘Dups/Uncheck’ button.

There are also separate tabs for different types of files and you can also use Filter to scan for a specific file (if you know its name, for example). Frankly speaking, I like these smart touches.

If you don’t mind paying to delete duplicates from your computer, you should consider MacKeeper as an option.

Gemini The Duplicate Finder

Gemini is one of the most popular apps on the App Store capable of removing duplicates. It’s not free, however, the trial version, which is available on the official website of the developer is sufficient enough to get rid of the duplicate files on the hard drive.

Once you open the application, you see a welcome screen with a number of tips and tricks. As you skip these things, you will be prompted to select/drag and drop the folder you want to scan for duplicates.

Right after you pick out a folder and hit the ‘Scan’ button, the app will… well, scan the folder. The detailed results will appear under ‘Show Results’.

If you’ve been reading this user tip carefully, the next screenshot will seem familiar to you. The screen with tools letting you manage your duplicates looks incredibly similar to the one found in Duplicates Cleaner. Here you will find the ‘Auto Select’ button, a large field for file preview as well as the list of all duplicates ready for removal.

Whether to delete duplicates manually or use dedicated software is a matter of personal choice. I find it a lot easier to utilize apps like Duplicates Cleaner, MacKeeper Duplicates Finder, PrimeFile or Gemini The Duplicate Finder, but once again, this doesn’t mean you have to use any of those.

Feel free to comment and edit this user tip.