What's te best way to deal with duplicate files?

vorpal2 wrote:

When there are thousands of files, some similar, some identical, some with the same 'name' some not - it's far more complex a task.

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How could any app, or anyone other than you, know which files you wanted to keep given the descriptions you provided?

• some similar (Which of the similar files should be kept")
• some identical (It would not matter which is deleted.)
• some same name (Maybe the content is different, which to keep?)
• some different name (Different name = different file.)

Your selection criteria must be far more definitive than that you provided.

vorpal2 wrote:

When I'm working on fiction, I can stack dozens of variations / later versions (including some where the 'earlier' draft/version is better - and separate them by date / hour / minute - when I'm comparing motion picture edits, there can be thousands of very, very tiny differences in versions of cuts - at 24 or 30 FPS. I have many saved on hard drives and in the cloud. Anyone experienced with using any of the programs that 'de-dupe'?

You still have not explained how an app would distinguish which file(s) to delete. You have not defined any meaningful search criteria. It is a simple matter to program an app to delete oldest newest, largest. smallest, contains x, does not contain y, etc. Your criteria that you provided would require human inspection of each file.

"when I'm comparing motion picture edits, there can be thousands of very, very tiny differences in versions of cuts" would require you to program the app with all the "thousands of differences" so that it can make the correct selections based on your criteria. The app can not guess your criteria.

I understand that, but the point is: the "safest best" way is to manually delete the duplicates. There is no automated process that will do it for you.

Sorry, but what is de-duplication? If you have a duplicate, just delete it and empty the trash.

Gemini 2 is highly rated for deduping files. You can purchase as either a subscription or perpetual license.

https://macpaw.com/gemini

That company does not have a stellar reputation here - I would not allow anything from them - free or not - anywhere near any of my Macs.