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Author Topic: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content  (Read 12565 times)

shayne.micchia

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IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« on: April 17, 2009, 11:13 AM »
I would love to find a utility for finding duplicate folders ie. folder with identical content), across multiple drives and nested at any level.

Having evaluated/used almost every File Duplicate tool app out there (my fav is DoubleKillerPro for simpilicity/power/speed)
but like all the others it cannot handle this task.

Yes there are lot of ways such as using a tree/folder size tool like TreeSize (http://www.jam-softw...freeware/index.shtml) or an explorer extensions like FolderSize ((http://foldersize.sourceforge.net/) and looking for folders of the same size - but this only work if folder are at the
same level and is cumbersome and tedious and really is just not practical.

Another way is to automate ZIP/RAR of all folders being tested (using same compression settings) and THEN use a File Dupe tool ..but
again this is a slow and clumsy workaround, and finding all the folder and automating batch files to do the zipping is daunting.

What is needed is a FOLDER DUPLICATE FINDER.

Does anyone know of such a product (freeware or commercial)?

I have some details notes on features/design issues I can post if anyone is interested in taking this on?

Thanks
shayne

r0bertdenir0

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Re: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2009, 04:52 PM »
Why not use 2 tools, DoubleKillerPro which deletes all yr duplicate files & works fine 4 you.
And then a second tool which deletes empty folders.
In order 2 do what you ask, you can't compare folder size.
Folders r just containers, all identical - Duplicate folders are caused purely by duplicate files.
I've never used DoubleKillerPro but I wud think it's not working on file size but rather calculating a hash-value 4 every file (using sumthing like SHA1?) it finds & building a list.
It wud then look at all files with identical hashes & consider them identical.
So really you have 2 kill the duplicate files & then look for empty folders.
Deleting empty folders can be done easily enuf with vbscript

shayne.micchia

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Re: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2009, 05:27 PM »
I have actually been using double killer pro since its first few version many years ago - its the best dup killr out there, and i have tried all of them mostly.

I fully understand that a folder is just a container (as fat as the user goes anyway), thats not the issue

The issue is - i want to locate folder with duplicated content.

NONE of the 25+ duplicate checkers I have tried will do that, they are all focus on inividual files as I said below.

Thanks for your comment, but I have been doing that and it not efficient, whats needed is a scanner that effecively treats a folder as a archive file and compares that archove to all others ie. thats the simplification.

And ideas?

awopbamboo

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Re: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« Reply #3 on: October 01, 2009, 09:06 AM »
Are you saying you want to compare folders contents such as, the files contained, the sub-folders contained, and sub-folder and files of those, and sub-folder and files of those etc etc etc?

Would you want to check if the files are simply named the same?  or the content within all the files are the same throughout all sub folders too?


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Curt

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Re: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« Reply #4 on: October 05, 2009, 07:56 AM »
@shayne

What you ask for, is not quite possible in the exact way you've described it, I think. If two folders have the same content, they would still not be the same, because the system files (.ini, etcetera) would be different. So what would be the search criteria? "ALMOST the same", it would be. And that is also what I think you really are asking for: 'Folders with almost the same content'. In order to do this, simply run the fastest "normal" file-duplicate finder, and when it gives you the result, you could click the column "address/folder/path", and there is your answer!

Renegade

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Re: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2012, 05:44 AM »
I am also facing the same issue of duplicate files. i got the solution when i used a utility Duplicate Files Deleter - tool for finding and deleting duplicate files, delete duplicate files  and it worked for me.


If you are associated with that, you should say so - otherwise, you look like a spammer. You've posted about it in a large number of threads. This thread is about folders - not files. So you're off topic. If I were moderating, I'd likely delete them all as spam.
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xiaxia

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Re: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2012, 08:05 AM »
After long time searching finally i found a little freeware called V Folder Dups.
Working Download at Softpedia.

jackdorsey

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Re: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2013, 06:21 PM »
I am also facing the same issue of duplicate files. i got the solution when i used a utility Duplicate Files Deleter - tool for finding and deleting duplicate files, delete duplicate files  and it worked for me.


If you are associated with that, you should say so - otherwise, you look like a spammer. You've posted about it in a large number of threads. This thread is about folders - not files. So you're off topic. If I were moderating, I'd likely delete them all as spam.
Indeed this topic is not for files.
I use this free Folder Size tool by MindGems.
It is quite popular.

IainB

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Re: IDEA: Find FOLDER (not files) with Duplicate Content
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2013, 11:32 PM »
@shayne.micchia: To understand more about your opening post, I have some questions please:
Q1. How exactly would you define a "duplicate folder"?
Q2: How might these "duplicate folders" have been created in the first place?
Q3. How might you distinguish/differentiate between the "original" and a duplicate/copy?
Q4. What rules might you need to apply to ensure that you consistently delete only a duplicate folder (as opposed to deleting the original)?
Q5: Do you have a real life use-case example of where you need to detect/locate and delete duplicate folders defined as above?