There are any number of freeware duplicate file finders, either stand-alone or part of system cleaners (Glary, Advanced System Care, etc). Whether this is better or worse than these I would not care to make any guess. The problem I have with them is, you need to be further on than just an ordinary computer user.

Like Registry cleaners, they are great in the right hands, a disaster waiting to happen in the wrong ones. Many files are duplicated throughout Windows on purpose. Nothing within the blurb about Clone Terminator suggest it bypasses system files, or flags them up as dangerous to remove, or suggests that it sets a System Restore Point before it starts. If it actually does this, then great, if it doesn't better make sure you've got a System Restore ready!

Hamtey  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+128)

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Installed and launched fine under Windows 2003 EE (aka Windows XP).
There is a serial key, so you have to Click on "About..." and later on "Enter activation key..." (and enter the name and the key). It even doesn't require restarting.

I have prepared a simple test. I selected one folder "FOLDER" (8 small files in), pressed CTRL-C and later CTRL-V, so Windows given me a new folder "Copy of FOLDER". Then I launched this program on that folders. Program has stopped in the middle of scanning giving me an error "Invalid image size". After clicking OK the program shows me up the dialog window, when I can delete redundant copies of original files (named as groups). The bad thing is that the error "Invalid image size" is showing again and again, but the program itself seems to be working (it found all duplicates) - at the moment I am giving him an OK note.

The second test. Folders used: "FOLDER", "Copy of FOLDER", "Copy (2) of FOLDER" (this is a third copy of the first folder). Additionally in "Copy (2) of FOLDER" I have changed names of some (not all) files. After that I have ran this program. The result is not gratifying - the program showed me the error message and later showed the duplicate dialog window. The bad thing was that it found duplicates only from the second folder but none from third, even when there were files with the same filename and content as in 2. and 1. - at this moment I must give the program a DON'T WORK note.

Compatibility mode and administrator mode doesn't work. Used files are really small (up to 1MB).

So this program seems to intelligently compare directories, which is really GOOD feature. On the other hand I didn't have much luck and this program simply doesn't work for me :-(.
Maybe there is a general problem - please report if you have get the error message: "Invalid image size".

P.S. English is not my primary language so sorry for accidentally errors.

Adamus  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+97)

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FREE ALTERNATIVES..

AUSLOGICS DUPLICATE FILE FINDER
http://www.auslogics.com/en/software/duplicate-file-finder/

DUPLICATE CLEANER
http://www.digitalvolcano.co.uk/content/duplicate-cleaner

ANTI-TWIN
http://www.joerg-rosenthal.com/en/antitwin/

Toni A  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+85)

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Installed fine in Win XP.

This style of program can be a great thing to run every once in awhile. More and more as we have more devices to plug into our PC - more synchronizations, more uploads/downloads, etc. -- we end up with programs that will duplicate files unnecessarily.

For instance, you might sync your mp3 player/phone/digital picture frame, and when you sync it next time, it makes a new folder and places those files there on your hard drive - completely unnecessary!

Anyway, it's not bloated, which is nice -- a lot of software that scans your hard drive bogs your PC down and you can't use it while it scans.

Simple, wizard interface isn't exactly pretty or intuitive, but it gets the job done.

Found a good amount of files for me, so it works. And by default, it doesn't scan your system files, so it shouldn't be very dangerous.

It can be tidious, with any of these type of apps, but I highly recommend a) scanning "c:" and letting it go for awhile and b) manually scrolling through the entire list before deleting anything!

I like it, and I think I'll keep it.

There are alternatives out there, if anyone has issues and wants to check out others:

http://alternativeto.net/desktop/clonespy


Thanks again GOTD.

Klop  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+75)

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A big thumbs down from me. My reason being that, as someone has already suggested, deleting system files is not a good idea. The option to filter out system files is hidden behind the button "configure advanced filter..". Unfortunately, excluding system or hidden files is not set by default. Yes, 'newbies' beware!
I certainly would not trust software which has such a glaringly obvious 'fault' and therefore I will now remove it from my computer. I also see no option to set a restore point: which might make no difference even if there were one because of the possibility that this programme might remove one of its essential files.

Terence  –  14 years ago  –  A fost util acest comentariu? da | nu (+22)

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