If there are excessive duplicate files in your device that may eat up a lot of hard drive storage space. So, without bothering with system-occupied with various same files you may easily find and remove duplicate files. There are a lot of third-party apps and built-in methods you may apply to clean your system. Let’s discuss them!
How to Find and Remove Duplicate Files Manually?
If you are looking for the best ways to wipe your system, you may check out the following manual methods:
Method 1: Use the Windows File Explorer
The most convenient way to find and remove duplicate files is to use the in-built Windows File Explorer. You need to follow the steps given below to find and remove duplicate files:
Step 1: First you need to open File Explorer and navigate to a folder where you want to search for duplicates.
Step 2: Then you need to go to View and then Details.
Step 3: Then you need to click Sort and select Name or More and then Size. In this way, similar files will be grouped.
Step 4: Then you need to scroll through your files manually and select the duplicates one by one with the help of the Ctrl key and click them one by one with your mouse.
Step 5: Then you need to right-click and click the trash icon to delete them.
Step 6: After deleting the files you may remove them permanently by right clicking the Recycle Bin icon on your computer and selecting Empty Recycle Bin.
Method 2: Use Command Prompt to Remove Duplicate Files
You may optimize your system with the help of the command prompt. You need to follow the steps given below to find and delete identical files on Windows:
Step 1: First you need to use File Explorer and navigate to the folders where the duplicate files are stored.
Step 2: Then you need to right-click the directory and choose Copy as a path to save the location.
Step 3: Then you need to type cmd or command prompt in the Windows search box.
Step 4: Then you need to right-click on the command prompt and select “Run as administrator.” You may also right-click the “Start” button and select “Terminal (Admin)” from the appearing menu.
Step 5: Then you need to open a command prompt window and enter “cd /d folder location to move the current prompt to the selected directory.
Step 6: Then you need to type del ‘* – Copy.txt and hit Enter to delete all files with the word ‘Copy’ in their names. You need to change the txt in the command to the proper file extension if your duplicates are not in text formats.
Method 3: Use the Disk Cleanup Tool
The Disk Cleanup tool is an in-built Windows tool that helps to find and remove duplicate files. Here is how:
Step 1: First you need to open the Start menu.
Step 2: Then you need to type ‘disk clean up’ and select the Disk Cleanup app.
Step 3: Then you need to select the drive you want to clean up and click “OK”.
Step 4: The Disk Cleanup tool will then scan your drive and remove any duplicate files it discovers.
Why Use a Duplicate File Finder Tool?
Sometimes the manual methods of finding and removing duplicate files do not guarantee exact results. But without bothering with system-occupied with various same files you may choose a suitable duplicate file finder tool which will search your hard drive to identify the duplicate files and clean your system.
The name implies that a duplicate file finder will help you to search, fetch, and remove the existing files on your computer. But why will you use a duplicate file finder tool?
Well, we often find it difficult to identify the duplicate files manually. It takes a lot of time yet can’t attain accuracy. That is why we use a Duplicate File Finder Tool to ease up our work. This will help you to clean your system automatically. In this case, you may check out Duplicate File Fixer which is ranked as one of the best tools to detect and remove duplicate files.
Duplicate Files Fixer
Duplicate Files Fixer is one of the best duplicate cleaners for Windows that can scan and find all the duplicate files, documents, images, videos, music, and other files on the storage. You can scan internal and external storage drivers connected to your PC. It is compatible with all the latest versions of the Windows operating system, MacOS, Android, and iOS devices.
Using Duplicate Files Fixer is easy and user-friendly. You can simply download it from the official website and configure the settings with the right matching levels. Select the storage device and initiate the scan. Go through the group-wise result and preview found duplicates. Select the ones that you wish to delete and delete multiple duplicate files with a single click to clean your system.
Benefits of Using Duplicate File Fixer
The benefits of using Duplicate File Fixer are as follows:
- Mark duplicate files or directories automatically
- Sends duplicate copies to Recycle Bin for easy recovery
- Customize parameter possibilities for detecting duplicate files
- Directly scan cloud storage devices like Google Drive or Dropbox
- No internet is required for scanning duplicate files on a computer
- Compatible with multiple file formats and all storage devices
- Preview found duplicate files before deleting
Conclusion
Duplicate files are of no use as they consume a lot of space. You may save space and enhance the performance of your computer by removing them. You have now learned how to find and delete duplicate files. However, the manual methods are boring and time-consuming. So, we are recommending you use a duplicate file finder tool like Duplicate File Fixer to make your entire cleaning-up process quicker and easier. Do share this article with your friends. If you have any question, you can click to Visit Our Discussion Board.
Nishant Verma is a senior web developer who love to share his knowledge about Linux, SysAdmin, and more other web handlers. Currently, he loves to write as content contributor for ServoNode.
