This guide will teach you How to find duplicate files in Windows? We have used a Windows 11 laptop for this tutorial. You can follow this guide for Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7 as well to find and get rid of duplicates.
To find and remove duplicate files, we will use a third-party duplicate files finder and it’s completely free.
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Can I Manually Find And Remove Duplicates On Windows 11/10/8/7?
Finding duplicate files or folders is no less of a challenge than finding a needle in a haystack.
Manually finding and removing duplicates is a tedious and time-consuming process that requires your full attention.
In case you don’t pay attention, a single mistake can result in the removal of both real and identical files and folders.
Manually removing duplicates from a large hard drive filled with data is nearly not possible.
Using software to remove duplicate files and folders is easier than manually removing them.
We are sharing two free programs to help you swiftly find and remove duplicate files on Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.
We don’t recommend using duplicate finder applications on Drive or the partition, where Windows is installed. Windows or installed programs could be corrupted or unusable.
Windows itself and third-party programs have duplicate files that are necessary. We suggest manually finding and removing duplicates on the Drive where you have installed Windows that is generally installed on Drive C.
Use SearchMyFiles (No Installation Required)
SearchMyFiles by NirSoft is a free-to-use third-party program to find and remove duplicate files with ease. We suggest using this duplicate finder If you don’t prefer to install third-party software.
Search My Files is a tiny and portable utility. It does not require conventional installation. All you have to do is download and then extract and start using it to find and remove duplicates.
Download NirSoft SearchMyFiles
Download SearchMyFile from here. Download it according to your system type 32 or 64 bit.
How To Know The System Type?
To know the system type, Right-click on the start menu and then open up System.
As you see this is a 64-Bit PC and We need to download the 64-Bit version.
Watch Video Tutorial
How To Use SearchMyFiles To Find And Remove Duplicate Files
After the download completes, extract it with WinRar or 7zip and launch SearchMyFile.
Choose Duplicate Search from Search mode from the drop-down menu.
Next to the Base Folder option, Click on the Browse button to locate the folder you want to search to get rid of duplicates from. It is also possible to select multiple folders.
For demonstration purposes, We’ve put duplicate files in this folder. Leave other things as default and click on Start Search to begin scanning to detect duplicates after choosing your desired folders.
Results are divided into two groups following the scan. Identical colors are assigned to original and duplicate files to make identification easier.
To double-check, you can open a duplicate and original file and compare them.
To remove duplicates, Right-click on a duplicate file and Delete Selected Files. To remove multiple duplicates at once, Hold the right Control Key and select duplicate files with your mouse and then right-click on selected files and then click Delete Selected Files.
This freeware duplicate finder program has a useful feature that helps you remove duplicate files that are stored in multiple folders or partitions with the same name.
Choose Duplicate Names Search from the Search Mode drop-down menu.
Choose any of the available options that meets your requirements. We’ll choose Show only duplicate names with the identical content option.
Click Browse to locate a folder or whole partition. You can choose multiple partitions or folders to search for duplicates. Do not scan the partition where Windows and programs are installed.
Click Start Search to begin scanning. It may take a while if you scan a large size folder or partition.
After the scan is complete, you can compare original files with duplicates by opening them, and deleting duplicate files with the same name.
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Final Words
We have tried to teach its basics. This software provides several other ways and options to find duplicates that can not be covered in this short tutorial.
Hopefully, this guide has been informative and useful to you. Contact us via the comment section, If we could not cover any crucial points. We will try to help you.
You may leave your questions, feedback, and suggestions in the comment box.
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