Removal of duplicate photos on computer.

billbirchall · #1 29-01-10

I have hundreds of photos on my laptop hard drive and external drive. I'm quite sure that there are numerous duplications and would like to arrive at a definitive collection, as this would create a substantial amount of space on my hard drive. Has anyone any idea how I might achieve this? ideally, I would like there to be a free software download, that would identify all the duplicates, allow me to check the accuracy, and then delete them. Does such a piece of software exist and if so could somebody point me to the download link? Any other suggestions would be welcome.

Ian · #2 29-01-10

I'm in the same situation

But for the last few months have been compiling one archive of all my photos using Lightroom and it will check for duplicates when you import photos. Eventually I should have filtered out all my duplicate images. I have over 55,000 images in my LR database going back to 1998. There are probably 10,000 others yet to be added.

If you don't have Lightroom, there are various free utilities you can google for that do duplicate file finding and management, but they may not be specific to photos.

Ian

billbirchall · #3 29-01-10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ian

I'm in the same situation

But for the last few months have been compiling one archive of all my photos using Lightroom and it will check for duplicates when you import photos. Eventually I should have filtered out all my duplicate images. I have over 55,000 images in my LR database going back to 1998. There are probably 10,000 others yet to be added.

If you don't have Lightroom, there are various free utilities you can google for that do duplicate file finding and management, but they may not be specific to photos.

Ian

Ian,

I thought I had a problem! Your database is massive compared to mine. I have googled for free utilities and one that I have come up with is Visipics. I may give that a try. Do you know whether Picasa would identify the duplicates?Anyway it is nice to know that I am not the only one with the problem!

Bill

ekkl · #4 29-01-10

Hi Bill. I use Picasa and it picks up everything, I would say download that and give it a try, you will be amazed at what is hidden away on your pc that you have forgotten about!

You can delete the pics or save them to disk if you like nice and easy, just a click or two and it is done.

P.

billbirchall · #5 29-01-10

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekkl

Hi Bill. I use Picasa and it picks up everything, I would say download that and give it a try, you will be amazed at what is hidden away on your pc that you have forgotten about!

You can delete the pics or save them to disk if you like nice and easy, just a click or two and it is done.

P.

P

Thanks for that. If Picasa picks up everything, how do you identify the duplicates. Are they shown side by side?

Bill

ekkl · #6 31-01-10

Hi Bill. The duplicates will be shown at the location they are at. There is a list on the left of the screen where your pics are located and on the right is the thumbnails of them. You just scroll down down and see them all or just click on a folder. It's easy.

Have a go at downloading it, it's a small download and free, have a look at it!

I got about 2000 here on this laptop so I suppose I should back them up quickly really!

billbirchall · #7 31-01-10

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekkl

Hi Bill. The duplicates will be shown at the location they are at. There is a list on the left of the screen where your pics are located and on the right is the thumbnails of them. You just scroll down down and see them all or just click on a folder. It's easy.

Have a go at downloading it, it's a small download and free, have a look at it!

I got about 2000 here on this laptop so I suppose I should back them up quickly really!

Hi ekkl,

Thank you for the advice, I will give it a go. My problem is not that I have failed to back up, it is that I have backed up so often, that I feel I have too many. I'm just trying to establish a definitive set of photos and create a more organised backup.

Bill