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Pau Lo

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duplicate files tool

I need a software to scan a directory of choice, list all duplicates in all sub folders, then delete all duplicate copies, and keep one copy, ideally if the report it produces was in alphabetic order and keeps only the first copy, i.e if

pma111.docx was found in both

afolder and b folder and c folder

then keep the copy in afolder and delete the copy in bfolder, cfolder etc. Ideally a free tool.

I found one tool which locates the duplicates fine, but then you have to manually delete the duplicates which takes hours
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Pau Lo

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I cant just purchase a copy of Windows server 2012, I need something free
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Joseph O'Loughlin
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Deleting files with duplicate file names using a scripted method is fine if you are absolutely sure that you aren't accidentally deleting different file versions with the same names.  Doing a binary comparison is a different ball game and you tend to find that you have to pay for most of the better duplicate file finders that do a proper comparison.

What criterion/criteria are you currently using to determine whether files are duplicates?

File name only
File name and file size
File name, file size, and creation/last modified date
A file hash (MD5, SHA1, CRC32, SHA-256/512/384)

Personally I use software named Beyond Compare for comparing files and folders:
http://www.scootersoftware.com/moreinfo.php
"Pricing starts at $30 for a standard, single user, single platform license."

You can set this software to show differences only, matches only, or show all and determine the match or mismatch by colour code in the side-by-side panes.  It still involves an element of manual deletion, but if filtered to show matches only you can do this very quickly.