Remove duplicate files with Clone Tools

In this lens I will show you how to use the Windows program Clone Tools to remove anwanted duplicate files from your computer or any file storage such as removable hard drives, usb memory sticks or network drives etc.

A bunch of unwanted duplicate files and the program Clone Tools

The first step is to download Clone Tools to find duplicate files.

Now install the program. This is simple. Just double click the downloaded file and follow the instructions.

Run the program and start a new scan for duplicate files.
Select and add the folders you want to scan and then click the button labeled "Start Scan".

Clone Tools will now compare the content of all files in the folders you have selected and find all duplicates. The files are compared byte-by-byte. This means that you are 100 % sure that the files are exactly identical.

When the scan is ready it is time to examine your duplicate files and folders.

In the list labeled "Result List" you will see a list of all folders containing duplicate files. Further down in the list you will also see all duplicate files.

Select a folder in the "Result List".

In the list labeled "Clones List" you will now see a list of all folders containing shared duplicate files with the folder selected in the "Result List".

Select one folder in the "Clones List".

In the twin browser you will now be able to compare the two folders selected in the "Result List" and "Clones List". Basically this works in an Windows explorer like fashion but you will constantly see exactly how all files and folders relate to each other. rowse around for a while until you feel like you understand how to see what differs and what is the same in the two folders.

Now it's time to remove duplicate files.
The easiest way to remove duplicate files is to select a file in the twin browser and click the delete button above the browser.

While this is easy it takes some time to remove all duplicate files in this way. Enter the world of automatic duplicate file cleaning tools.

Clone Tools contains two powerful duplicate file cleaning tools. The merge tool and the purge tool. Both tools can be started by clicking the corresponding buttons above the "Clones List".

Purge Tool
This tools will remove all duplicate files from the folder selected in the "Clones List" that are also present in folder selected in the "Result List".

Merge Tool
This tool will first purge all duplictae files from the folder selected in the "Clones List", exactly as the purge tool. However, ince this is finished, the remaining files will be moved from to the folder selected in the "Result List". The effect is that the two folders will be merged and all shared clones will be deleted.

Now you will have to repeat and select another set of folders and clean them from duplicate files. When you are done then close the program and you will see a report of how many duplicate files you cleaned and how much hard drive space you have saved.