Using Search and Destroy
This section describes the Search and Destroy application. This application is useful for examining large media file collections and finding duplicate content and as such, it should only be used on files which you do not mind deleting.
Step 1 - The first step in using Search and Destroy is providing it the folders which it should examine. To do this, drag & drop the folders to the list on top of the window, or use the Add button to add folders to that list.
Step 2 - Choose the duplicate detection method. Possible choices are:
1- Name - Finds files with duplicate names.
2- Name & Size - Finds files with duplicate names and lengths.
3- Name, Length, & Content - Finds files which are the 100% the same.
4- Name, Truncated - Finds files that are the same but truncated; useful for large files such as videos.
Step 3 - Press the "Find" button.
Step 4 - Examine the duplicate results found. Select the ones you would like to delete or you can also use one of the five selection buttons to have the program auto-select files for you.
Choices for auto-select are:
- Selects all but the first one.
- Selects all but the last one.
- Selects all files. (If you select all and delete, you will delete all duplicate files w/o keeping one)
- Selects no files. (Deselects all selected files)
- Selects truncated files. (Selects all but the longest of files that matched content-wise)
Step 5 - Press the "Delete" button to delete the selected files. You will be presented with a final confirmation and list of all files to be deleted.
Hints and Tips
Tip #1 - Finding duplicate files can take a great deal of time. Depending on the number and type of files, you will need to choose how strict the matching is. For example, two music files with identical name and file lengths are most likely are identical. However two 20 character long messages with the name sms1.txt are much more likely to have different contents.