How To Compare Folders for Duplicates in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7

Compare folders for duplicates
31

Mar

Compare Two Or More Folders For Duplicates

Compare Two Or More Folders For Duplicates

Here you will find information on how to compare folders for duplicates. Undoubtedly, you can compare two or more folders for duplicates and set “Source” and “Target” for the comparison.

We provide tools to search for similar or duplicate images, similar or duplicate audio files, and similar and duplicate files of any type. We provide both free and commercial versions that are used by millions of users. Certainly, our duplicate finders are the leading clone removal applications on the market and provide multiple duplicate search options. Download the free Duplicate File Finder and save valuable disk space by removing useless repeating files.

Compare Folders For Duplicates – How To Compare “Source” And “Target” Folders

This information applies to:
Fast Duplicate File Finder
Visual Similarity Duplicate Image Finder
Audio Dedupe

There are situations where merging folders or comparing two or more folders is necessary. In such cases, you wouldn’t want to check a “source” folder for duplicates. You would want to compare it only with one or more “target” folders. Comparing two or more folders for duplicates is very easy using the “Exclude From Self Scan” feature in the folders list.

Disable “Self-scan”

If you disable self-scan for folder ‘VSD’ (as displayed in the image above), it tells the application that it should not compare files inside it against each other. As a result, it will compare the files inside it only with files that are located in other folders that you have added to the folders list.

If you disable self-scan for the folders ‘VSD’ and ‘VSD1’, you tell the tool to compare the files in ‘VSD’ ONLY with the files in ‘VSD1’ and vice-versa. To clarify, that differs from the default setting which compares all the files in ‘VSD’ and ‘VSD1’ against each other.

As this feature is very versatile and works for more than two folders, it may be a little bit hard to understand. As some of our users have difficulties with how this feature works, we have provided more examples below.

Duplicate Search Examples

The [ ] brackets below visualize the check-boxes. The [x] inside the brackets denotes that the checkbox is ticked.

Compare Folders – Scenario 1:

Folders in the folder list:
[ ][ ]vsd
[ ][ ]vsd1

This is the default state. In this configuration, the application will compare all files in both folders against each other.

Compare Folders – Scenario 2:

Folders in the folder list:
[ ][x]vsd
[ ][ ]vsd1

The tool will compare the files inside ‘vsd’ will with the files in other folders – in this case ‘vsd1’. To clarify, it will not compare them with each other. Therefore, it will compare the files in ‘vsd1’ with the files in all other folders. In addition, it will compare the files in the other folders with each other which is the difference with the ‘vsd folder’.

Compare Folders – Scenario 3:

Folders in the folder list:
[ ][x]vsd
[ ][x]vsd1

The tool will not compare the files in ‘vsd’ against each other. Likewise, it will not compare those in ‘vsd1’ against each other too. As a result, the tool will compare the items in ‘vsd’ will with the files in ‘vsd1’ and vice-versa. To summarize, if there were more folders in the list, the tool would compare the files in ‘vsd’ with those too. Also, it would compare the files in ‘vsd1’ with them too.

Ticking ‘Disable self scan’ tells the application not to compare the items inside the corresponding folder with each-other.

You can disable Self-scan for a folder by ticking the checkbox in front of the corresponding folder name. Generally, there are two columns in front of the folder name column. To clarify, the column with the icon that illustrates a red circle with a white dash inside contains the “Disable self-scan” check-boxes. Of course, you can also hover the icon to view a descriptive tooltip.

A related article can be found here: How To Exclude A Folder From Auto-Check Or How To Set A “Source” Folder

Duplicate Finder – Related Information

This article also relates to: Beyond Compare Tool, Compare Directories, Compare Directories Windows 10, Compare Files In Two Folders Windows 10, Compare Folders Mac, Compare Folders Windows 10, Compare Source And Destination Files, Compare Source And Target Folders, Compare Two Directories Linux, Compare Two Folders And Copy Missing Files, Compare Two Folders For Duplicate Files, Compare Two Folders Windows 10, Duplicate Folder Finder, Duplicate Folder Finder Windows 7, Duplicate Video Finder Free, Duplicati 2.0, Duplicati Alternative, Duplicati Command-Line, Duplicati Exclude Folder, Duplicati Github, Duplicati Mac, Duplicati Restore, Duplicati Review, Duplicati Vs Duplicity, Fast Duplicate File Finder, Fast Duplicate File Finder 4.7.0.1 Crack, Fast Duplicate File Finder Pro Crack, Folder Comparison, Pathsync Freeware, Pathsync Windows 7, Robocopy Compare, Robocopy Compare And Copy, Ultracompare Lite, V Folder Dups, Winmerge Compare Folders, Winmerge Review.

6 thoughts on “How To Compare Folders for Duplicates in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7

  1. Pingback: Exclude A Folder From Auto-Check – Set “Source” Folder |

  2. Greg Johnson

    This is close, but doesn’t quite fix the (my) issue. After performing a large scan, I need to be able to select which sub folder to exclude from Autochecking. Often this isn’t the folder listed in the FOLDERS section because it is a sub folder. The proper place for this feature would be in the Advanced selection for Autocheck. The file names containing is close, but doesn’t include file path names. If it did, that would be sufficient.

  3. Steve VanSlyck

    This sentence doesn’t make sense: “If self-scan is disabled for the folders ‘VSD’ and ‘VSD1’ the files in ‘VSD’ will be compared with the files in ‘VSD1’ and vice-versa instead of comparing all the files in ‘VSD’ and ‘VSD1’ against each other.” Suggest clarifying with a clear example.

  4. MindGems Support Post author

    Hello
    Yes it is a bit hard to understand. It is already explained in the paragraph above the one that you quote:
    “If self-scan for folder ‘VSD’ is disabled (as displayed in the image above) the files inside that folder will not be compared against each-other – they will be compared only with files that are located inside the other folders that are added in the folders list.”

    P.S. I added some extra clarifications and examples in the article for you. I believe they will help you understand what exactly the feature does.

  5. Tom Williams

    I am a paid user of your File Size program but need further clarification on the Duplicate File Finder product.

    Is there a way for me to SAFELY try your Duplicate Finder without fear of it DELETING or MOVING files that meet “some criteria”. In other words, I simply want to see WHICH files would be affected if some “full switch” were turned on. Is there a way to SAFE VIEW the results of a search. I’m looking for some “safe mode switch” that protects me while learning your system.

  6. MindGems Support Post author

    Hello, there are no “safe mode switches”, and you do not need any. The tool will not delete anything until you select an action (copy/move/delete) and click PERFORM.
    You can scan any folder and review the results without deleting them.

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