Doppelganger - Duplicate File Finder 1.0.3

Overview

When you think you have too many duplicate files in your hard disk, Doppelganger will search for them and help you remove them without hassle. It can locate all sorts of identical files: music, pictures, videos, documents etc. Scanning is not limited to hard disks, but it can be performed to any storage devices such as external disks, USB flash disks, iPods, MP3 players and digital cameras. And since some files can be identical but have a different filename, Doppelganger can find those files as well.

Installation

Launch the installer, follow the few steps and let the installation process begin. This is all you need to get this program running. If you don’t have time for a long installation, then you don’t have to worry because this one will finish in an instant.

The supported operating systems are Windows XP (SP3), 2003, Vista and 7. It is compatible with 64-bit systems too.

Interface

It has a warm and user-friendly interface that makes things simplified. On the left side is a pane with a few buttons that start/stop the scan, bring up the filters and history menu, and alternate between the results and the search screen. In the search screen there are two areas, one where you select the search directories and one where you make the search options. To add (or remove) a folder from the scan you select it and then click Add Folder (or Remove Folder) accordingly.

Pros

Every file type will be scanned for its copy. So it doesn’t matter if you want to search for a copy of a rare file type; Doppelganger will find it. If you want to search for particular kinds of files such as music or pictures, you can do so by setting the program to scan only for them, or set the file types yourself.

Even though some files have a different filename but have the same contents, Doppelganger cannot be tricked. It will include them in the results screen as duplicates with all the other results. This is one of the duplicates criteria you can select in the Options menu bar; other criteria include Create Date/Time match and Last Modified Date/Time match. You can exclude particular files and folders from the scan as well.

Foreign characters are supported. In addition, hidden and system files are protected from accidental deletion.

Cons

It would be nice if a backup feature was implemented in order to make a backup of the files found after a scan and before cleaning. This way if you deleted a file by accident then you could easily bring it back.

Alternatives

Duplicate Cleaner (free), CloneSpy (free), DupKiller (free), Auslogics Duplicate File Finder (free), Easy Duplicate File Finder (shareware), Double Killer (free), FindDupe (free) and Detwinner (shareware) are some popular software designed to take care of duplicate files located in your computer. They all have about the same features so it all comes down to reliability in the end, and Auslogics Duplicate File Finder with Doppelganger are the possibly the most reliable ones.

Conclusion

Doppelganger will ensure that you don’t have any space wasted by duplicate files that you don’t need. All you have to do is let it scan and the results will be displayed to you, letting you choose which ones you want to keep and which you ones you don’t. It has a lot of features and will be of great use to any PC user.