NoClone 2014 6.1.45d

Overview

After some time of PC usage, chances are that in your hard drive exist duplicate files that you are not even aware of. To get rid of them you can use NoClone, a dupe file cleaner with unique features, such as CRC and MD5 hashtag comparison, similar images identification and file previewing. Results can be exported to XML, XLS or CSV format.

Installation

It is only a matter of seconds for the installation to complete. There are no steps with advanced settings so even a newbie could carry out this operation. The package is completely clean from viruses, but it does install Reasonable Toolbar on Internet Explorer, without your consent.

There are no specifications as to which operating systems this product works with, although you’ll have no problem using it on a computer running Windows XP and above.

Interface

The program’s interface is simple and doesn’t have anything that would make it less attractive. The main window is split into 3 tabs: Search, Result and NoClone News. It’s pretty easy to understand what each tab does; the first one is where you define the settings for your search. At the top you pick one of the search modes (“Exact duplicate files”, “Duplicate MP3”, “Similar files”, “Compare Folders”, “Similar Images”, “Duplicate Outlook emails”, “Large Files (>1MB)” or “Any files”), with the extra option of making advanced settings for each mode by clicking on the “Redefine…” link. From the same tab you also browse for directories and add them to the “Master File Set” field in order to be included in the search. The second tab displays the results once the search operation has taken place. From there, using the buttons on the toolbar you can perform several actions, such as mark items and then delete/copy/move them.

The last tab is not part of NoClone’s functional features, but it has useful links on how to get started plus news regarding the software.

Pros

There are many duplicate file cleaners, but what does make this program unique? Well, for starters, it can perform byte-by-byte comparison between files to ensure maximum accuracy in the results. If you think this way the scan will take too long to finish then you can change the settings to scan by MD5 hash, which is both fast and accurate.

In other cases, where you want to find files with similar content you can search by similarity and enter the similarity percentage yourself. One of NoClone’s biggest advantages and best features is its “Similar Images” search mode, in which you can adjust the percentage of image similarity and then let the program find all images that are similar up to a certain point. The rest of the search modes are suitable for different occasions, for example when you want to identify duplicate MP3 files using tags or compare folders. It should be noted that “Find Similar Images” and “Compare Folders” are only available in Home and Enterprise editions.

Another unique feature, which is only available in the Enterprise edition, is the program’s ability to search for files over a network.

Cons

The interface could use some improvement to become more elegant. In addition, you can find many external references to the product in its website; however most of them are quite old and should be removed since over the years a lot of things have changed in the software scene, including this program.

Alternatives

Many alternatives exist and share a big portion of their features, with very small differences between them. Some of them are Easy Duplicate File Finder (paid), Duplicate Cleaner (paid), CloneSpy (free) and Auslogics Duplicate File Finder (free).

Conclusion

All in all, NoClone can be a valuable software to anyone who wants to keep his computer clean from duplicates even with a small amount of technical knowledge, and with a few more improvements it can become even better.