Are you looking for some way of deleting duplicate files on Mac? Over a period of time you are bound to run out of space on your hard drive. And for sure most of the space will be occupied by unwanted duplicate files, taking up a large chunk of disk space.
If you were unable to find duplicate files on Mac then let us help you. We have provided possible methods to find and remove the duplicates from your Mac.
Why are my Mac duplicating files
Wondering why you have so many duplicate files on your Mac, there could be various reasons including the ones from below :
- Kept downloading the same files multiple times either from the internet or from email or cloud storage.
- Made a copy of the same files accidentally on various folders.
- Transfer the same photos, videos from your mobile device multiple times.
- Took backup of the same device multiple times.
- Accidentally saved the same file from apps multiple times on different drive locations.
There could be many more reasons that you have so many duplicate files on your Mac, but now the dilemma is how to find them and remove all from your Mac.
How to Find And Remove Duplicate Files on Mac
Deleting duplicate files on Mac is fairly simple using a third party application. But we have also explained more manual ways along with it to make things simple for you.
1. Delete duplicate files with Gemini 2
Possibly the easiest and quickest way to find and delete duplicate files on your Mac is through third-party application Gemini 2. It helps you identify duplicate files automatically with a few clicks, and you can also select the folder or drive to look for duplicate files from.
Below steps shows how to use Gemini 2 to find duplicate files on Mac:
1. You can download and install the Gemini 2 application from its official website.
2. Launch the application from application folder or from launchpad, You can add folders or drive to scan ether by Clicking on + Icon button in the center or simply drag and drop them to the center of window.
3. After the scanning for duplicates is finished, you have two options to remove duplicates. You can choose between ‘Smart Cleanup’ or ‘Review’.
Smart Cleanup will remove all the identified duplicate files on your Mac efficiently with just a click. But if you want to manually review the list and select to delete, the Review option is the one.
You can regain a significant amount of disk space after removing duplicate files from your Mac using Gemini 2.
2. Find duplicate files with a Terminal
Another possible way to find and remove duplicate files on your Mac is through Terminal, which sort of requires a little bit of technical knowledge on how to execute terminal commands.If you are very well versed with Terminal functionality then proceed with the following steps to find and remove duplicate files on your Mac :
1. Go to Finder on your Mac, Select Applications.
2. Inside Applications windows, Click on Utilities and Select Terminal to open it.
3. Go to the folder where you want to find duplicate files from, for instance you want to look for duplicates in the downloads folder then Enter : ‘cd ~/Download’ and Press Return.
4. Now enter the following command into the Terminal : ” find . -size 20 \! -type d -exec cksum {} \; | sort | tee /tmp/f.tmp | cut -f 1,2 -d ‘ ‘ | grep -hif – /tmp/f.tmp > duplicates.txt ” and Then Press Return.
5. Now after the above command is executed, it will create a text file named duplicate.txt in the folder you are looking for duplicates with a list of all the duplicates inside it.
The above terminal command might exclude some duplicates due to limited command options. And you also need to go through the duplicate list on the text document and search for it in the folder before removing them from your Mac.
For deeper identification of duplicate files inside a folder with little different file names, identify them through md5 hash which would remain the same even after moving to another folder or with different names.
So same as from above terminal command you can provide md5 hash verification for all the duplicates in the folder, follow below steps for that :
1. Go to Finder on your Mac, Select Applications.
2. Inside Applications windows, Click on Utilities and Select Terminal to open it.
3. Navigate to the folder where you want to find duplicate files from, for instance you want to look for duplicates in the documents folder then Enter : ‘cd ~/Documents’ and Press Return.
4. Enter the following command in to the Terminal – “find ./ -type f -exec md5 {} \; | awk -F ‘=’ ‘{print $2 “\t” $1}’ | soft | tee duplicates.txt “ . and then Press Return.
5. The above command will generate a list of duplicate files in the folder and along with shows md5 hash of them to identify easily.
The generated duplicate.txt file will contain a list of all the duplicates in the folder with the md5 tags to easily identify duplicate copies of each other.
3. Find duplicate files using Smart folders
Another easy way to identify and remove duplicate files is using Smart Folders features on your Mac. Follow below steps to find duplicate files on Mac using Smart folders :
1. Go to Finder, Select ‘File’ from top right corner and Click on ‘Smart Folder’ option from dropdown menu.
2. Now here Select ‘This Mac’ option and Click on ‘+’ icon button shown below search box.
3. Select ‘Kind’ from the first dropdown menu and Select ‘Documents’ from the second dropdown menu. Then Click on the ‘Save’ button.
4. On a pop-up window asking to name the Smart Folder and location to save it.
5. See the list of all the documents in the folder, now sort the files in order of name. Usually duplicate files have similar names. Identify the duplicate file and move them to Trash.
Repeat the above steps by selecting various options from the second dropdown menu. And find the duplicates accordingly.
4. Find duplicate files Manually Find and Delete
Finally you can always manually go through each folder and look for the duplicate files. Usually most duplicate files are placed next to each other, so preview them individually and keep the best between them, remove the duplicate by moving it to Trash.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How do I find and delete duplicate files on my Mac?
You can find and delete duplicate files on your Mac quickly using third-party applications like Gemini 2 or you can use Terminal or Smart Folder feature on your Mac to identify duplicates and delete them manually.
Q2. Why are there so many duplicate files on my Mac?
There are many reasons for having duplicate files on your Mac, but some of them include accidentally copying the same file multiple times, downloading multiple times the same file, transferring the same photos from your mobile device to the system again, and many more.
Q3. How do I find duplicate files with different names on Mac?
You can identify duplicate files with different names on your Mac either by using the smart duplicate finding algorithm of Gemini 2 app or looking for their md5 hash tags using Terminal.
Q4. Is it safe to delete duplicate files on Mac?
Yes, it is very safe to remove duplicate files from your Mac unless you are not looking for duplicate files in the system files.
Conclusion
Efficiently managing disk space and maintaining an organized digital environment on your Mac is paramount. By mastering the techniques to find and delete duplicate files, you not only free up valuable storage but also streamline your file system.
Whether employing built-in tools like Gemini or manual methods, the quest for a clutter-free Mac experience becomes a rewarding journey, enhancing performance and ensuring a smoother user experience. Embrace the practice of periodic duplicate file cleanup to optimize your Mac’s storage and keep it running at its best.
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