I'm in the process of re-organizing and trimming my data in preparation for moving to a new computer with all-new all-SSD storage. It will run on Windows 10.
Over the past 25 years or so, I've accumulated a lot of files backed up by dumping the contents of a directory to a backup folder marked with the date of dumping, e.g. "Desktop 14Jul12", "Desktop 23Mar17", "My Documents 03Nov19" and so on. Many such dumps contain identical and near-identical files in them. I never got around to sorting them out and want to do so now.
It's the near-identical files that I'm most concerned about. For example, there are Word files and photos that were modified after one dump and later saved under the same name in another dump. Some files must have been carried over through more than half a dozen successive dumps.
I know there are many duplicate file finders out there but have never used any of them. Can you recommend a free one that's easy to use, fast and effective in distinguishing files of the same name but with altered contents?
Over the past 25 years or so, I've accumulated a lot of files backed up by dumping the contents of a directory to a backup folder marked with the date of dumping, e.g. "Desktop 14Jul12", "Desktop 23Mar17", "My Documents 03Nov19" and so on. Many such dumps contain identical and near-identical files in them. I never got around to sorting them out and want to do so now.
It's the near-identical files that I'm most concerned about. For example, there are Word files and photos that were modified after one dump and later saved under the same name in another dump. Some files must have been carried over through more than half a dozen successive dumps.
I know there are many duplicate file finders out there but have never used any of them. Can you recommend a free one that's easy to use, fast and effective in distinguishing files of the same name but with altered contents?
