Deleting duplicate photos

[doctorpaul]

Hi, using g11 and accidentally transferred images a second time that have not been deleted from the camera, so i have doubles of a lot of stuff.

Is there an easy way to get rid of the duplicates?

[TTk]

Off your PC or card?

[Kevan]

Off the PC, you could arrange contents within the folder by date range (using "detail" view, click on the "date modified" column heading) and simply remove all those that were added subsequently.

[doctorpaul]

Off the pc

[CarloY]

an easy way to get rid of the duplicates?
First verify for yourself that two or more files with the same name are in facts duplicates (and not different captures using same name -- possible if you set your camera to 'start over' the numbering)

Here's a somewhat easy way in Windows Vista (and probably others). *below later, I'll mention a couple variations of this.

Create a Temporary_Photos folder.
'Right-Click' drag all image files from one of your existing folders to that Tempo' folder.

Note: use Rt-Click so that when you release to drop the files, you have a choice in the context menu to 'Copy' the files. (and not delete the originals, not Move the files)

Next, do the same operation with all of the image files from your 2nd existing folder. That is, drag to Copy them to the target Tempo' folder.

When there are duplicate FILENAMES detected, Windows prompts you for what to do. Notice the small checkbox in the lower left corner. Check that to apply your 'decision' to all files with similar situation.
Now CHOOSE: "Do Not Copy" (or similar worded option).

There is a side-effect however. You will end-up with all these in one folder and lose any organizing you've done.

There is another way... follow similar steps
BUT CHOOSE the option to "Copy and Rename".
When you do that you will be able to see filenames like IMG1054 (2).jpg
And in Windows Explorer using Vista, you can type in the '(2)' characters in the Search field so you can identify and group those duplicates. Delete those if you like.

[CarloY]

BTW, Canon's ZoomBrowser application that comes with the G-series manages the downloads in a way that precludes duplicating. Basically, if I downloaded the first 50 images, and then after shooting more I download again -- ZoomBrowser will only add the 'new' images.

The way ZB organizes them is by creating a folder for each DATE. Of course you can easily drag them later to your own folder scheme.