Help! Swimming in Duplicate image files

I will start with the bottom line: I suspect I have several duplicate copies of images on my NAS device and want a great software to help me locate duplicates and remove them.

Over the last few years, I haven't been consistent at how I create back-ups for storage. Now, more than 10 years into digital, I have a mess on my hands. I shoot a lot and, early on, didn't delete enough, so I have right at 8 TB of RAW and Edits on my Synology NAS. Annually, I have just blindly copied the files onto an external drive and stored it at another location. In the early days, that was easy as files were smaller and I shot less. I still plan to regularly make a back-up to an external, but copying 8 TB takes forever and, of course, I'm wasting space.

On line there are a million software solutions offered, many free. I'm not sure I trust them. I'm okay with paying for the right software but which one? BTW, the many options I found on-line after just a 5 min search include:

• Awesome Duplicate Photo Finder
  
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• Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro
  
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• Duplicate Photo Cleaner
  
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• Duplicate Photo Finder
  
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• Duplicate Images Finder
  
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• Duplicate Sweeper
  
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• Duplicate File Finder
  
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• Auslogics Duplicate
  
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• Digital Volcano Duplicate Cleaner
  
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• VisiPics
  
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• Free Duplicate Photo Finder
  
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• Anti-Twin
  
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• Similar Image Search
  

I paid $5 for Duplicate Detective (Mac) and it worked well for me. I was able to clean up my hard drive in a few hours, but it was only 1.5TB, so it will surely take you longer.

I use dupeGuru and it seems to work well. Depending on the situation, you might also want to look at Beyond Compare, a trusted and versatile comparison program. The latter is not free but there is a free trial. Both are for Windows.

I think you found what I use, Auslogics Duplicate File Finder, which is free and can be downloaded at https://www.auslogics.​com …re/duplicate-file-finder/. You mention "Duplicate File Finder" and Auslogics "Duplicate" so it could just be a naming issue. Anyway, I find it works well and it goes beyond just file name, date and size and looks "within" at binary content. Something like that is pretty much necessary when you have three different cameras.

@ShotBytom Thanks, I will look into this and see if they have a pc version.

@Archibald, Thanks for this input in my analysis of options.

John from PA wrote in post #18506287
I think you found what I use, Auslogics Duplicate File Finder, which is free and can be downloaded at https://www.auslogics.​com …re/duplicate-file-finder/. You mention "Duplicate File Finder" and Auslogics "Duplicate" so it could just be a naming issue. Anyway, I find it works well and it goes beyond just file name, date and size and looks "within" at binary content. Something like that is pretty much necessary when you have three different cameras.

Thanks for input. I like that it looks deeper.

End the end, I used Auslogics. I had no trouble using the software to illuminate duplicates on the main drives or on the external drive the plan is for back up. The software did not seem to want to see or read my in the NAS.