CnW File manager for finding required, and unrequired, duplicate files, over multiple drives in Windows.
Easy to use and free.
Optimize and simplify your PC storage..
How to find which files are stored more than once. Duplicated files on a single drive take up space. Lack of duplicated files on multiple drives means reduced security in the case of accidental deletion, or disk failure.
This new program will allow users to find duplicate files for two main purposes. To either save space, but also to make sure that there are duplicate copies for security purposes. The program scans all attached drives and network drives and give a sumary of where space could be saved or important copies moved to.
What is a duplicate file?
A critical question, and CnW-FM has several options. The very simplest is files with the same name, or same name and same length. In many cases this will be the quickest search, but at times there may be files of the same size but different contents. Date may or may be important. It is possible to open a document and save it without making any changes, so two identical documents, but different date. CnW-FM can be selected to look for duplicates in certain types of files, eg just photos, or office documents.
An ultimate test for seeing if a file is idential is to take a digital signature of the file, eg CRC32 or MD5. These signatures are calculated by examining the contents of a file - by default limiting to the first 1MB of data. This will show an identical file, even with a very different files name. Forensic investigators will often use this mode to find potentially hidden or renamed files. This is very safe comparison, but as it requires every file to be full read, it will be slower. As a file duplicate finder, this is an ideal tool. You can then remove duplicate files.
Which drives? CnW-FM will scan all local drives, connect USB drives and mapped network drives. The scan for duplicate files can show which files are duplicated on a specfic drive, or files duplicated but saved on different drives. The first case can be used to help save space, the second to have security of a backup.
Run out of disk space Files grow and disk storage remains the same. Over a few years it is then possible to run out of space. One option is to add more storage, this could be by increasing the main disk drive size, or by adding more drives, internally for a desk top, or maybe a USB drive for a laptop. The other option is to remove files and the first place to start is for duplicated files. CnW-FM shows you which files have multiple copies and you have the choice to delete them. Optimizing the space may save the cost of a new drive.
Duplicate files on the same drive Having copies of a file on the same drive may give a sense of security. Against deletion this may be true but for a hard drive failure it is less secure. Some spinning hard drives fail slowly and aprtial recovery may work. SSD drives can fail in different ways and a total, sudden failure is not impossible. The only secure solution is to make sure that copy files are on a different physical device
Any queries or questions we will always be pleased to hear from you, via e-mail info@cnwrecovery.co.uk
Development plans The program can go in many directions, but below is a possible way forward - a mix of small ideas and bigger ideas. New releases every few weeks. Your input can influence the direction.
Simple reports of how types of duplicate files found
Showing similar directories - maybe with a 'Directory A' vs 'Directory B' display
List numbers of duplicates for file types
Track duplicate files on Google Drive and DropBox
Schedule backup copies between drives
Only show duplicates on different drives
About CnW Recovery
The history of CnW Recovery is best described in the section on this website about InterMedia. Very simply, CnW is the result of 45 years of developing programs that concentrate raw data manipulation, recovery, conversion and file handling. CnW FM calls upon many earlier learned skills.
For more details of the program, please look at the on-line manual
