Wondering how to find duplicate files on Mac? Well, glad enough you’ve landed at the right spot! In this post, we’ll be talking all about duplicate files, how do you end up with duplicate files on your system, and most importantly, how to remove these redundant files from your device to free up disk space and to keep your Mac organized.
Duplicate Files are a Waste of Time!
Yes, we’re sure you’ll totally agree on this fact. Duplicate files are not just messy but they also occupy unnecessary storage space on your device and keeps lying forever in your disk space until you notice. And when finally, one day you decide on cleaning up this mess, the job gets too tedious as you have to manually scan each and every folder of your Mac to hunt for redundant items.
(Image Source: Video Hive)
Duplicate files can be stored on your system in any format, be it audio files, pictures, documents or anything. But yes, if you’re not dealing with them in the right way they can eat up and consume a huge amount of disk space on your device. In this digital era where technology acts as a helping hand to mankind, dealing with duplicates can be done with ease involving minimal time and effort.
But before we learn how to find and delete duplicate files on Mac, let’s understand how do such files end up on our system.
How Does Your Mac End Up with Duplicates?
(Image Source: How To Geek)
Well, duplicate files can end up on any system due to a variety of reasons. And some of the most common reasons why identical files end up in our system is when we download or install any program twice. So, because of this, the same set of program files keep lying at two separate locations.
Also, the same happens in the case of duplicate photo files and audio files too. When you try and organize the files on your system, you often find two or more companies of the same picture or audio file that unnecessarily consume disk space on your Mac. Dealing with duplicate files is an effective file management technique that keeps your system organized and also allows you to recover chunks of storage space in a jiffy.
How to Find and Delete Duplicate Files on Mac
In this post, we will primarily be focusing on the two most effective ways to remove duplicate files from Mac. One is via iTunes and the other involves using a reliable third-party tool that gets the job done without involving any hassle.
Via iTunes
iTunes comes with a built-in function that allows you to scan the library for duplicates so that you can perform the necessary action on how you want to deal with identical files. Follow these quick steps to find and delete duplicate files on the iTunes library.
(Image Source: iDownload Blog)
As macOS Catalina no longer includes a dedicated iTunes app, you can try this feature by launching the Apple Music app on Mac.
Select any song in your music library list, and then tap on File> Library> Show Duplicate Items to find every instance of that song if it exists in your library.
Once the duplicate items are listed, you can delete them to organize your library which only includes unique items.
Via Duplicate Files Fixer Tool
Want to get rid of duplicates with ease?
Duplicate Files Fixer tool can be your savior and help you in removing all sorts of redundant files stored on your system. The tool works seamlessly well in the macOS environment and is specifically designed to hunt for duplicate items including files, audio tracks, photos and more.
(Image Source: Tweak Library)
- Supports all File Formats: Duplicate Files Fixer is an all-round solution to remove duplicate files of any format including texts, photos, audio, video, docs and more.
- External Device Scanning: Apart from thoroughly scanning entire folders of your Mac, this tool can also be used for scanning and finding duplicate files on an external source like hard drive or USB.
- Lightning Fast: No matter how many files are stored on your system, Duplicate Files Fixer hunts for duplicates quickly and lists down all the results in an organized manner.
- Folder Exclusion: To make your work easy, the tool also features a folder exclusion feature where you can exclude a particular folder on which you do not want the scan to be performed.
- Easy Backups: If you wish to keep the duplicate files and if you don’t want to get rid of them right away, Duplicate Files Fixer tool also gives you an option to back up those files so that you can access them later.
Wrap Up
Dealing with duplicates is not that tedious, right? Gone are those days when we had to manually look for duplicate files in each and every folder separately. With the help of a nifty tool, you can get the job done in lesser time and effort.
