Duplicate File Scan

RegHunter’s Duplicate File Scan (1) scans your computer’s hard drives for duplicate files based on duplicated file content. This feature is a useful tool to find files that are unnecessarily taking up disk space (especially to prevent unnecessary duplication of large media files).

RegHunter does not determine duplicates by filenames. Duplicates are determined based on the CONTENT of the file only.

To start a duplicate file scan, go to the “Duplicate File Scan” (1) panel, select which attached drives you would like to include in the scan, and click the “Start Scan” button.

Once the scan is complete, RegHunter will display all duplicated files on the selected drives, grouped by content. All files displayed are exact duplicates of the other files listed in their group.

You can remove unnecessary duplicate files directly in the Duplicate File Scan panel. Simply check the boxes of the files that you would like to permanently delete, and click the “Delete Selected” (4) button.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In normal circumstances, you should always leave one object in each group UN-CHECKED, so you do not accidentally delete your original data. If you check all boxes in a group and click the “Delete Selected” button, you will be warned before deletion will proceed.

The Duplicate File Scan “Advanced Settings” button (5) allows power users to include or exclude specific paths and file extensions from the next Duplicate File Scan performed. (see “Duplicate File Scan Advanced Settings” below for specific settings)

Duplicate File Scan Advanced Settings

This feature can be accessed through the Advanced Settings button (5) giving you additional control over RegHunter’s Duplicate File Scan.

In some situations you may not want to include specific folders in duplicate file scans. You can specifically exclude file paths from being scanned for duplicates. Some paths are already added to this section by default. To add additional paths to be excluded, simply click the “Add Excluded Paths” button (8), and select the folder that you would like to exclude. To remove an exclusion that is already added, just uncheck the box next to it (9).

By default, RegHunter only checks specific file extensions for duplicate content. These file extensions are displayed in the Duplicate File Scan Advanced Settings dialog. You can add additional file extensions to be checked by entering the extension into the textbox (6) and clicking the “+” button. To delete a file extension, select it in the list, right-click the extension, and select “Delete” from the menu that appears. You can also uncheck (7) any included file extensions to exclude them from the next scan.

Click the “OK” button (10) to return to the Duplicate File Scan panel and run a new scan with your new settings by clicking Scan Again (3).