dupeGuru Review 2020, Instructions and Best Alternatives

dupeGuru has been one of the most well-known and best duplicate file and photo finder for Mac since its initial release. Does dupeGuru do a good job of finding and deleting duplicate files? Is it free? How do you make the most of it for duplicate removal? dupeGuru hasn’t been updated since 2016? Is there any good dupeGuru alternative?

dupeGuru review

What is dupeGuru? Developed by Hardcoded Software, dupeGuru can find and remove duplicate files on computers. It supports common file types such as audios, images, documents and archives. You can set it to identify duplicates by content or filename. There are 11 supported languages such as English, German and Italian. The latest version is 4.0.3, which was released in 2016.

Supported OS:

• OS X 10.10 or later
• Windows 8/7 (64 bit)/Vista (64 bit)/ 7 (32 bit)/Vista (32 bit), XP
• Linux

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Is dupeGuru safe?

Yes, dupeGuru is safe. The installer is clean without any malware or adware. You can safely install or uninstall it. It’s recommended to download the app from trustworthy places such as the official website.

This duplicate file finder is also safe to use. It is designed with safety in mind. Measures are taken to prevent users from deleting files by mistake. In addition, it allows users to remove duplicates by sending them to Trash or the Recycle Bin, which makes it easy to recover deleted files.

Download and install

Yes, it’s freeware. Initially released in 2004, dupeGuru was commercial until 2010 when Hardcoded Software announced that its apps went open source. It is now totally free to use. There is no need to buy a license.

Its last paid version was 2.12.0. The price was $ 19.95.

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Scan types, filters and performance

dupeGuru can efficiently scan for duplicate files thanks to its fuzzy matching algorithm. There used to be dupeGuru Music Edition and dupeGuru Picture Edition. They have been packed in the same app which now offers three modes: Standard, Music and Picture. The Standard mode will search for all duplicates regardless of file type. With Standard, users can choose from three scan types: Contents, Filename and Folder. There are also additional exclusive scan types for the other two modes.

In Preferences, you can adjust the dupeGuru filter hardness. If you set the hardness level to 100, the app will only look for exact duplicates. Lower levels means looser matches, which means it will also find similar files.

You also can set the scan to ignore files smaller than the custom minimum size and to ignore subfolders in the selected folders.

In the test, we used dupe Guru and Cisdem Duplicate Finder for Mac to scan the same folder. dupeGuru found 265 duplicate items, whereas Cisdem Duplicate Finder found 361 duplicates with less time. Each time we used it to scan an entire hard drive, the app crashed.

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View and select duplicate files found

Once scanning finishes, the dupeGuru Results window will show up, listing all the groups of duplicate files detected. Each group consists of the original file (marked in blue) and its exact (and almost exact) duplicates. The search boxes before the original files are disabled, which is a safety measure to prevent you from selecting and deleting the original ones. dupeGuru allows users to save and load scan results. Users can also export results to XHTML or CSV.

You can sort the scan results by folder, size, file type, modification, match level, etc.

There are three other view modes.

• Details Clicks Details, and a window will pop up showing you the file attribute of the selected file. If you select a duplicate file, it will also show the attribute of its original file, which helps you better compare them. If the dupeGuru is in Picture Mode, you can also preview images without having to open them with the associated app.
• Dupes Only This view mode only list duplicates. Their respective original files will be hidden.
• Delta If this mode is enabled, the numerical columns (size, dimensions and modification) will display the value differences (marked in orange) instead of the absolute values. For example, the original image is 182KB in size and its duplicate copy is 39KB, the Size column will show -144KB.

You can also filter the scan results by using dupeGuru’s filtering feature. In the upper right corner of the results window, you can find a search box. For example, if you type “png” and hit enter, only PNG files will be shown.

You can set dupeGuru to select all duplicate copies. But sometimes, you may still want to keep some of the duplicates or similar files. In such cases, you can manually select or unselect (individually or in batch) with the help of features like Dupes Only and Delta.

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Duplicates removal

Now you can easily delete selected unwanted duplicates in a few clicks. Go to the top menu bar, select Actions > Send Marked to Trash. It’s that easy. You can also move selected duplicates to a folder of your choice.

In Preferences, you can set dupeGuru to directly delete files. But this option is not recommended. There is also the Link deleted files deletion option where the removed files will be replaced by a link to the original file.

On the Actions menu, there are also other actions which may be beneficial to users. One of them is Invoke Custom Command. This is more intended for advanced users who are familiar with command line.

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Quick Summary

dupeGuru is a free, cross-platform duplicate file finder with a balance of basic and advanced options. You can easily add folders to scan and remove duplicates with just one click. You can also have more control over the scan and removal by customizing and taking advantage of the more advanced settings. It can find most duplicates, but is easily outperformed by its paid counterparts. Although the developer claims that dupeGuru is easy to use without documentation, users may have problem understanding and using some of its features.

Instructions: How to use dupeGuru

How does dupeGuru work? This is just a basic guide. To understand in detail how this duplicate file finder works, please read the review above. Here we will take dupeGuru as an example.

Step 1. Open the app. Choose an Application Mode and a Scan Type.

Step 2. Click the add button in the lower left corner to add folders to scan. In the State column, you can exclude subfolders if needed. Click Scan.

Step 3. When the dupeGuru finishes scanning, it will list all the detected duplicate files. You can sort and filter files, view details and preview images. To select all duplicate copies, in the top menu bar, go to Edit > Mark All.

Step 4. To remove marked unwanted items all at once, select Actions > Send Marked to Trash or other options based on your need.

The best dupeGuru alternatives

If dupeGuru is not working for you or if it doesn’t meet your needs, there are some alternatives you can choose from.

#1 Cisdem Duplicate Finder | Mac

Cisdem Duplicate Finder is one of the best duplicate file finders for Mac. It supports all the common file types and formats and is compatible with the latest macOS 10.15 Catalina. It uses the MD5 value check-sum algorithm and byte-by-byte comparison to find duplicate files in internal and external storage devices. Thanks to the simple intuitive interface, it’s easy to use even to new users. It categorizes groups of duplicates into different lists based on file type. In addition, you will also find a pie chart overview of all duplicates. This dupeGuru alternative for Mac allows you to get rid of duplicates and free up Mac space in just a few clicks. At the same time, it also offers high level of customization and an array of advanced options.

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#2 Duplicate Cleaner Pro | Windows

Just like dupeGuru, this duplicate file finder can work on PC. The interface seems a bit overwhelming. Don’t worry. The developer DigitalVolcano provides a very comprehensive manual for new users to better understand how it works. In addition, for each feature or option displayed on the interface, a Help button is available. This dupeGuru alternative also has three scan modes: Regular, Image and Audio. The Selection assistant feature can help users better view, manage and select the scan results. Before clicking the Delete files button, it’s recommended to preview and compare files side by side.

Below is a list of some other alternatives to dupeGuru.

• CCleaner
• Duplicate Cleaner
• Gemini 2
• VisiPics
• AllDup
• CloneSpy

Conclusion

Despite being freeware now, dupeGuru is professionally designed and excels at detecting and deleting duplicate files on computer. It hasn’t been updated for three years as of 2019. Hopefully there will be a new version. Luckily, there are other great duplicate file finders available. If your computer is running out of hard drive space, you can free up space by eliminating duplicates on a regular basis.