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Fast Duplicate File Finder Review, Instructions and Best Alternative

Updated on February 07, 2026 Preview 5.0K Preview 0
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No robots used, this article has been written and edited by our team under strict editorial guidelines.
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Written by Sarah Miller
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Approved by Adrian Li

Key Takeaway

Fast Duplicate File Finder is a good duplicate file finder in general. However, if you are looking for a tool to manage duplicate photos, its alternative can be a better choice due to side-by-side previews and powerful image comparisons.

Removing duplicate files from your computer can free up space and help enhance organization. Fast Duplicate File Finder is an app designed for this purpose. What features does it offer? Does it excel at handling all types of duplicate files? You can read this review to find out the answers.

 

Fast Duplicate File Finder review

What is Fast Duplicate File Finder?

Fast Duplicate File Finder is a duplicate file finder for Windows developed by MindGems. It's compatible with Windows 7 or later. The app offers a free version and a paid version ($39.95 for 1 PC).

Pros

  1. Offer four scan methods to find identical and similar files
  2. Provide decent speed
  3. Allow you to view duplicate files and preview images
  4. Offer an Auto Check feature to help you quickly select duplicates for deletion
  5. Offer rules for you to customize auto selections
  6. Very customizable

Cons

  1. Poor at finding similar photos
  2. Not very user-friendly for beginners

Verdict

Fast Duplicate File Finder's free version is helpful enough if you are looking for a basic duplicate file finder. If you have many RAW photos or similar images in your library, you might want to upgrade to the paid version to access features like RAW image previews and similar image identification.

However, you may need to consider its alternative if you need a better preview experience or more effective similar photo detection.

 

Is Fast Duplicate File Finder safe?

Fast Duplicate File Finder is safe to download and install. It is important to make certain that you download it from a credible and reliable source. In addition, Fast Duplicate File Finder protects system files and folders from scanning by default to prevent necessary files from being wrongly deleted.

 

Features and Performance

Find exact duplicates and similar files

With an easily understandable interface, Fast Duplicate File Finder can find exact duplicate files with fast scanning speed. Byte-by-byte comparison helps you find duplicates even with the same filenames or from different locations. It works on computers, diskettes, CG/DVD ROM, USB flash drives, external hard drives or network computers and drives.

Finding similar files need to order Pro version. You can define the similarity level. To do that, you should select “Similar Files” scan method first. It should be noted that if you enable “Similar Files” mode, the search process would be slower.

fast duplicate file finder main window

Preview the found duplicate files

Fast Duplicate File Finder has a handy preview function that allows you to view what the duplicate file looks like before removing it. You can also see more details about the duplicates in the result window, including file names, file size, created time, similarity, etc. Duplicate files are listed in groups. In free version, file names are displayed only for the first 10 duplicate groups.

preview the found duplicates

Auto check files to mark duplicate files automatically

There are 8 auto-check rules help you mark duplicate files automatically after scanning, including smaller/bigger file sizes; older/newer files dates; shorter/longer file names; shorter/longer paths. You can choose a desired auto-check rule then perform the delete, move or copy in bulk. Or manually mark the files one by one.

auto check files

Customize your scan using advanced filters

Fast Duplicate File Finder allows you to add multiple folders, filter with extensions, filter with sizes, filter with dates and more to customize the scan. This configuration is usually performed before scanning to protect your important files from being deleted.

filtering

 

Tutorial: How to use Fast Duplicate File Finder

Step 1: Download and install Fast Duplicate File Finder on your Windows PC.

Step 2: Click on Add Folder in the top tool bar. Add folders to scan.

fast duplicate file finder main window

Step 3: Choose a scan method. 100% Equal Files is for searching exact duplicate files. To find similar files, adjust the Similarity value.

Step 4: Press Start Scan button.

Step 5: Press Autocheck button on the pop-up result window. Choose a desired auto-check rule. Click on Preform then choose the corresponding operation (Delete/Move/Copy).

preview the found duplicates

 

Fast Duplicate File Finder alternative

Fast Duplicate File Finder is an app for Windows users to find and remove duplicate files in folders, PC computers or diskettes, etc. But it doesn’t have a Mac version. Cisdem Duplicate Finder can be the best Fast Duplicate Finder Alternative. It works as well as Fast Duplicate File Finder and available for both Windows and Mac computer. It uses MD5 value checksum algorithm to detect duplicates precisely and quickly, ignoring file names. Compared to Fast Duplicate File Finder, it has a more user-friendly interface and better capability to handle identical and similar images. Below are its main features:

  • Automatically find and delete duplicate photos, videos, documents, music, archives, folders and others.
  • Find duplicate files in computers, external hard drives, SD card, cloud drives, etc.
  • Also find similar photos with adjustable similarity level.
  • Identify exact duplicate files by content or file names.
  • Offer 3 preview modes, including side-by-side preview.
  • Provide 8 selection rules to auto-select duplicates and remove them in one go.
  • Offer 3 removal methods: move to trash, move to folder or remove permanently.
  • Support macOS 10.11 or later
  • Also available for Windows 11/10.

1. Download and install this Fast Duplicate File Finder alternative app. Open it.

Free Download Windows 10 or later Free Download macOS 10.11 or later

2. Click the plus button to select folders or hard drives. Or directly drag and drop them to the app. Click the Scan button. 

add folders to scan

3. This Fast Duplicate File Finder alternative shows you real-time scanning results. And you can click the Stop button to stop the scanning process anytime you want and it will show you instant results.

After scanning, this app will list all duplicates under the All tab. You can also view each type of duplicates under its tab (such as Images and Music).

scan result

4. There are 3 preview modes: Thumbnail, List and Info. Move to the second mode, you can preview and play a track. The third mode allows you to see details of the duplicates including file size, path, created time, etc.

preview modes

5. This app also provides Smart Select feature. It’ll auto-select the duplicates for you to delete after scanning. You can choose a desired selection rule to help you mass select.

selection rules

6. After previewing the selected duplicates, hit Delete button to remove them.

 

Conclusion

Fast Duplicate File Finder is a useful duplicate file finder that can help you find and remove duplicate files to reclaim valuable space on Windows. This Fast Duplicate File Finder review talks about what this app does, user guide, its pros and cons, etc. Hope they are helpful for you. Also I introduced its alternative app that can do equal good even better on both Mac and Windows PC. If Fast Duplicate File Finder can’t meet your needs, you can try its alternative app I recommended above.

About the authors
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Written by Sarah Miller

With a passion for tech and writing, Sarah joined Cisdem, where she focuses on creating articles about using utility tools to enhance file management and simplify contact management.

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Approved by Adrian Li

Adrian Li is Cisdem’s Chief Engineer and serves as the editorial advisor for Duplicate Finder and ContactsMate. His work and insights have been featured in leading tech publications such as Fossbytes, TUAW, Redmond Pie, SafetyDetectives, and BestForAndroid.

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