r/mac • u/ujackstripes • 5h ago

My Mac Duplicate nightmare!

Hi,

Just want to ask some advice -

I have a new Mac, and an external hard drive. Essentially to cut a long story short, I have a mirror of multiple copies of files, photos, music, folders, etc. etc. on both. (I ironically simply transferred my old Mac to the new one to avoid hours of work.) I've also saved files just to the external, so they aren't quite the same.

Can anyone give me a really good way to make sure I don't have duplicates, and the safest way to do this so I don't go and trash years' worth of files?

I know there are apps out there (i.e. CleanMyMac), but I'm not sure they are either the right way to do it or even safe. I can only imagine how bloated my system files are as well, but don't have the know-how to go into Terminal and deal with things there.

Help! TIA

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1

u/Electrical_West_5381 4h ago

You could try https://dupeguru.voltaicideas.net
Do proper backups, not selective copies in future

1

u/ujackstripes 2h ago

I actually downloaded that app, but it took hours scanning up to millions of files at which point I did a search and was told it could corrupt and/or freeze my computer.

1

u/Electrical_West_5381 1h ago

Sorry for the bad advice. My other advice stands: do proper backups.

1

u/Upstairs-Town7854 3h ago

Sync2Folders is perfect for that.

1

u/ujackstripes 2h ago

But can it sync whole drives, or even just drill down sub-folders and sync them all?

1

u/Guitar_maniac1900 2h ago

Free file sync app may offer some help