PhotoStick is a pen drive used to back up photos with a single click. It comes in various sizes including 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB and a whopping 1TB! PhotoStick can be connected to any computer with the help of the standard USB port. Even though PhotoStick’s promos claim it can be used for backing up photos, it is equally handy in backing up documents, videos, music files.
The advantage of this small hardware device is it being optimized for media content, and thus it is ideal for backing up personal multimedia in order to guard against any accidental loss. This guide demonstrates how to weed out duplicate photos from PhotoStick with ease by providing 3 solutions for our readers’ benefit.
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Solutions
Solution 1: The Native Method
The native method is the default way that can be used to eliminate duplicate photos while they are being copied to the drive. This method is reliable to a greater extent. In this solution, we will make use of the PhotoStick app that comes with the device itself. The software by default scans the entire computer and copies the photos to the drive. All the photos are copied to the same folder in the drive regardless of the location on the computer they are being fetched from, and thus the duplicate content is renamed to comply with rules imposed by Windows itself. Since only the earliest version of all images saved to PhotoStick, any duplicates aren’t accepted into the drive at all.
Plug in the PhotoStick drive to the USB port.
Now launch the installation file from the PhotoStick drive and install it.
Once the PhotoStick software has been successfully installed, launch it.
Navigate to the ThePhotoStick Settings and Options section and click the Options tab.
Select both Consolidate all files into a single directory and Skip duplicates options.
From now onwards, no duplicate content will be copied into the drive from the computer. However, this method is affected by limitations of its own. The PhotoStick app is designed to back up the earliest version of a particular photo and treat all other versions as duplicates. So even if the user wants to back up a different version of the photo, the app doesn’t do it on its own. This is one factor which might definitely not go down too well with professional photographers as well as graphics designers, people who have to deal with multiple versions of a single image and often have to retain several versions of an image.
Solution 2: Use Clone Files Checker
Clone Files Checker is a duplicate file remover equipped with a lot of advanced features. It comes with an easy-to-use interface, which makes it an ideal solution convenient for removing duplicate content of any file format with ease. Clone Files Checker is available for both Windows as well as MacOS. It is extremely light on system resources and performs the job with utmost accuracy.
Download and install Clones Files Checker from its website: https://www.clonefileschecker.com/
Launch the application and add the folder which has to be scanned for duplicate photos.
In the next step, click Custom | Images to direct the application to scan for images/ photos only and ignore all other file types. Doing so will significantly reduce the scan time, and thus it’s highly recommended.
Now hit the Start Search button to initiate the scan. The time it takes for the scan to conclude depends on the number of images that reside in the selected folder.
Once the scan is over, you will see a summary pop-up on the screen, showing the number of duplicates detected as well as the storage space lost to them. Click Review & Fix in this pop-up.
Now you will be seeing the list of all the duplicates that have been detected in the scan. Click Select Duplicates, and now select one of the available options from the list. This option makes Clone Files Checker standout from the default app of PhotoStick as the former allows the user choose which files are to be backed up while PhotoStick backs up the first version of the file.
Click Select Action and choose between Permanent Delete and Move to Folder. Both the options are self-explanatory, with the Move to Folder one allowing the user to back up the photos to a directory of their choice.
Solution 3: Java Based Solution
Using Java to do the trick is a sophisticated method in removing duplicate photos. This method is recommended for advanced users as it removes all the duplicate content regardless of its file format. Also, it supports many other platforms such as Linux, FreeBSD, Raspberry Pi and many others, besides the most common Windows and MacOS. This allows people to take full advantage of PhotoStick device on virtually every platform where Java runs. However, only those users who are equipped with all the necessary know-how of Java can take advantage of this method.
This Solution requires Java Runtime Environment Software Development Kit (SDK), hence make sure they are installed in the system prior to following this.
Navigate to the following website from where the Java source code file can be downloaded. https://github.com/stormyqq/Duplicate-File-Remover/blob/master/DuplicateFileRemoverTwo
Click the Raw button to bring up the text mode of the file.
Now save the file as a text file via your Internet Browser.
Java Runtime Environment Software Development Kit can be downloaded from https://www.java.com/en/download/. Install it, and configure the environment path to C:Program FilesJavajdk1.8.0_191bin
Launch Command Prompt and change the current directory to the folder where the Java source code is saved. cd C:Users%username%DocumentsJavaDupTest
Compile the java source code file to bytecodes which run on top of the Java virtual machine. cd C:Users%username%DocumentsJavaDupTest
Execute the bytecode file java DuplicateFileRemoverTwo
When the code is executed, it asks at the outset for the folder to be scanned for duplicate files. Type the full path in Command Prompt as seen in the following screenshot and hit Enter to proceed. In the following screenshot, the following path was used for duplicate files scan. C:UsersDon DilangaDocumentsJavaDupTest
We take so many photos these days and we have so many ways to publish our pictures that we are bound to end up with duplicate photos. Modern photo editing software programs make it very easy to edit our photos but in the process we can create duplicates of our images. With so many photos it is very hard to remember what we do and this can bring confusion when we look at our photos on our computers. We can end up with lots of duplicate photos. Fortunately, I found a few simple steps to avoid and eliminate duplicate photos. Read on to find out how you can also avoid and eliminate duplicate photos on your computer.
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The best way to eliminate duplicate photos is to avoid generating them and importing them to your computer. Prevention is the best method. In this article we will explore how to avoid creating but also how to find and eliminate duplicate photos from your media collection.
With so many ways for producing photos, we easily create duplicate photos on our computers. This complicates the task of organizing and finding our photos.
1. Set the File Numbering Scheme
In order to eliminate duplicate photos we have to start at the source, with your camera.
Unfortunately for your phone, there is nothing you can do as the file numbering scheme is already set for your phone. Fortunately however, most modern phones have the continuous file naming scheme already in use, so you can pretty much skip this step if your phone is the only camera you use.
Modern standalone digital cameras (those devices that are only cameras…not your phone) have different file naming schemes available. The most common two schemes are Continuous and Auto Reset.
The Continuous file naming scheme will continually number your images from 0001 to 9999 and then reset back to 0001. This means that you get 10,000 pictures (yeah it’s actually 9999) with unique image numbers.
This is the first good measure to guard against duplicate files.
If you choose Auto Reset, then your file numbering will start with 1 every time you put in a memory card in your camera.
2. Delete Your Digital Photos After Each Transfer
Next step in order to eliminate duplicate photos is to address the process for transferring photos from our camera (or phone) to our computer. This is where duplicate photos can enter our computer.
After transferring photos from your phone to your computer, I always empty my phone photo storage. This way I can’t transfer the same photos twice.
Talking about a stand alone camera now, the next thing to do is to empty your memory card after you transfer your pictures to the computer. This way you will never transfer the same pictures to your computer.
I know that to some photographers this is really bad advice. What happens if your computer crashes? You have only one copy of your pictures and that’s very risky.
I agree in principle, but if you have a regular backup setup every day, then there’s nothing to worry about. You will get at least one more copy when the backup kicks in.
I would want to say that since I have started deleting my memory cards after each transfer, I have never ran into duplicate images on my computer. That is very cool I say !
To setup a backup strategy read my tutorial on creating an efficient backup strategy for your digital photos.
3. Do not Transfer Duplicate Photos to Your Computer
Duh! Of course, if you don’t transfer duplicate photos then you won’t have duplicate photos…you may say. However, it’s very difficult to achieve this goal, especially if you don’t delete your memory card after each photo transfer.
One good thing that helps you not transfer duplicate files is to use your software to detect duplicates.
In Lightroom, FastStone and Picasa for example you can configure the import process so that it will not import duplicate files. This setting however only works if you always import your photos in the same folder structure and you never move folders and photos around on your hard drive. My STORE method relies on having a separate TRANSFER area which in this case will not help you detecting duplicate photos upon transfer.
In Picasa for example you can configure this setting under Tools -> Options -> General tab make sure you check the “Detect Duplicates while importing”.
4. Remove Your External Backup Drive From Software
Another source of duplication is having your backup drive connected to your software. If it is then your software (like Picasa) will show your pictures twice. So, make sure your remove your backup drives from the “watched” folders in your software.
For example, if you’re not careful you can add both your main photo storage area and the external backup drive into your software. This is especially true if you allow your software to scan for photos automatically.
Long time ago when I was using Picasa for example, I excluded my backup drive from the folders Picasa scans. I configured my synchronized folders in Picasa using Tools –> Folder Manager and making sure all my “watched” folders are what I need.
5. Have Patience With Your Software
If you are using database image processing software like Adobe Lightroom (or Picasa), you have to remember that if you change the folder structure outside of the software, then it will take a while for the software to read the changes and update its database.
In Lightroom for example, unless you synchronize a folder with your catalog, the changes you make outside of Lightroom will not be visible inside Lightroom. This is always a source of frustration for Lightroom users as there is not automatic synchronization for all folders in a catalog.
For those of you who still use Picasa, it detects changes automatically. Picasa will show you a small image thumbnail and the file name on the bottom right part of the screen. This tells you it’s working to read changes it has detected. Just wait until the software finishes.
In Picasa find a folder that has duplicate pictures and then right-click on the folder and choose “Locate on disk”. This will bring up a Windows Explorer window, make sure you have thumbnails turned on and just go through the thumbnails…if you see duplicates then it’s normal for Picasa to show you duplicates. Just delete them through Picasa by hitting the delete key.
6. Editing Photos Can Create Duplicates
Most modern photo management software will allow you to apply different changes to the pixels without actually modifying your pictures until you export your edited photos.
Software like Lightroom, ACDSee and the now defunct Picasa, will apply changes to brightness, contrast, exposure and so many other effects while not really modifying your pictures. All these changes will be applied when you export your pictures and create new versions of your pictures.
Until you save your picture to another image file, you will only have the original picture on your hard drive without any changes to it even though you have worked a lot on it.
So when you want to create a new image with the changes you have performed on this picture, you will end up with two images. The original image and the new image. The two images will have almost the same file name.
Essentially, your edited photos are not really duplicate photos as they contain edits to your originals. However, I always separate my photo export area from my originals. This way I always know that my originals are untouched. Photos that have specific purposes like: for a photo book, or for my travel website will always be separated into different folders from my originals. See below for more details.
Lightroom makes it pretty clear in their Export display that you should specify a folder where you want your exported photo files to be placed.
In Picasa you can create a new image file from an existing one by clicking File -> Save a copy. This essentially creates a new image file with all the changes applied to it and it adds '-1' in the file name of the new image.
So, later on when you can’t remember what you have done and you look in the folder with the image you changed…you will see two images.
7. Have a Separate Folder for Exporting Photos
Now we come to a crucial step to eliminate duplicate photos. This is the step most photographers ignore, because it takes some effort to create it and most of all it takes perseverance to use it every time you export your edited photos.
As you know, I have all my pictures in one folder called My Pictures. Within this folder I have one folder for transferring new pictures and one folder for exporting edited photos for different purposes. In essence I have something like this:
This way all my duplicate photosI create from editing and resizing, will be in the EXPORT folder and not interfere with my original pictures under FAMILY.
8. Find and Eliminate Duplicate Photos
Most software that claims to find and eliminate duplicate photos will only check for variations in the file name. When duplicate photos are imported, the software and operating system will add “-1” or “_1” to the file name if it already detects the same file name existing in your import destination.
For example: when my iPhone creates a file name IMG_12345.jpg, my computer will attempt to copy this file to my transfer folder when I download photos from my phone to my computer. If my transfer folder will already have this file already, then my computer will create a new file called IMG_12345_1.jpg which will be easily visible in details mode with Mac Finder or Windows File Explorer.
But what happens when you rename duplicate files?
Most software will not find them…but, if you still use Picasa you have a chance to find and eliminate your duplicate photos. Picasa analyzes the pixels inside the image as well.
How do you use Picasa to find and eliminate duplicate photos?
You need 2 things:
Make sure Picasa displays the file name under image thumbnails: View –> Thumbnail caption –> File name.
Picasa click Tools –> Experimental –> Show duplicate Files. Scroll through the files and inspect the thumbnails and their captions.
If you are unsure make the thumbnails larger and use the properties panel to check the date.
Can You Eliminate Duplicate Photos Altogether?
Well, the answer is that it depends. I have duplicate images on my computer. However, the duplicate images I created were created for a specific purpose, like publishing on my travel blog, or sharing them online or printing them. Houdahgeo 6 0 16. While these images are duplicate photos, they are not exact copies as they have different resolution and edited.
However, if you want to eliminate duplicate photos on your computer, the steps I have outlined will help you avoid creating them altogether.
Essentials for organizing your digital photos
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Excellent Lightroom and Picasa alternative. If you're looking for a cheaper and simpler photo manager then ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac(70% off until October 28, 2020) or ACDSee Pro for Windows is my preferred solution for organizing your media on your computer. It has a very fast browser, beautiful image editing capabilities and you don't work with catalogs at all.
If you do a lot of image editing like I do, I recommend using Adobe Lightroom Classic CC via the annual Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Lightroom has excellent photo editing capabilities. Yes, Lightroom has a steeper learning curve as you have to learn to keep your catalogs in sync with your hard drive. But if do image editing, Adobe Lightroom is my favorite.
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In addition, make sure you have an inexpensive and reliable external hard drive for backing everything up. It is absolutely essential for backing up your media regularly.
Most people want to just organize their digital pictures and ignore these crucial steps right at the beginning..when they are shooting and transferring their digital pictures. Then they wonder why they can't organize their digital photos! Avoid most people's mistakes and start on the right track!
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