By Michael | Last Updated
External hard drives are often used for backup purposes and they can also be used to transfer files between computers. As you use your external hard drive, duplicate files may slowly accumulate over time. In order to use the storage space on your hard drive efficiently, it is a great idea to find the duplicate files on it and delete them. This article will describe easy and quick ways to find and delete duplicate files on external hard drive.
The manual way to find and delete duplicate files on an external hard drive is to use File Explorer on Windows. You can use it to locate and get rid of duplicate files.
Step 1: Connect your external hard drive to your computer and use the WIN+E keys to open File Explorer. Navigate to the External hard drive, in this case, its drive letter is (G:). Double click to expand all files and folders.
Step 2: To better sort out the files, you will need to make the following changes. Select the Preview pane from the View menu. This will allow you to get a preview of the file you have selected. Then choose Details in the Layout section. Finally, access the Current view tab, click on the Group by and select the Name and Ascending.
Step 3: Now we can search for duplicate files by entering the extension of the file we are looking for in the "Search" tab. Compare the file name, modification date and size and if you find a duplicate file, move to the Home tab and select Delete.
If this manual method of finding and deleting duplicate files on an external hard drive is complicated for you, use the automatic method described below.
Since it is inconvenient to find thousands or hundreds of files manually, using a professional tool can help you to delete them quickly. In this case, you can use iSunshare DupFiles Genius -- an excellent and efficient tool for finding duplicate files. It comes with the following five highlights.
Step 1: Before start, you should have iSunshare DupFiles Genius installed on your Windows computer. Next, ensure that your external hard drive has been properly connected to your laptop.
Step 2: Launch the software. In the main interface, add the specific drives or folders to scan. Click on "Add" multiple times to add more folders to scan in the meantime. Then click "Next" button.
Step 3: Clicking the Plus sign at the top to select which folders to exclude. To customize scan settings, tick several file types to filter out unwanted files. You can also limit the file size by setting the Minimum size and Maximum size. Keep Skip hidden files/system files/program files/recycle bin option checked if needed. When everything is ready, hit "Start scanning" button.
Step 4: When the scanning process is finished, iSunshare DupFiles Genius will arrange all duplicate files next to each other. All files are sorted by Size in Descending order. Pick one file, and right-click on it, you can choose to open it in file explorer.
Step 5: If you obtain the full access of the software, you’re able to clean up all duplicate files at the same time, by ticking the checkbox beside the File Name and click "Yes" to confirm the deletion. For free version users, they can only remove one selected duplicate file in one-click.
Step 6: Once the duplicated files has been successfully removed from your PC, simple click "OK" to exit.
Related Articles:
