[SOLVED] Duplicate Photo Finder and Organizer

[KimiB333]

I have a MAC. An iPad. An iPhone. About 8 older Windows laptops (Win 98 , XP Pro and 7) and assorted old hard drives that I have photos on from desktops. Every time I try to gather photos for a slide show for some monumental occasion for my children, I cannot find the ones I want and feel like I had tons I haven’t seen in years. I do back ups fairly regularly, however, they are scattered - not truly organized in any particular way. I have used a program recommended by you in the past, called Duplicate File Finder, but it is not sophisticated (yet SIMPLE) enough for what I am seeking, and it is not automated in a way that I need. I just heard about a product called The Photostick, but after investigating (their chat people are clueless), I am sure this product will not accomplish what I seek. I am CERTAIN THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE NEED WHAT I NEED. And I need it to be SIMPLE, not requiring mad preferences/adjustments (that often do not have SIMPLE instructions/explanations) - so, my question is, are you aware of any device (or even software) that meets these requirements?

A DEVICE that will search my computer, iPad, phone, external hard drives, and find every single photo and video, including slide shows, and move them onto the DEVICE in a LOGICAL FASHION (perhaps original date (not modification or load onto the device date that the DEVICE is scanning), AND

A DEVICE that is ABLE to correctly distinguish duplicates:

I have many photos that old digital cameras automatically named the same (i.e. DSC_1001), but they are totally different photos taken months apart. I have many duplicate photos that my various computers renamed (copy of), or that were saved multiple times with different names. I NEED the DEVICE to distinguish them. That is crucial.

I seek a DEVICE that when plugged into another device to scan, will compare its findings with those already stored on the DEVICE from pervious device scans.

I am NOT seeking a DEVICE that requires iCloud storage.

I am so much more advanced than most of my friends and family and we are all frustrated about the state of our family photo heirlooms. I am trying to find a solid and simple solution the I know so many people need.

THANK YOU

 

[USAFRet]

While such a DEVICE might be nice, I am absolutely unaware of any device that will do this.

 

[fzabkar]

It's not a solution, but an easy way to get a comprehensive listing of all your JPG files, in date order, would be to execute the following line at the CMD prompt:

dir x:\*.jpg /b /s /od > C:\temp\jpglist.txt

X: is the drive letter you wish to search.

C:\temp\jpglist.txt is the log file where the file list is written to (specify your own file name and directory if you wish).

 

[KimiB333]

While such a DEVICE might be nice, I am absolutely unaware of any device that will do this.

Thank you. I was hoping someone might know of something The new PhotoStick is blazenly
misleading.

 

[KimiB333]

It's not a solution, but an easy way to get a comprehensive listing of all your JPG files, in date order, would be to execute the following line at the CMD prompt:

dir x:\*.jpg /b /s /od > C:\temp\jpglist.txt

X: is the drive letter you wish to search.

C:\temp\jpglist.txt is the log file where the file list is written to (specify your own file name and directory if you wish).

Thank you. There are software programs, even free ones, that can find all photos, not just JPEG/JPG, but GIFS, TIFFS, PNGS, etc., and movie files. I am seeking something, even software, that can try find duplicate photos (not names) AND sort them by time taken, making the final assortment of photos easier to search through. For example, I have uploaded the same photos may times to my MAC and iPhone, so they are scattered throughout my photos - and I do not want them date ordered by modification or upload dates.

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you. I was hoping someone might know of something The new PhotoStick is blazenly
misleading.

Yes it is.
I read through that, and it does NOTHING like it suggests it might.

 

[USAFRet]

One of the main basic problems with "duplicates" is...what is a dupe?
For instance, a lot of current cameras, especially DSLR or mirrorless, give the capability of burst with 0, -1, +1 exposure.
The same scene, slight difference in exposure.
Which to keep?


Possible solution, search/organize by EXIF data.
Zoner Photo Studio claims to do this.

The best photo and video software | Zoner Photo Studio X

One program for editing your photos and videos 🏆 Software for editing, retouching, and storing all your photos and videos 👨‍💻 English-speaking support

www.zoner.com

EXIF will contain the date/time a pic was taken, irrespective of what the "file created" date may be.


I've not used it, but check it out.

 

[fzabkar]

There are software programs, even free ones, that can find all photos, not just JPEG/JPG, but GIFS, TIFFS, PNGS, etc., and movie files. I am seeking something, even software, that can try find duplicate photos (not names) AND sort them by time taken

It's still not a solution, but the DIR command line is not limited to JPGs, and it can be amended to sort by creation date.

• dir \*.GIF /b /s /od /tc > C:\temp\giflist.txt

You can remove the "/b" switch to get a full listing of each file.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/dir

Although it's not a solution, it's a quick way to get a comprehensive listing of all your desired files.

BTW, the creation date of the file may not match the time/date stamp in the camera's metadata.

Here are some file sorting ideas which apply to generically named files recovered from a drive using PhotoRec:

https://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/After_Using_PhotoRec

There are tools which utilise the metadata, eg ExifTool.