Handy App of the Day: SearchMyFiles

The other day I was tasked with finding all the duplicates in a large network share.  Large as in: 2TB worth of company data.  The previous IT company wasn’t so good at house cleaning so I was given the assignment of finding all the duplicate data that existed and archiving or deleting it to save space on backups.  After a little research, I found my answer in Nirsoft’s SearchMyFiles.

I’ve mentioned Nirsoft in the past with their export text software, and the SearchMyFiles app is another impressive tool they offer for free.

My first searches were for duplication software, it was only by pure luck that I stumbled across this gem as it was named a ‘search’ utility, and not a ‘duplicate’ utilty.  The functionality is right in the dropdown!

SearchMyFiles with Duplicates finder.  No frills here, options are simple and easy to configure
SearchMyFiles with Duplicates finder. No frills here, options are simple and easy to configure

While the software isn’t the prettiest, it is by far the most powerful and menu friendly.  No need to look and bump around with file and options as it’s all laid out to see.  There’s no installer either, so it’s a small footprint and can be run directly from a USB stick.

After about an hour, I had search results I could export into a spreadsheet and pour over with a fine tooth comb.

As you would imagine, the regular search utility works awesomely fast as well – going through a network share was a breeze, and you can specify how many folders deep you can go (infinite is an option).

Well done NirSoft, you’ve saved my bacon again!

-Dexter

Handy App of the day: Space Sniffer

If you’ve been working on Windows based computers or servers, or Windows File Servers, a time will come when you have to figure out how much space you’re using and what type of files are taking up space.  I’ve used Tree Size Free, WinDirSTAT and Filemenu Tools many times in the past but always found that they take too much time, need to be installed or don’t have proper visualizations.

SpaceSniffer seems to be the near perfect solution: it’s free, runs portable (no installer necessary), has great visualizations and is FAST.

Color Coding comes in handy for types of media, file classes, and even free space.
Color Coding comes in handy for types of media, file classes, and even free space.

Compared to Filemenu tools or WinDirSTAT, Spacesniffer also does it’s calculations in real time; deletion of a file updates the entire diagram.  There’s also the ability to ‘Zoom’ into a directory or choose a network location.

Simply awesome freeware.

 

-Dexter