Question 1

How does DuplicateDuster find duplicates?

Accepted Answer

By content, not by name. Every file is hashed with SHA-256, and files with an identical hash are byte-for-byte identical — there's no ambiguity, and no risk of a false match. Hashing runs multi-threaded across worker processes, so large folders scan faster than a single-threaded tool.

Question 2

Will it catch a renamed copy of the same file?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Because matching is based on the file's content hash, not its filename, a renamed or relocated copy is still recognised as a duplicate of the original.

Question 3

Does it catch near-duplicates — a re-saved or slightly edited version of a file?

Accepted Answer

No, and we'd rather tell you that plainly than oversell it. DuplicateDuster matches exact content only. A re-encoded video or a re-saved document with even one changed byte will not be flagged. If you need fuzzy or similarity-based matching, that's not what this tool does today.

Question 4

Is it safe — will it delete files I need?

Accepted Answer

Scanning is read-only and changes nothing on its own. Duplicate groups are shown to you with file paths, sizes and dates so you choose what to remove; at least one copy in every group is always kept. Nothing is deleted without you confirming it.

Question 5

What does "secure delete" actually do?

Accepted Answer

When you choose secure deletion, DuplicateDuster overwrites the file's data in three passes (0xFF, 0x00, then random bytes), scrambles the filename, and zeroes the timestamp before removing it — making simple file-recovery tools far less likely to reconstruct it. This is a meaningful step up from a normal delete, but it is not a certified military-grade standard, and on an SSD, TRIM can limit how effective any overwrite-based erase really is.

Question 6

Does any data leave my machine?

Accepted Answer

No. Scanning, hashing and deletion all happen locally. No file names, hashes or content are ever transmitted anywhere.

Question 7

What platforms does it run on?

Accepted Answer

DuplicateDuster is a desktop application built on Electron, with Windows as the primary target today.

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