Remove Duplicates Without Downloading Files from the Cloud

The evolution of computers over time has meant we’ve drifted away many pieces of hardware we earlier used. Laptops have replaced desktops, USBs have replaced the Floppy Drive, and now the cloud is edging out the traditional hard disk.

Cloud storage has proved its utility over time in providing a whole range of benefits to the user. People can happily backup their data and access it safely.  But why keep duplicates on the cloud? Specially when you are paying a subscription fee. Get rid of them FAST!

Clean Up Cloud Duplicates with Cloud Duplicate Finder

Works with OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3 and Box

The cloud helps users access all their precious photos, contacts, text messages, and the invaluable college assignment with great ease, in a safe manner. If your laptop suddenly dies down or gets stolen, you can be assured of recovering all the data from the cloud. It’s as simple and as handy as that!

This has led to a boom in the cloud storage medium. Students, professionals, almost whoever is in touch with the computing world today has either used cloud or has at least heard about it. This boom has also been made possible by the mushrooming growth of cloud service providers, some of whom like OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box have provided freeware cloud storage plans for users.

All the user has got to do to make use of the cloud is to first register for an account over there. Next, they need to download the setup for the desktop computer/ smartphone app. Once the installation is over, they can happily get going with the sync process and pretty soon the data will be securely backed up.

All good things come at a cost, as the saying goes. And so does this case as well. And we’re not talking about the premium you have to pay to the cloud service provider. We’re talking about the scenario where you end up creating multiple copies of the same file and syncing them on to the cloud.

This can happen primarily due to bad data organization. When you can’t find a file you need the most, you will surely redownload it off the Internet rather than putting in more and more efforts in trying to locate it. Another reason why duplicates see the light of the day is when the file isn’t properly named. Does an MP3 file named song-1-mp3-2019.mp3 give anything about the actual song? When there are thousands (or even more) files with similar names lying in your Media folder, how can you pick out a particular track? You’d surely prefer to download it and get going.

The sad part is that the duplicates will continue to happily sit there unless you fix them. Even sad is the fact that these duplicates will most probably be synced to the cloud, wasting up valuable cloud storage space (for which you’re paying most probably), eating up Internet bandwidth during the sync process and causing the entire process to be much longer.

You’re surely well aware of the number of duplicates on the computer, but simply can’t figure out a way to deal with them. However, what if you have to download all of your cloud data to a laptop on which you’re getting lesser hard disk space because you’re sharing it with your sibling etc. This is it. Now you simply can’t afford to look the other way around.

But where is the solution? Which software app/website can provide a cloud scan service that does the job with perfection, is super-fast, can be trusted with your data? And yes how can we forget the cost. The service ought to be reasonably priced.

We’ve got your back folks. Let’s surprise you!

Cloud Duplicate Finder

This is a web service that is designed to scan, detect and kill duplicates of all kinds. That is what it does, and it performs the job with a remarkable degree of accuracy. Cloud Duplicate Finder scans for literally all file types under the sun and is swift in all its workings.

It is equipped with a super-smart algorithm which will only scan the file’s hash (file content in a layman’s terminology) while it is looking for duplicates. This is a massive plus! It means that if several MP3 files with different names are sitting in a folder, Cloud Duplicate Finder will scan and tell you if they are all genuine audio songs or if some duplicates have sneaked in.

And while you’ve just barely started to think about it, we’re here to assure you of data safety. Cloud Duplicate Finder uses the official APIs provided by cloud service providers to ensure there is no data misuse during the entire process. These APIs mean there is no unauthorized access to your data through any loophole, simply because no such loophole exists!

Cloud Duplicate Finder currently supports OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box. Let’s see how you can remove duplicates without downloading any files from the cloud.

The Process

We will use Google Drive as an example in the following steps, even though the steps for the other drives are exactly the same (except the final step) and you can happily follow these steps.

1. 1. Navigate to the Cloud Duplicate Finder website and register for an account by filling in the sign-up form.
      

      

1. 1. You will receive an email on the id you used to sign up. Click the link in the email to authenticate your account and set a password.

1. 1. You will now be redirected to the area where all the action happens. Click the Google Drive tab.

1. 1. Click the Add New Drive button and then enter the login credentials for your Google account.

1. 1. Click Allow in the next prompt to give your consent to Cloud Duplicate Finder accessing your Google Drive data through the official API.
      
      

1. 1. You will notice the folder hierarchy populate the pane on the left. Select the folders you want to scan.

1. 1. Leave the All Files option as selected and click Scan to launch the scan.
      

      

1. 1. The scan will be over really soon and you will get a pop up on the screen providing handy info on the results.

1. 1. The scan results will now be listed out. You can click the Preview checkbox and then click on an image to check it’s preview. Use the Previous and Next buttons to toggle between results pages.

1. 1. Now that you need to select the files for further action, click the Select Duplicates button and choose an option of your choice.
      
      

1. The final step is to click Select Action and choose Permanent Delete. Please note that the data is permanently deleted from Google Drive once you click Permanent Delete, whereas in OneDrive, Dropbox and Box, it is deleted to the Recycle bin.

So this is the whole procedure which spells out how easily you can get rid of any duplicate data without downloading any files from the cloud. We hope this article was informative as well as helpful. If you have any questions you can happily make good use of the FAQs section of Cloud Duplicate Finder.