Spring clean needed

March 9, 2007 8:14 AM

Is there a program out there that will help me organise my hard drives?

My primary hard drive is pretty much full and I am keen to move some content over to another drive. I know though that I can save alot more space by deleting duplicated and unused files. I've used CCleaner but that's pretty focused on deleting programs and temporary files. Is there anything that might identify mp3/jpeg/wmv etc I haven't accessed for some time or are duplicated elsewhere on the hard drive? Or would help streamline my folders? This particularly isn't helped by the fact that iTunes seems to keep reverting it's saved music folder so I have a few locations being accessed from there. I really dislike it being so untidy so any help would be great.

posted by mjlondon to technology (8 comments total)

I'm assuming you're using windows?
SequoiaView
posted by ReiToei at 8:29 AM on March 9, 2007

You can also try WinDirStat.
posted by unexpected at 8:37 AM on March 9, 2007

Secondling SequoiaView. It won't organise anything, but it's very handy for finding huge files you didn't know/had forgotten about.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:38 AM on March 9, 2007

Clonespy, which was featured in Lifehacker. It finds all your duplicate files and, depending on how you set it up, deletes them automatically for you, or asks you if you'd like to keep the newest, oldest, etc. I reclaimed a LOT of HD space after using this. Oh, and it's free.

If you just want to see where all your space is going, try TreeSize.
posted by desjardins at 8:56 AM on March 9, 2007

Treesize is a great free app that will visualize and rank the amount of files contained.
posted by ronmexico at 9:14 AM on March 9, 2007

Second Treesize. I often use the simple but handy freeware version.
posted by milov at 9:28 AM on March 9, 2007

DupDetector will identify duplicate images. There are a number of freeware packages that will identify duplicate files.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 10:25 AM on March 9, 2007

I like SpaceMonger. (Be sure and get the old version - the new one is partially disabled shareware). It provides a good visual guide that helps me identify the biggest files and folders, and clean them first. By getting rid of this 'low-hanging fruit' I get a lot of space back. If you're looking for a more in-depth clean, the other programs mentioned might be a better fit.
posted by chrisamiller at 11:59 AM on March 9, 2007