Is using byte by byte absolutely safe? Even for Photos?

[jang430]

My exif dates may not necessarily be accurate anymore, due to lots of moving around. Somewhere along the way, I may have wrongly selected created date/ or modified date as preferred last copy left on my drive.

Now, I'm very confused with how to make sure I have multiple copies of the same file already. I want to start over. I'm thinking of consolidating everything, then delete all duplicates, then finally, make extra copies.

I'd like to know if byte by byte is the safest for photos? or MD5, and other types. Only concerned with Photos and some home vidoes.

[DigitalVolcano]

Byte is fine for photos, though this mode will only match exact file copies - different sizes, rotations, exif data, etc, won't match.

Image Mode matches similar, resized and rotated photos. It doesn't use the byte/hash type setting.

More info on the hash types here-
https://digvolsoft.freshdesk.com/a/solu ... 6000029799

[jang430]

Hi. My purpose is to eliminate multiple duplicates. Exact copy, not rotated, not renamed. It's exactly what I want. I'll do byte by byte first, delete copies, then recreate copies. Currently, some folders have a file, others don't. So it's not exactly multiple copies of the same original files as of the moment.

Thanks!

By the way, for byte by byte to match duplicates, does the filename have to be the same?

[DigitalVolcano]

No - it matches the file content only. The name and other attributes can be different unless you specify otherwise!

[jang430]

Great!