Marking images confusion

[Petko]

I was testing trial version, now I am considering to buy PRO version. But first I would like some advice ( my last bought softwer didnt work out for me, and customer service not responding so I dont want to make same mistake again).

I have about 180 GB of old images ( even 20 year old) and trial version did find about 30 000 duplicates. Everything is mixed up and my plan is to get rid off all duplicates and after that sort images by Year and Month.
It is very important to me that I dont erase images that are not duplicates.
After doing scans, I can see I have on average about 4-6 duplicate photos. Some of that Photos have Exif date/time taken so I am sure that this is real time of the photo. Sadly some photos do not have this data becasue I copied them or they were sent to me

My goal is to end up with (1)best copy of all images - original photo ( that has date taken info), or next best thing ( the photo dont have date taken info). I have few questions:

1. Is it best option to go to IMAGE MODE, than chose "Very close match" in IMAGE SIMILARITY. I choosed "Find rotated", "Find Flipped" and "Same ascept ratio", and did not choosed "Same dimensions". IS THIS OK SERACH CRITERIA, WITHOUT FEAR OF DELETING NOT DUPLICATES?

2. When I find all duplicates I have doubts of my preffering to Mark. I know i need to choose "All but one file in each group", but I am confused about "Preferring to mark". So if my goal is to keep only one copy of each photo I understand that my first preference should be choosing "Date/Time Taken" but I dont understand meaning of "Lowest/ blank" And Highest/ non -blank difference. Actualy, I understand "blank/ non blank" difference ( I think i sholuld choose blank if i want to delete photos without date), but I dont understand "Highest/Lowest" diference? That is my question- in case of photos where at least one copy has "date taken" info- should I choose "Lowest/ blank" or "Highest/ non -blank" and what is meaning behind "Lowest/Highest"?

3. In case of photos that dont have "date taken" info, which preference should I choose? I was thinkig that "Newest date modified" is my best bet but I am not sure if this is best approach? I think this way I can keep photo with oldest date modified ( if that photo doesent have date taken info).I think that there is a good chance that "date modified" is my best bet dor photos without "date taken" info, and "date created" is useless for my needs?


I will post picture of how to I plan marking photos for my needs (I think that "Date/ time taken" criteria and "Newest date modified" should be ok to keep photos with date taken, and If photos dont have that info, i would keep "oldest date modified" with this two criteria. If this is not good approach, please correct me.
Picture link: https://www.linkpicture.com/q/Marking.jpg

PS. sorry for bad english

[Callistemon]

( my last bought softwer didnt work out for me, and customer service not responding so I dont want to make same mistake again)

This won't be an issue. DigitalVolcano has the best customer service of any software company. All the reviews are positive, plenty of issues are fixed quickly without excuse, and customer service is very professional and responsive.

It is very important to me that I dont erase images that are not duplicates.
Is it best option to go to IMAGE MODE, than chose "Very close match" in IMAGE SIMILARITY. I choosed "Find rotated", "Find Flipped" and "Same ascept ratio", and did not choosed "Same dimensions". IS THIS OK SERACH CRITERIA, WITHOUT FEAR OF DELETING NOT DUPLICATES?

If Same Dimensions is not selected, there is the possibility of deleting an image in favor of a low resolution thumbnail. Either choose Same Dimensions, or upgrade to Exact Match. Regular Mode is the most exact, but may not find images with different date attributes.

So if my goal is to keep only one copy of each photo I understand that my first preference should be choosing "Date/Time Taken" but I dont understand meaning of "Lowest/ blank" And Highest/ non -blank difference. Actualy, I understand "blank/ non blank" difference ( I think i sholuld choose blank if i want to delete photos without date), but I dont understand "Highest/Lowest" diference? That is my question- in case of photos where at least one copy has "date taken" info- should I choose "Lowest/ blank" or "Highest/ non -blank" and what is meaning behind "Lowest/Highest"?

Highest and lowest probably refer to how recent. Lowest/Blank may select files with no date, and then the least recent. In your case, I would think Highest/Blank would be the most suitable, but that doesn't exist.

In case of photos that dont have "date taken" info, which preference should I choose? I was thinkig that "Newest date modified" is my best bet but I am not sure if this is best approach? I think this way I can keep photo with oldest date modified ( if that photo doesent have date taken info).I think that there is a good chance that "date modified" is my best bet dor photos without "date taken" info, and "date created" is useless for my needs?

Date created is often newer than date modified, because date created is when the specific instance (such as a backup copy) was created, whereas date modified travels further back until the file was last modified, or created the first time. If you copy an image, the date modified will stay the same, while the date created will reset. Date modified may be more recent than date taken if the image was edited in any way.

Everything is mixed up and my plan is to get rid off all duplicates and after that sort images by Year and Month.

You can also use Duplicate Cleaner to filter images by year, using Data/Time taken Contains. From there, use Move or Copy Files from the deletion tab instead of Delete Files.