DigitalVolcano Software Support

Why do I ask?

Well, I need to know whether I should separate all my photos and videos first and then run them through their own mode?

Or, do I mix photos and videos and run it through Regular mode?

Is there an advantage to either way?

Anyone have an answer for this?

It's not a question of better, they are just different tools that do similar, overlapping jobs. Like blades of a swiss army knife.

For example Regular mode can scan the exact file content (exact copies) but it won't detect pictures that are identical but may have slightly different metadata. (e.g. photographer name).

Regular mode (Same content) is recommended first because you can pick off completely identical files without having to worry too much about comparing the results and considering small (or large) differences that you may get in other modes.

Using the other modes, it doesn't matter if file types are mixed togther (e.g. audio and video), because the mode only processes the file types it is required to. If you are worried you can narrow the filter down even further to just one type (e.g. *.jpg).

I'm still a bit confused by your answer.

Why? Because I'm only processing photos and videos.

You recommend using regular mode, yet in the same sentence you say "but it won't detect pictures that are identical."

Well, isn't that the purpose of deduping Photos and Videos? This is what is making me think it is better to run all my images through the IMAGE mode and all my videos through the VIDEO mode.

Do you understand why I would be confused?

Then you go on to say, "Using the other modes, it doesn't matter if file types are mixed togther (e.g. audio and video), because the mode only processes the file types it is required to."

Well, then why does your program offer different MODES in the first place if it doesn't matter what files it processes?

This question remains unanswered, obtuse and dense... I digress.

It could have been worded better - "it won't detect pictures that are identical but have slightly different metadata".

My pictures and videos are recovered from a massive PC crash so much of the metadata was destroyed.

So, I'm guessing there would be an advantage to using IMAGE/Video mode for an exact match of the image since the metadata is screwed, right?

The metadata is part of the image file, so it's probably not damaged if the image isn't.
But other programs - image catalogue and processing for instance- can change metadata inside the file (e.g. a date or a tag) so you can end up with the same picture but with different information inside the picture file. Hence Regular mode (exact file copies) won't find it but Image mode will.
If you're serious about de-duping image files you need to learn about metadata.