Grouping by Checksum

Top   Previous   Next

Grouping by checksum will cause zsDuplicateHunter to group any files that have the same checksum together. ZsDuplicateHunter can calculate two different types of checksums using the CRC32 algorithm or Adler32 algorithm. The Adler32 algorithm is faster, but less reliable. In both cases, the checksum is a number calculated from the contents of a file. There is a small chance that two files can have different contents and the same checksum. However, when you combine grouping by checksum with grouping by Size, the chance of two duplicates being falsely identified is very small on all but the largest files.

 

Grouping by Checksum and Size without grouping by name is a good way of identifying exact duplicates that may have been renamed. For example, when copying a file, most operating systems automatically rename the file to Copy of (original filename). Grouping by Checksum and Size will identify these files as duplicates even though the files have different names.