Recommend me a best duplicate file finder for Mac M2?

If you’re on an M2 running Sonoma, go for Gemini 2 or Duplicate File Finder Remover by Nektony or Stellar Mac recovery Pro, thye are optimized for well for Apple Silicon, just avoid free “random” apps since many aren’t updated for M-series and can feel spammy. Stick to one of these two and you’ll be safe.

I recommend trying out Gemini 2 or Easy Duplicate Finder as they are both popular and reliable options for finding and removing duplicate files on Mac M2, including support for macOS Sonoma.

There are at least three types of duplicates you need to deal with ...

1. Files with the same name & content but located in different folders.
2. Files with the same name, located in different folders, but having different content (often versions of a document)
3. Files with different names but having identical content (often photos)

Disk Drill is pretty impressive in this regard. Duplicate File Finder is also a reasonable choice for what you want to do.

I advise staying away from terminal commands especially if you are not experienced using Terminal or if you don't have experience with the particular commands. Extreme caution is advised when using Terminal ... mistype a command or key in a wrong command or option and you could hose all or part of your system.

You can try Cisdem Duplicate Finder. I’ve tested several duplicate file finders, and this one has the best preview feature. It lets me compare duplicates side by side, which is especially helpful since I have lots of similar photos. Being able to view a group of duplicates in one window makes it easy to decide which version to keep.

The Terminal app is a good free duplicate file finder for Mac. It is one of the best choices if you are comfortable with text commands.

Now, open the Terminal app and go to the destination folder where holds duplicate files.

Run the following command to find duplicate files on Mac by comparing the MD5 hash:

find . -type f -exec md5 {} + | sort | awk '{
    if ($NF in seen) {
        print seen[$NF] "\n" $0 "\n"
    } else {
        seen[$NF]=$0
    }
}'

What it does:

• find . -type f searches all files in the current directory and subdirectories.
• md5 computes each file's hash.
• awk compares the hashes and prints duplicates.

iamshivam wrote:

If that's the case, maybe Gemini 2 isn't the best fit. How about checking out Duplicate File Finder Remover by Nektony or Stellar Mac recovery Pro? They're really great for Apple Silicon. Do you know about them?

I don't use this type of software. I've never felt the need.

I've been through the same process on my MacBook M2 recently — years of documents and photos piling up, and manually comparing duplicates is nearly impossible. The good news is that most modern duplicate file finders now support Apple Silicon and macOS Sonoma natively.

Here's what I'd suggest:

1. Look for Universal Binary apps

Many older tools haven't been updated for M1/M2 architecture, which can cause slow scans. Make sure the app specifically says it supports Apple Silicon.

2. Preview before deletion

This is key — some tools flag similar but not identical files (e.g., resized images, edited docs). Always use one that lets you preview content side-by-side before removal.

3. Try a lightweight, ad-free option

Some of the "free" apps are filled with ads or limit basic features. A paid but well-optimized tool often saves hours of frustration.

[Edited by Moderator]

Haudeda wrote:

I recommend trying out Gemini 2 or Easy Duplicate Finder as they are both popular and reliable options for finding and removing duplicate files on Mac M2, including support for macOS Sonoma.

Yikes! Gemini 2 is developed by MacPaw, the infamous makers of CleanMyMac, also known as BrickMyMac. With a simple search in these forums by using the Search option on the top of the screen, you will also see the posts from users who have installed Gemini 2 and now cannot remove it from their Mac. While that is a common recommendation seen with AI responses due to the heavy marketing by MacPaw, it is not a factually sound solution to make recommendations from what is found simply through a AI request.

If that's the case, maybe Gemini 2 isn't the best fit. How about checking out Duplicate File Finder Remover by Nektony or Stellar Mac recovery Pro? They're really great for Apple Silicon. Do you know about them?

IdrisSeabright wrote:

iamshivam wrote:

If that's the case, maybe Gemini 2 isn't the best fit. How about checking out Duplicate File Finder Remover by Nektony or Stellar Mac recovery Pro? They're really great for Apple Silicon. Do you know about them?

I don't use this type of software. I've never felt the need.

Great contribution, Idris!

etresoft wrote:

The operating system automatically prevents most duplicate files. You would really have to go out of your way, using an external drive, in order to create a duplicate file in the first place.

No I've found it quite easy - running Duplicate File Finder on my system revealed the duplication of some folders with their files. This app shows useful lines of attack for such cases.

iamshivam wrote:

If you’re on an M2 running Sonoma, go for Gemini 2

Gemini 2 is developed by a company with a really terrible reputation. I would avoid it.

mechanic1357 wrote:

No I've found it quite easy - running Duplicate File Finder on my system revealed the duplication of some folders with their files. This app shows useful lines of attack for such cases.

Duplicate files don't actually exist. You are actually talking about the same file being referenced by two different file pointers. These duplicates don't take up any extra space.

It is possible to create actual duplicate files, but it isn't easy. You would have to do it on purpose.

So please tell us what these deleted files are in ~/Trash? They don't look like links but like real files with listed sizes. Bash shows some detail, and the shell tells us that they are real files, not links.

mechanic1357 wrote:

So please tell us what these deleted files are in ~/Trash? They don't look like links but like real files with listed sizes. Bash shows some detail, and the shell tells us that they are real files, not links.

I have no idea what files are in your Trash. I don't recommend looking directly in "~/.Trash". The "Trash" is a Finder artifact. The fact that it is currently implemented as a hidden directory in your home directory (in some cases) doesn't mean that you should ever make use of that. This has nothing to do with your question, but since you mentioned ~/.Trash, I thought I should caution you about it.

Links are older file system artifacts. There are a few different kinds of links. They all require some special procedure to create. If you copy or duplicate a file on a modern system, it will create a clone. A clone will be identical to the original in every way. It will be a file, not a link.

The file system has poor support for identifying when file is a clone. So any app that is reporting a "duplicate file" probably hasn't been able to identify the file as a clone. Deleting that clone will recover zero bytes of data.

Furthermore, if you make any changes to a clone or a file that has been cloned, then you'll wind up with a partial clone. Any duplicate file finder app will report that the file as not a duplicate, when it could be 99.9999% duplicated data.