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Price: Home
edition £14 ($26.80 : Enterprise Edition £25 ($48.80)
Supplier: Reasonable Software (Tel: +852 35204490)
Buy:
NoClone
System
requirements: Pentium processor; Windows 9x; Me; XP; NT 4; 2000;
2003 Server.
Duplicate files not only take up valuable disk space, they are often
made redundant by later versions. This means that they are sitting
on your hard drive making no contribution to the running of your
system whatsoever. However, removing duplicate files has never been
an easy task; well not until NoClone arrived on the scene. NoClone
can remove all duplicate, truncated and same name files with ease;
enabling the user to grab back much needed disk space.
Overtime, we
all store duplicate copies of documents, photographs, video’s etc in
various folders on our PCs. Nine times out of ten the copies are,
invariably, never accessed. It is amazing just how quickly these
files clog up the system, making searching for files on the hard
drive more difficult.
NoClone uses a
byte by byte technique to search for duplicate files, making the
search process more accurate. Even zero and truncated files are
easily discovered amongst the general detritus on your hard drive.
Installation
Within moments
of downloading and clicking the install icon, NoClone is ready to
use. At the click of a button, NoClone is instantly at your command
to give your hard drive a much needed purge. The interface is
uncomplicated, requiring the user to simply select the relevant
option, such as: path; file size; date or scope, add the details to
the path window via the Add button, and finally press the Search
button. Nothing could be simpler. Depending upon the size of the
selected folder or drive the interface will soon populate with
duplicate files, ready for your inspection.
Fig 1: NoClone Main Interface Window
Customisable
While easy to
use NoClone is also fully customisable, enabling the user to choose
from five main search options, these include: Zero size; Duplicates;
Same file size; Truncated; and Non duplicates. Additionally you can
have NoClone search hidden files and folders and protected windows
folders (although the latter is not recommended). You can also
display file versions of DLLs and EXE files. At the same time it’s
possible to set specific search parameters, thus limiting NoClone’s
search to specific folders, creation dates and file size.
Fig 2: Options Menu
As if by Magic
Once a search
has been completed, a full list of duplicate files will appear in
the main interface window. From here you can decide which files you
would like to remove. For added piece of mind there is, situated on
the right of the interface window, a preview facility, enabling you
to quickly view photograph and image files before deciding whether
to delete them or not.
On The Move
Once
you have decided what to delete you have the option of either moving
the file(s) to another folder or sending them directly to the
recycle bin.
Fig 3: Delete File Options
For safety’s
sake it is wise to move files you intend to delete to a special
folder first, just in case you delete something you later find you
need. At least this way you can return the file to its original
folder if a problem occurs. Alternatively, you could delete directly
to the recycle bin. If you choose this option you should make
certain you don’t empty the recycle bin until you have checked that
Windows and all of your other applications are working correctly.
Because NoClone is capable of searching the whole of your hard
drive, or even network drives, as well as individual folders, it is
possible to remove a file or set of files that is actually needed by
the operating system. Therefore, it is highly recommended that a
full hard drive scan be performed only by the more advanced user,
who knows what he/she is doing. Fortunately, having the option of
removing the file(s) to the recycle bin rather than completely
deleting the file in one fell swoop does offer limited protection
against disaster.
Smarter than you think
Being presented
with dozens of files for possible deletion can be daunting,
therefore, NoClone has a built in ‘smart mark’ option which can automatically mark
all older files or files that fit your specified criteria, be it size,
date or version, and remove them to the recycle bin.
Fig 4: Smart marking Criteria Window
Fig 5: More Smart Marking criteria options
Verdict
NoClone is easy
to use, either in a home or corporate environment. It instantly
takes the guesswork out of removing duplicate and redundant files
that clutter every PC. While the average user will benefit from
being able to search specific folders, complete hard drive searches
are best left to the more professional user. Copies of both original
and duplicate files will be included in the search results,
therefore, it is important that you keep at least one of those files
otherwise you could cause a program to not function properly.
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Ease of Use: 9.0
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Features: 9.0
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Value for Money: 9.0
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Overall: 9.0
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