Chipmunk: byte-by-byte comparison of duplicate files

Too bad they used a squirrel instead of a chipmunk for their icon. Oddly enough, that's the web desiger's fault (of the app site), not MacNN.

If I know my rodents, squirrels have bushy tails; chipmunks not quite so bushy. The little rodent in the picture has somewhat bushy tail, but not quite squirrel-bushy. One could argue the artist took a bit of liberty to make his chipmunk somewhat cuter and fluffier, to avoid it looking too much like a rat. He did make it brown, rather than gray, so at least the colour is a bit more chimpunky than squirrely.

As for the application itself, it could be extremely useful. If only it would also parse those iPhoto and iTunes xml files and do the necessary for all the duplicate files it finds...

whatever it is, it looks rabid

I have four cats, and they don't like chipmunks, so I see lots of dead versions, all with little tails. They are tan, with a black and white racing stripe (really)!

http://www.crimsonmyst.com/photos/chipmunk.jpg

They are also much smaller than the squirrel.

Pretty effective and simple... I like it. Not exactly fast the first time you use it on a drive (it keeps a log for future reference). It shows files that have duplicates and where they are, allowing you to delete them by name (and/or hiearchy), or to simply select a volume and choose to delete files outside or inside that volume. Nothing is done automatically, which I like.

One nice touch is that it shows them according to size, so you can focus on the files that are taking up the most space and forget the trivial ones.

If you're a teacher that deals with digital files, this is an easy way to look for duplicates from your students when the files are handed in. It ignores the titles and metadata, so it will also expose any student trying to pass off another's work as their own.

Could use a bit more instruction on its use... hopefully that will come.