class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/similar-images.jpg" alt="find duplicate pictures" />

The main reason why you would want to delete similar images is to save some space on your hard drive. Going through your image folder deleting extra images is too time consuming. Besides, many of the similar images can have different names which makes identifying them almost impossible.

Luckily, there’s a free tool to semi-automate the process.

href="https://tn123.org/simimages/">SimilarImages is a desktop application that finds similar (or duplicate) images on your hard drive among different folders.

The tool has already been mentioned in our round-up of href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-ways-to-find-duplicate-image-files-on-your-computer-windows/">ways to find duplicate image files on a Windows PC but the tool definitely deserves a closer look.

Settings

The best thing about the tool is that it lets you configure the “similarity” threshold with enables you to configure which image pairs should be shown when comparing.

Image file pairs with a comparison value greater than the set threshold are ignored. Some recommended threshold settings include:

• To find duplicates(fastest mode): 0 – 10
• To scan through photos: about 12
• To scan through folders containing scans: 50 – 60

You can also set the folder preferences:

• Inclusive Search will only compare files located in the same folder with each other.
• Exclusive Search means that only files not contained within the same folder will compared with each other.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/similar-images-02.jpg" alt="find duplicate pictures" width="550" height="383" />

Speed

If you have a lot of images and photos on your computer, the first check will take quite a while. However the great thing about the tool is that it keeps its own index of scanned images. Next check will run across id="KonaBody">its fast Graphics Library. This makes scanning much faster.

The program even keeps track of your not-a-duplicate decisions: if you enable Cache-System, SimilarImages will remember when you indicate that a pair is not a duplicate. When you later check the same folders again it would bring up the same false-positives.

You can access and clear the gallery from the tool “Cache” menu.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/similar-images-01.jpg" alt="Similar images" width="247" height="132" />

(Semi-) Automated Deletion

The tool also aims at making deleting duplicate files faster. Semi-automated deletion feature helps you choose which file to delete from a pair faster: when enabled, one file of a pair will be pre-selected depending on your rules.

For example, you can set to always pre-select a smaller image in a pair or the one with lower resolution or always the newer file. This definitely makes deleting extra images faster!

You can always set the tool to auto-delete a duplicate image in a pair (based on your above settings).

Working with Image Pairs

Once the application is done scanning the specified folders, it shows you the similar image pairs. Each image has a thumbnail, file size, dimensions, last-modified date and other properties. You can delete any of the files or replace one with the other.

• The X-icon lets you delete the file.
• The TwoFiles-icon lets you swap the file. (Swapping means in this context: The other file will be overwritten with this file, thus the contents of the first file will be kept but with the name of the second file.)
• The Clear-icon lets you delete both files.
• The Runner-icon lets you delete the file marked for semi-automated deletion.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/similar-images-03.jpg" alt="find duplicate pictures" width="550" height="368" />

Looks like a great tool to sort out your stored image files and free up some space. What are your thoughts?

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/DUicon.png"/>I recently picked up an external hard drive for my href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/mac">Mac (one terabyte of memory to be exact), but I really needed to use it for both my Mac and my href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/windows">Windows laptop. However, as you may know, Mac formatting and href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/pc">PC formatting for external hard drives are totally different.

Granted, it’s possible you may already know how to partition an href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/buying-hard-drive/">external hard drive DIY-style. Furthermore, your hard drive may already come with onboard software that does it for you (but honestly, I really don’t like using those included apps at all). However, let’s take a look at how to do so.

Open The Disk Utility Application

In order to prep things for your partition, it would be best to use an external hard drive that you absolutely do not have any important files on whatsoever. If you already have thrown some stuff in there (like I did when I was first trying this out), go ahead and copy them over to your computer. With that being said, make sure that the external hard drive is at least plugged in for this to work (the reason I say this is the same reason that costume companies write “cape does not enable wearer to fly” on their superhero outfits).

In case you have never used this app before, just go into your Mac’s Applications, click on the Utilities folder, and find the Disk Utility application. (For those of you still searching, it looks like a hard drive with a stethoscope on it.) Open it up, and you’ll be treated to a brand-spankin’ new window on your screen.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/11.png" alt="" width="579" height="370" />

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/21.png" alt="" width="579" height="370" />

On the left-side of this window, you will see the different hard drives connected to your computer. You will see your main hard drive (or hard drives) located within the computer on this section of the window, but you should also be able to find your external hard drive somewhere in the midst of it all.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/31.png" alt="" width="580" height="258" />

After you do this, be sure to open the contextual menu of this hard drive (two-finger click on trackpad or CTRL + click) and select the Unmount option of the drive. This is very important in order for this project to work for you.

Set Up The Partition

As you might be able to tell by the screenshots, I have already partitioned my external hard drive (JxHart Mac and JxHart PC). However, you can still follow along by looking at the rest of the Disk Utility window.

When you first look at this window, you will see a few tabs that give you a variety of options for your external hard drive. One of them will simply say Partition, and as you might be able to guess, this is the one that you want to select. After doing so, you will arrive on a menu that provides you with what you need to partition the hard drive. The item on this page that you should look for will be a drop-down menu labeled Volume Scheme.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/41.png" alt="" width="580" height="131" />

Since we are partitioning the external hard drive for just both Mac and PC, you should set the Volume Scheme up for two partitions. Once you do this, you will be given two easy-to-use graphic images of simple boxes that represent the two partitions. What you can now do with these is set up how much memory you want for each partition.

Work Out The Sizes And Formats

On my external hard drive, I gave the Mac portion 950 gigs of space and the PC portion 50 gigabytes of space simply because I use the Mac side a little bit more. With that in mind, I am still able to open up the PC portion of the hard drive on my Mac and take files from it. However, I cannot add or delete files. That’s why it’s good to have the partition.

After you have decided on the sizes of each partition, you should then go back and change the names for each one. I would suggest that they reflect what you will be using each partition for, such as “Mac HD” and “PC HD”. Realistically, you could change the names of the partitions before sizing them, but this is really up to you.

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/51.png" alt="" width="580" height="286" />

Finally, you absolutely need to change the writing format of your external hard drive for each partition so this does exactly what you are wanting this to. To do so, select the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) option for the Mac side of your external hard drive and the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/format-large-hard-drive-fat-fat32/">ExFAT option for the PC side of your external hard drive.

When you are ready for the partitioning to begin, simply click  Apply and you are good to go. It’s really simple to do, and you should be able to complete the project within minutes.

Conclusion

Most likely you can  (definitely) follow a similar process with other operating systems such as href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/linux/">Linux or even some hipster OS that we’ve never even heard about. Furthermore, you could make two or more Mac-related partitons as a way to just keep yourself organized. I’ll also assume that you could use one of those partitions for href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/online-resources-learn-apples-time-machine/">Time Machine if you are using something a little more permanent.

Which other apps or programs do you use to partition hard drives or external hard drives? Do you have any other tips to add on to what I have written here?

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/deals.jpg" />Newegg has the Western Digital Elements SE 1TB USB 2.0 Portable External Hard Drive for just $69.99 with free shipping. This is one of the smaller portable hard drives that run off of USB bus power and requires no extra AC adapter.

For more fresh hot deals, visit our href="http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/hot-tech-deals/">Hot Tech Deals page, which is constantly updated.

1. href="http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?clkSubId=ZZ0AT1A99264524A0&afsrc=1&id=488&arg=N82E16889005196&source=makeuseof">LG 42LK530 42 inch LCD HDTV (1080p, 120Hz, Calibration Friendly) $599.99 via code EMCYTZT650
2. href="http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?clkSubId=ZZ0AT2A99264526A0&afsrc=1&id=488&arg=N82E16874103199&source=makeuseof">Microsoft Kinect Sensor for Xbox 360 w/ Kinect Adventures Game $122.50 $124.99
3. href="http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?clkSubId=ZZ0AT4A99264527A0&afsrc=1&id=488&arg=N82E16882115277&source=makeuseof">Yamaha Aventage RX-A3000 7.2Ch 140W/ch 3D Receiver w/ 2 HDMI Out $1199.99
4. href="http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?clkSubId=ZZ0AT8A99264523A0&afsrc=1&id=488&arg=N82E16830120503&source=makeuseof">Canon Elph 500HS 12.1 4.4x Digital Camera w/ 1080p HD Video $249 Free SHipping via code EMCYTZT645
5. href="http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?clkSubId=ZZ0AT9A99264525A0&afsrc=1&id=488&arg=N82E16816132029&source=makeuseof">TODAY ONLY Rosewill RSV-SR-X 4 Bay eSATA Hard Drive Enclosure $99.9
6. href="http://www.techbargains.com/jump.cfm?clkSubId=ZZ0AT11A99264522A0&afsrc=1&id=488&arg=N82E16822136540&source=makeuseof">TODAY ONLY Western Digital Elements SE 1TB Portable External Hard Drive $69.99 via code EMCYTZT646

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/hot-tech-deals-western-digital-elements-se-1tb-portable-external-hard-drive/">Hot Tech Deals – Western Digital Elements SE 1TB Portable External Hard Drive + more is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs8.png" alt="" />Have you ever went to download something only to realize that your hard drive is almost full? Have you even wondered where all of your space is going? I know I have, and fortunately GetFoldersize is here to rectify the situation by calculating the exact amount of space every single folder on your computer is using.

This is great because you can decide what you really need and what you don’t. You can then realize that maybe you don’t need that 300GB folder of “adult entertainment” you have held onto for years.

It will take a little time and effort on your part, but thanks to GetFoldersize, it becomes a lot easier to find out what is taking up the largest amount of space on your drive. Once you free up the space with GetFoldersize, make sure to adopt some helpful class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-free-up-disk-space-netbook/">techniques to help conserve space and keep your hard drive running like a dream.

Installation

Head over to class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com/">GetFoldersize’s website, click download and choose one of the available servers to download from. They have a standard Windows edition, as well as a portable edition if you prefer to install the program to a thumb drive. They support every major version of Windows in both 32 and 64 bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs1.png" alt="" width="560" height="414" />

Once the file is downloaded, extract and run the .exe. Follow the installer instructions.

Using The Program

GetFoldersize has one main purpose, and that is to calculate the amount of space all the folders on your drive are taking up, and then break it down by percentage, so you can see exactly where your space is used. The program is very easy to use, so even a computer novice will be able to run it smoothly.

When the program first opens you are given all your drives and the available space on each. You get a percentage of how much space is free, and how much space is used.

You can either scan all your system drives, which will take a little time depending on how big they are and how much stuff you have on them, or you can choose one drive and run a scan on just that one. The buttons for scanning your drive are at the top of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs4.png" alt="" width="519" height="236" />

The results will show up on the left side of the screen. It will display all the folders on the drive, how much space each one is occupying and the overall percentage of the drive it is using. To navigate through the various folders on your drive simply click the plus and minus buttons next to a folder name to expand or contract that folder.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs5.png" alt="" width="500" height="137" />

Features

The most useful reason for running a scan like this is to find out which programs are really sucking down your space. When you go to the Add/Remove programs section on Windows, many of the programs do not list their size. With GetFoldersize that will no longer be a problem, since it will scan your program files folder and let you know exactly what useless program is sucking the life from your hard drive.

GetFoldersize also allows you to scan remote machines on your network. This is pretty nifty for businesses that want to know where their hard drive resources are going.

It will also find the largest file on a drive. This allows you to quickly and easily tell which files are taking up your space the most. Simply click the icon labeled “123″ to see a list of all files sorted by size.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs7.png" alt="" width="398" height="55" />

When you find something that is taking up too much space which you don’t need any more, you can delete the file right there in the program. So there’s no need to open up Windows Explorer to get rid of the space eaters.

Conclusion

class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com">GetFoldersize is a pretty cool program that does what it sets out to do, and does it in a very easy fashion. It’s completely free, and worth checking out if you are looking to clean up your hard drives and get some better performance out of your machine.

Did you try GetFoldersize? What was taking up all of your space? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/getfoldersize-calculates-hard-disk-usage-quickly-easily-windows/">GetFoldersize Calculates Hard Disk Usage Quickly & Easily [Windows] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs8.png" alt="" />Have you ever went to download something only to realize that your hard drive is almost full? Have you even wondered where all of your space is going? I know I have, and fortunately GetFoldersize is here to rectify the situation by calculating the exact amount of space every single folder on your computer is using.

This is great because you can decide what you really need and what you don’t. You can then realize that maybe you don’t need that 300GB folder of “adult entertainment” you have held onto for years.

It will take a little time and effort on your part, but thanks to GetFoldersize, it becomes a lot easier to find out what is taking up the largest amount of space on your drive. Once you free up the space with GetFoldersize, make sure to adopt some helpful class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-free-up-disk-space-netbook/">techniques to help conserve space and keep your hard drive running like a dream.

Installation

Head over to class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com/">GetFoldersize’s website, click download and choose one of the available servers to download from. They have a standard Windows edition, as well as a portable edition if you prefer to install the program to a thumb drive. They support every major version of Windows in both 32 and 64 bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs1.png" alt="" width="560" height="414" />

Once the file is downloaded, extract and run the .exe. Follow the installer instructions.

Using The Program

GetFoldersize has one main purpose, and that is to calculate the amount of space all the folders on your drive are taking up, and then break it down by percentage, so you can see exactly where your space is used. The program is very easy to use, so even a computer novice will be able to run it smoothly.

When the program first opens you are given all your drives and the available space on each. You get a percentage of how much space is free, and how much space is used.

You can either scan all your system drives, which will take a little time depending on how big they are and how much stuff you have on them, or you can choose one drive and run a scan on just that one. The buttons for scanning your drive are at the top of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs4.png" alt="" width="519" height="236" />

The results will show up on the left side of the screen. It will display all the folders on the drive, how much space each one is occupying and the overall percentage of the drive it is using. To navigate through the various folders on your drive simply click the plus and minus buttons next to a folder name to expand or contract that folder.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs5.png" alt="" width="500" height="137" />

Features

The most useful reason for running a scan like this is to find out which programs are really sucking down your space. When you go to the Add/Remove programs section on Windows, many of the programs do not list their size. With GetFoldersize that will no longer be a problem, since it will scan your program files folder and let you know exactly what useless program is sucking the life from your hard drive.

GetFoldersize also allows you to scan remote machines on your network. This is pretty nifty for businesses that want to know where their hard drive resources are going.

It will also find the largest file on a drive. This allows you to quickly and easily tell which files are taking up your space the most. Simply click the icon labeled “123″ to see a list of all files sorted by size.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs7.png" alt="" width="398" height="55" />

When you find something that is taking up too much space which you don’t need any more, you can delete the file right there in the program. So there’s no need to open up Windows Explorer to get rid of the space eaters.

Conclusion

class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com">GetFoldersize is a pretty cool program that does what it sets out to do, and does it in a very easy fashion. It’s completely free, and worth checking out if you are looking to clean up your hard drives and get some better performance out of your machine.

Did you try GetFoldersize? What was taking up all of your space? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/getfoldersize-calculates-hard-disk-usage-quickly-easily-windows/">GetFoldersize Calculates Hard Disk Usage Quickly & Easily [Windows] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs8.png" alt="" />Have you ever went to download something only to realize that your hard drive is almost full? Have you even wondered where all of your space is going? I know I have, and fortunately GetFoldersize is here to rectify the situation by calculating the exact amount of space every single folder on your computer is using.

This is great because you can decide what you really need and what you don’t. You can then realize that maybe you don’t need that 300GB folder of “adult entertainment” you have held onto for years.

It will take a little time and effort on your part, but thanks to GetFoldersize, it becomes a lot easier to find out what is taking up the largest amount of space on your drive. Once you free up the space with GetFoldersize, make sure to adopt some helpful class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-free-up-disk-space-netbook/">techniques to help conserve space and keep your hard drive running like a dream.

Installation

Head over to class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com/">GetFoldersize’s website, click download and choose one of the available servers to download from. They have a standard Windows edition, as well as a portable edition if you prefer to install the program to a thumb drive. They support every major version of Windows in both 32 and 64 bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs1.png" alt="" width="560" height="414" />

Once the file is downloaded, extract and run the .exe. Follow the installer instructions.

Using The Program

GetFoldersize has one main purpose, and that is to calculate the amount of space all the folders on your drive are taking up, and then break it down by percentage, so you can see exactly where your space is used. The program is very easy to use, so even a computer novice will be able to run it smoothly.

When the program first opens you are given all your drives and the available space on each. You get a percentage of how much space is free, and how much space is used.

You can either scan all your system drives, which will take a little time depending on how big they are and how much stuff you have on them, or you can choose one drive and run a scan on just that one. The buttons for scanning your drive are at the top of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs4.png" alt="" width="519" height="236" />

The results will show up on the left side of the screen. It will display all the folders on the drive, how much space each one is occupying and the overall percentage of the drive it is using. To navigate through the various folders on your drive simply click the plus and minus buttons next to a folder name to expand or contract that folder.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs5.png" alt="" width="500" height="137" />

Features

The most useful reason for running a scan like this is to find out which programs are really sucking down your space. When you go to the Add/Remove programs section on Windows, many of the programs do not list their size. With GetFoldersize that will no longer be a problem, since it will scan your program files folder and let you know exactly what useless program is sucking the life from your hard drive.

GetFoldersize also allows you to scan remote machines on your network. This is pretty nifty for businesses that want to know where their hard drive resources are going.

It will also find the largest file on a drive. This allows you to quickly and easily tell which files are taking up your space the most. Simply click the icon labeled “123″ to see a list of all files sorted by size.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs7.png" alt="" width="398" height="55" />

When you find something that is taking up too much space which you don’t need any more, you can delete the file right there in the program. So there’s no need to open up Windows Explorer to get rid of the space eaters.

Conclusion

class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com">GetFoldersize is a pretty cool program that does what it sets out to do, and does it in a very easy fashion. It’s completely free, and worth checking out if you are looking to clean up your hard drives and get some better performance out of your machine.

Did you try GetFoldersize? What was taking up all of your space? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/getfoldersize-calculates-hard-disk-usage-quickly-easily-windows/">GetFoldersize Calculates Hard Disk Usage Quickly & Easily [Windows] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

View full post on MakeUseOf

class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs8.png" alt="" />Have you ever went to download something only to realize that your hard drive is almost full? Have you even wondered where all of your space is going? I know I have, and fortunately GetFoldersize is here to rectify the situation by calculating the exact amount of space every single folder on your computer is using.

This is great because you can decide what you really need and what you don’t. You can then realize that maybe you don’t need that 300GB folder of “adult entertainment” you have held onto for years.

It will take a little time and effort on your part, but thanks to GetFoldersize, it becomes a lot easier to find out what is taking up the largest amount of space on your drive. Once you free up the space with GetFoldersize, make sure to adopt some helpful class="vt-p" href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-ways-free-up-disk-space-netbook/">techniques to help conserve space and keep your hard drive running like a dream.

Installation

Head over to class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com/">GetFoldersize’s website, click download and choose one of the available servers to download from. They have a standard Windows edition, as well as a portable edition if you prefer to install the program to a thumb drive. They support every major version of Windows in both 32 and 64 bit.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs1.png" alt="" width="560" height="414" />

Once the file is downloaded, extract and run the .exe. Follow the installer instructions.

Using The Program

GetFoldersize has one main purpose, and that is to calculate the amount of space all the folders on your drive are taking up, and then break it down by percentage, so you can see exactly where your space is used. The program is very easy to use, so even a computer novice will be able to run it smoothly.

When the program first opens you are given all your drives and the available space on each. You get a percentage of how much space is free, and how much space is used.

You can either scan all your system drives, which will take a little time depending on how big they are and how much stuff you have on them, or you can choose one drive and run a scan on just that one. The buttons for scanning your drive are at the top of the screen.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs4.png" alt="" width="519" height="236" />

The results will show up on the left side of the screen. It will display all the folders on the drive, how much space each one is occupying and the overall percentage of the drive it is using. To navigate through the various folders on your drive simply click the plus and minus buttons next to a folder name to expand or contract that folder.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs5.png" alt="" width="500" height="137" />

Features

The most useful reason for running a scan like this is to find out which programs are really sucking down your space. When you go to the Add/Remove programs section on Windows, many of the programs do not list their size. With GetFoldersize that will no longer be a problem, since it will scan your program files folder and let you know exactly what useless program is sucking the life from your hard drive.

GetFoldersize also allows you to scan remote machines on your network. This is pretty nifty for businesses that want to know where their hard drive resources are going.

It will also find the largest file on a drive. This allows you to quickly and easily tell which files are taking up your space the most. Simply click the icon labeled “123″ to see a list of all files sorted by size.

style="text-align: center;"> class="aligncenter" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/gfs7.png" alt="" width="398" height="55" />

When you find something that is taking up too much space which you don’t need any more, you can delete the file right there in the program. So there’s no need to open up Windows Explorer to get rid of the space eaters.

Conclusion

class="vt-p" href="http://www.getfoldersize.com">GetFoldersize is a pretty cool program that does what it sets out to do, and does it in a very easy fashion. It’s completely free, and worth checking out if you are looking to clean up your hard drives and get some better performance out of your machine.

Did you try GetFoldersize? What was taking up all of your space? Let us know in the comments.

href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/getfoldersize-calculates-hard-disk-usage-quickly-easily-windows/">GetFoldersize Calculates Hard Disk Usage Quickly & Easily [Windows] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cloudbackup-icon.png?54167" alt="online data back up"/>Back up information you’re currently trusting the cloud with to your own hard drive. With support for most href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tags/google/">Google products and a few others, including Twitter and IMAP mail, Cloud Export is a piece of software every cloud computing enthusiast should probably look into.

The cloud is great, but it’s out of your hands. Most of the time that’s fine, but there is always the chance that something goes wrong cloud-side. As such, if you really want to know that your information is safe, you should back it up yourself. That’s why the href="http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/dataliberationfront-google-data-backup/">Data Liberation Front, a service provided by Google, offers guides for backing up Google products.

Guides are nice, but automated software is better. CloudExport is based on what Data Liberation offers; it’s just automated. It comes in the form of a Windows executable (which is easy to use) and a cross-platform python script (slightly less easy to use, but not impossible).

Using Cloud Export

Get started by href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/cloudexport/files/">downloading Cloud Export. You’ll find a .exe file for Windows users and a Python script for everyone else. Windows users can install as usual. Keep reading to find Ubuntu instructions.

Fire up Cloud Export and you’ll see a simple user interface. Click “Add new account” to get started:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cexport-start.png?54167" alt="online data back up" width="579" height="226" />

As you can see, you’ll need to pick which things you want to back up. Click a general category and you’ll be presented with individual things you can backup:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cexport-details.png?54167" alt="on line data back up" width="580" height="295" />

Select your services and enter your account information. Note that, to back up Gmail, you’ll need to href="http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=77695">enable IMAP in Gmail.

One you’ve go everything set up you can start the backup process. This might take a long time, especially if you’re downloading all of your email, so be patient:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cexport-downloading.png?54167" alt="on line data back up" width="580" height="194" />

Your files will be put wherever is configured in settings; by default a new “Export” folder is added to your user folder:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cexport-files.png?54167" alt="on line data back up" width="580" height="174" />

As you can see, I backed up my contacts, calendar and photos. I was particularly happy to get my high-res photos from Picasa:

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cexport-photos.png?54167" alt="how to back up data" width="578" height="141" />

Overall this is a great way to back up the cloud. Try it out yourself and let us know how you like it!

Currently Supported Cloud Backups

Cloud Backup supports a lot of services already. They are, according to the readme:

• Normal Google accounts:
  • Contacts
  • Gmail
  • Reader
  • Picasa
  • Blogger
  • Health
  • Finance
  • Calendar
  • Talk
  • Docs
• href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-google-free-email-domain/">Google Apps accounts:
  • Contacts
  • Gmail
  • Calendar
  • Talk
  • Docs
• Twitter
• Identi.ca
• RSS
• XMPP/Jabber
• IMAP (download email)
• OFX

See an application you’d like to be included? You can href="http://www.nabber.org/contact/?subject=Cloud%20Export:%20New%20Application">request applications be added to CloudExport.

Ubuntu Instructions

Getting this working in Ubuntu is possible. You’ll need to install one package: python-tk. Install this using apt-get or href=""apt:python-tk">simply click here.

Once you’ve done that you simply need to make the file cloudexportw.py executable, then run it from the command line:

python cloudexportw.py

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cexport-ubuntu.png?54167" alt="online data back up" width="580" height="189" />

The process should be similar on other Linux systems; feel free to leave information about this in the comments below.

Conclusion

Backing up your information is important, but how many of us regularly back up information we store on the cloud? It doesn’t matter how much you love and trust the companies that are storing your data for you; something could eventually go wrong. If that happens, you’ll be glad you backed up your information.

Do you think it’s worthwhile, though? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, along with any other tips for backing up cloud services. />
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href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/cloud-export-online-data-hard-drive-windows-ubuntu/">Cloud Export: Back Up Your Online Data To Your Hard Drive [Windows & Ubuntu] is a post from: href="http://www.makeuseof.com">MakeUseOf

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class="align-right" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/polls.png"/>Last week we asked href="http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/web-browser-sway-firefoxchrome-makeuseof-poll/">which of the up-and-coming new browsers might sway you from Chrome and Firefox. It looks like if anyone’s leaving Firefox and Chrome it’s because they’re going to Opera or Chromium.

From the 660 votes collected, we had the following breakdown: 32% would move to Opera 11; 24% would never consider leaving Firefox/Chrome; 20% would move to Chromium; 10% would head to Internet Explorer 9; 7% would take up RockMelt 2; SRWare Iron gained 5% of the voters; 2% would go to Wyzo; 2% would leave for Maxathon 3.0; and 1 person would go to something else entirely.

Full results and this week’s poll after the jump.

Opera 11 and Chromium are the hottest new browsers out!

class="aligncenter" style="border: 0pt none;" src="http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/browser-firefox-chrome-alternative.png"/>

This week’s href="http://www.makeuseof.com/service/polls/">poll question is: How Much Hard Drive Space Do You Have?

We all seem to have a couple of computers around the house: maybe a laptop, a desktop and a server. Maybe more. But what’s your total hard drive space in those machines?