It’s complicated…
Or it would have been, had I not created this extremely straightforward how-to guide that lays out the vast digital continent of technology, hardware, software, apps, services, philosophy and entities that my data relies upon in order to be read, seen and heard.
But first, just imagine the cerebral expenditure, along with the mental energy involved in finding, researching, encountering, testing and tinkering with all the apps, services and software listed below before any of them were actually deployed with real utility.
Tools shown in bold are the ones I ended up choosing and using.
1. Canonicalised & Deduplicated Tool Inventory
(grouped only by practical function for readability; names preserved)
A. Duplicate Detection & File De-duplication
- Czkawka
- czkawka_cli
- czkawka_core
- dupeGuru
- fclones
- FSlint
- rmlint
- CloneSpy
- imagededup
- PhotoSweeper
- Duplicate Cleaner Pro
- Wise Duplicate Finder
- Easy Duplicate Finder
- Ashisoft Duplicate File Finder
- Sorcim Clone Files Checker
- MindGems Fast Duplicate File Finder
- DupTerminator
- Filerev
- Anti-Twin
- DupeSweep
- Softaken Duplicate Files Remover
- VideoDupChecker
Photo-specific duplicate tools
- Duplicate Photos Fixer Pro
- Duplicate Photo Finder
- WebMinds Duplicate Photo Cleaner
- Remo Duplicate Photos Remover
- Gemini Photos
- AI Cleaner: Pro Photos
- Clever Cleaner: AI CleanUp
- Cleanup: Clean Storage Space
- Duplicate Photos: AI Cleaner
B. File Copying, Migration & Synchronisation
- TeraCopy
- Robocopy
- FastCopy
- Ultracopier
- NiceCopier
- CopyMastro
- ExtremeCopy
- rsync
- FreeFileSync
- RealTimeSync
- SyncBack Free
- SyncBack SE
- SyncBack Pro
- Syncthing
- rclone
- Laplink PCmover
- Zinstall Migration Kit Pro
- EaseUS Todo PCTrans
C. Disk Usage, Analysis & Visibility
- WinDirStat
- TreeSize Free
- WizTree
D. Data Recovery, Partitioning & Disk Health
- TestDisk
- PhotoRec
- TestDisk / PhotoRec bundle
- R-Studio
- DMDE
- Recuva
- DiskGenius
- Active@ Partition Recovery
- RS Partition Recovery
- EaseUS Data Recovery
- MiniTool Partition Wizard
- AOMEI Partition Assistant
- Macrium Reflect
- Macrium Reflect Rescue ISO
- EaseUS Todo Backup
Drive health & diagnostics
- CrystalDiskInfo
- Hard Disk Sentinel
- HD Tune
- Disk Drill
- Speccy
- Belarc Advisor
E. Partition & Disk Management
- GParted
- KDE Partition Manager
- Disk Utility
F. Search, Indexing & Discovery (Files & Text)
- Everything
- Everything x64
- fSearch
- Recoll
- DocFetcher
G. Image & Photo Management (Core)
- DigiKam
- Shotwell
- Excire Foto
- Excire Search
- Hydrus Network
- PhotoPrism
- Immich
- Mylio
- Peakto
- XnView MP
- KPhotoAlbum
- gThumb
- Nomacs
- qView
- PhotoQt
- PicArrange
- JPhotoTagger
H. Image Tagging, Metadata & AI Classification
- ExifTool
- STAG
- Nero AI Photo Tagger
- Photo AI Tagger
- Pic2Go
- TrapTagger
I. File Tagging & Semantic Organisation
- TagSpaces
- Tabbles
- TagFlow
- Stagsi
J. Offline Web & Archive Reconstruction
- HTTrack Website Copier
- Offline Website Viewer
- Offline Website Browser
- ArchiveWeb.page
- ReplayWeb.page
K. Agentic, Semantic & LLM-Driven Indexing
- AnythingLLM
- LlamaIndex
- Haystack
- LangChain
- OpenAI File Search
- Ollama
- AutoGen
- OpenDevin
- Superagent
L. File Managers (Dual-Pane / Power Users)
- Directory Opus
- Double Commander
- Krusader
- Midnight Commander
M. Platform Access, Boot & System Utilities
- HFSExplorer
- apfs-fuse
- Rufus
- Hasleo WinToUSB
- qemu-img
N. Photo Suites & Commercial Organisers
- Ashampoo Photo Organizer Pro
- Ashampoo Photo Commander 18
- MAGIX Photo Manager Deluxe
- inPixio Photo Studio Pro
- inPixio Photo Studio 12 Ultimate
- SortPix XL
O. Mobile & Cross-Platform File Organisers
- Documents by Readdle
- My File Organizer
- Sparkle
- Sorted
P. Hardware Enablers (explicitly named, workflow-relevant)
- MZHOU PCIe SATA card
- StarTech PEXSAT34RH
- HighPoint Rocket 1040
- Supermicro AOC-S3108L-H8IR-16DD
- Areca ARC-1883ix-10
About the Author
