Gemini 2 duplicate file finder review

There’s something to be said for creating a utility that focuses on a given function and does it well. This is the case with MacPaw’s Gemini 2, a duplicate removal tool that focuses not only on the infamous problem of one’s Photos library ballooning with thousands of duplicate photos but also handily hunts down duplicate files within Apple Music as well as across the macOS operating system. This, in turn, helps remove gigabytes of fluff that can chew up space on your hard drive, which can come in handy.

Gemini II, which retails for $19.99/£19.99 a year, and requires macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) to install and run, is currently available both through Apple’s App Store (Gemini 2: The Duplicate Finder on the Mac App Store as well as via MacPaw’s SetApp application, which grants access to Gemini and other apps for $9.99 (£7.60) a month. It is as easy to install as one would expect. MacPaw currently offers a seven-day free trial in exchange for either your credit or debit card’s information. Just download the app, install it, give it full access to your hard drive, and you’re ready to begin.

Find out how Gemini compares to other apps for clearing space on your Mac in our round-up of the Best Mac Cleaners.

The app includes scripts that allow for easy scanning of the Photos library and your Music library and allows for custom folders, and external volumes to be chosen from a menu or dragged, dropped, and quickly scanned. Other bells and whistles include Menu Bar elements which offer quick access to Gemini 2’s features, whitelists that can be created that are exempt from being scanned, and a Duplicate Monitor feature which helps compare files that are being added and works to head duplicates off at the pass before they begin to pile up.

Per testing itself, things could have hardly gone better. I’d wanted to remove duplicates from my hefty Photos library, which weighed in at over 29GB but had been apprehensive to do so. Apple’s duplicate detection and removal feature within Photos creates a “Duplicates” album and hunts down duplicates for you, but it’s still up to you to manually remove these items. Put a little trust in Gemini 2and it quickly hunts down duplicates, offers the option to remove them, and cleanly eradicates them from your hard drive. This also applies to music files and other document types, and the Duplicate Monitor helps out by warning you as to possible duplicates that have been carried over to your hard drive.

Granted, there are still some caveats to sort out. One issue I ran across was that after downloading and installing Gemini 2 from the App Store I was advised to create a SetApp account and install Gemini 2 from there. This seemed to cause some confusion as to account registration and permissions, which sorted itself out after I deleted the Gemini 2 version I had obtained from the App Store. Given that MacPaw is nudging its clients towards SetApp subscriptions, which offer full access to the company’s apps for a given rate per month, there’s some room for confusion here.

While Gemini 2 runs well, a scheduling feature for folder or volume scans would not go amiss. Perhaps the one wish list item, and one I hope to see in a future version of Gemini 2, is an improved filter for located duplicate items. The current filter allows you to break results down by size, name, count, and selected count, but it’d be that much more helpful to be able to group results by creation and/or modification date and give you that much better control over the files in question. Yes, this is a version 3.0 wish list item, but it could only make a great application that much better.

Should you buy Gemini 2?

There are a few bells and whistles I’d like to see, and the transition between Gemini 2 being its own App Store app and part of the SetApp suite offered a few minor hurdles to overcome, but what’s present here is genuinely well-written, sharp, helpful, fast, works well with all kinds of duplicates, and lends a good feature set to the macOS operating system without being overbearing. Gemini 2 hones in on its tasks and performs them well to the point that I trust it to help keep my duplicates in order, and there’s the feeling that the app has earned that trust, which is a rare thing. Take Gemini 2 for a spin, see what it can do, and odds are you’ll like what’s on the table.