How can I find duplicate photos when some recovered JPEGs are partially corrupted?
Asked 6/14/2020
3 views
2 answers
0
I’m consolidating a large family photo archive recovered from damaged hard drives, CDs, and floppy disks. I ended up with many duplicate files, including partially corrupted JPEGs. Standard duplicate-photo tools work well for intact images, but they often fail on damaged files because the recovered image may only contain part of the original photo.
I’d like a way to identify whether a corrupted JPEG is a duplicate of a good copy I already have, ideally by comparing image data in a more direct way than typical low-resolution or content-aware matching. Is there software or a practical method for this?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
6y ago
2 Answers
1
The free software AllDup allows to check duplicates only using a small sector in the top left of the image thus partly solving the problem
Originally by user92591. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user92591
4y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For exact duplicate files, the most reliable approach is file hashing rather than visual comparison. Generate a checksum such as SHA for each file and compare the hashes; matching hashes indicate the files are effectively identical with very high probability.
For partially corrupted JPEGs, exact hashing usually won’t help because the damaged file is no longer byte-for-byte the same. In that case, a duplicate finder that can compare only part of the image may work better. Community suggestions include:
- AllDup: can compare duplicates using just a small sector in the top-left of the image, which may help when only part of a recovered JPEG is intact.
- ACDSee Pro: can find similar images and lets you adjust the allowed degree of difference.
A true pixel-by-pixel match is generally less practical for corrupted JPEGs because corruption changes the decoded image structure, not just a few pixels. So the best workflow is usually:
- use SHA hashes to remove exact duplicate files,
- then use a similarity tool such as AllDup or ACDSee Pro for partial/corrupted image matches.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI6y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
How can I detect corrupted Canon CR2 raw files in a large archive?
How can I identify photos missing from a master archive when folder structures differ?
How can I quickly find and remove duplicate virtual copies in Lightroom stacks?
Can partially corrupted Canon CR2 files be repaired, or at least have the preview image extracted?
How can I batch-check Nikon NEF files for corruption?