The problem with comparing names and sizes
Most file managers try to spot duplicates by matching file names or sizes. That falls apart quickly: two completely different files can happen to be the same size, and the same photo saved twice can end up with names like "IMG_0231.jpg" and "IMG_0231 (1).jpg", or nothing alike at all if one copy was renamed. Name and size comparisons are a starting point, not proof.
What a hash actually does
A cryptographic hash function takes any input, in this case a file's contents, and produces a fixed-length string of characters called a hash, or digest. Change a single byte anywhere in the file and the resulting hash changes completely. Keep every byte identical and the hash comes out identical too, every time. DataBurrow uses SHA-256, a widely used cryptographic hash algorithm, to compute this fingerprint for every file it scans.
Why that makes duplicate detection reliable
The number of possible SHA-256 outputs is so large that accidental collisions, two different files producing the same hash, are not a practical concern. A matching hash is strong evidence that two files are true, byte-for-byte duplicates, not just similarly named or similarly sized. That's far more reliable than comparing file names or sizes alone, which is why DataBurrow computes a hash for every file it indexes rather than relying on metadata.
Where the hashing happens
All of this runs locally, on your own computer. DataBurrow reads a file's metadata, name, size, type, and modification date, plus its SHA-256 hash, entirely on your device. The application never uploads a file's contents anywhere to compute this; the comparison happens on the same machine the files are already sitting on.
What duplicate detection can add up to
In the scan captured in DataBurrow's own product demo, hash-based duplicate detection surfaced 44 duplicate files accounting for 3.49 GB of reclaimable space, out of roughly 72,000 files indexed. Multiply that across years of saved photos, downloaded attachments, and files copied between folders "just in case," and it's easy to see how duplicates quietly add up.
What DataBurrow does once it finds a match
Finding a duplicate is only the first step. DataBurrow is read-only by default: it surfaces matches so you can see exactly which files are true copies, but it never moves, renames, or deletes anything without your explicit confirmation. You decide what happens next.