MrClean - 1.7

I downloaded and ran MrClean yesterday which resulted in a wipe of my iPhoto folder. I'm running OSX 10.4.6 on G5 Dual 2.0 mhz with no other problems. Launched MrClean on my pictures folder. As noted before, no "progress bar" movement but spinning wheel suggested it was doing something. 6 hours or so later I return to find the program has crashed completely. At first glance, no files appear missing and then I launch iPhoto and discover my iPhoto Library is gone. (iPhoto from iLife '08) Having worked for two days with the new iPhoto and events and such, I lost a lot of work since my last backup, thankfully only a few days.

I would call this version "unstable", with a poor user interface. If you simply must try it, then do so only after making a complete full backup of your iPhoto files (as a minimum). This is good practice anyway, but I thought you could use a horror story to remind you how important it is.

First of all, Mr. Clean Version 1.7 does work with Tiger 4.9. I don't know if it works with 4.10, nor do I care, nor will I be testing it any time soon if you get my drift.

This simple utility does more than just locate duplicate files on your HD (and references your external HD as well since Tiger indexes all of your files cross-drive). My biggest gripe with the interface is that the darned report, which doesn't give you an option to "copy-past" in the file menu (you have to manually do this inside the report box) doesn't skip any lines, and all of the files are jumbled together, one color, and the report file paths (for both the original and the copy) are not the most easily things to discern. Other than this annoyance, this program is very useful for FINDING duplicate files, and if you want, you can have Mister Clean automatically delete these files for you if you wish, but I haven't tried this feature, nor will I, because of what I have to say below (read on please).

The BEST THING about this program, is, if you REALLY know what a good, organized HD is all about, then you will want to use this program to *help* achieve your IDEAL HD. Have you ever intentionally made a copy of a very important file (let's use a Word Doc for this example) just because you 1) wanted a second copy just in case; 2) reference this same document on a continual basis (it contains vital information)? What you may not realize, is that now you have 2 copies, and if you ever go back and update the one file, you either 1) forget to go back and update the other so they are still exact; 2) you have to be bothered doing #1.

Well, this program PREVENTS you from falling into this trap if you know what you're doing. You use it to: 1) locate the file that you want to keep in a certain spot, then make an alias of it; 2) Place this alias in the spot of the duplicate file, then delete the duplicate file. Now when you update either the alias, or the original, both of the files are updated at once, negating the problem I mentioned above.

THEREFORE, IT CAN BE SAID THAT THIS PROGRAM CAN BE USED TO CORRECT VITAL LINKS OF NECESSARY FILES ON YOUR HARD DRIVE. Q.E.D.