ChronoframeMatched by content
Exact duplicates are found by comparing file bytes, not names. High-confidence photo matches can receive automatic suggestions. Weaker photo matches and visually similar videos remain review-only.
Safety & recovery
Built to protect your originals
Chronoframe combines previews, verified copies, and receipts to help you make careful changes. Keep an independent backup, too: organizing is not a replacement for one.
The guarantees
The safeguards behind every run
- Read-only sourceOrganize only ever reads your source folder. It never moves, renames, edits, or deletes an original. Cleaning up the source is a manual choice you make later, yourself.
- Preview before any changeOrganize shows the full transfer plan and Deduplicate shows every group before a file is touched. Nothing is copied or trashed until you approve it.
- No overwritesIf a file with the same name already exists at the destination, Chronoframe keeps both. It never replaces one of your files with another.
- Verified copiesVerification is on by default: written copies are re-hashed against the source to detect mismatches. Files are written to a temporary location and installed atomically. Verification can be disabled in advanced settings; we recommend leaving it on.
- Trash, not deleteDuplicates you approve move to macOS Trash. They can be recovered while the recorded files remain there with matching contents. Chronoframe cannot restore them after Trash is emptied.
- One operation at a timeThe app, command-line tool, and system actions share a single destination lock, so concurrent runs on the same Mac cannot change the same destination. Concurrent use of a network destination from multiple Macs is unsupported.
- Receipts for every runTransfers, dedupe commits, and reorganize runs each write a receipt. Undo works only while files still match that receipt, so it never touches anything added or changed afterward.
- Fail-closed on ambiguityWhen Chronoframe can't verify the state of a file or drive, it stops and asks rather than guessing. It never treats an inaccessible path as a missing one.
If something is interrupted
A clear path after an interruption
Power loss, an unplugged drive, a force-quit — Chronoframe checks recorded progress on relaunch and tells you when a drive or manual action is needed.
- It records as it goes. Receipts and recovery journals record intended changes and progress. After an interruption, some work may still need review.
- It reconciles on relaunch. Reopen the app with the destination drive connected and it checks durable copies, Trash, and move evidence before starting any new work.
- It tells you what it needs. History surfaces states like Needs Drive, Trash Location Unverified, or Manual Recovery Needed when it can't safely finish on its own.
- Your originals stay untouched. Organize recovery leaves the source folder untouched. Reconnect the destination drive and follow the recovery status before starting another run.
Deduplicate, specifically
Removing a duplicate is the most careful thing the app does
Re-verified before Trash
Every planned removal is re-checked by content just before it moves. If a file, pair, or sidecar changed since the scan, it's preserved instead of deleted from a stale plan.
Recoverable as a unit
Related files and recovery metadata are tracked together. Restoring from History still requires the recorded Trash items to exist and match their recorded contents.
Safety you can watch happen.
Run a preview on your own library. Nothing changes until you decide it should.
Free to try. One-time unlock. No subscription.