How to use GetFerret for Windows
Catalog your drives, search them even when they are unplugged, and keep your files safe. Using a Mac? See the Mac guide.
1 What is in 1.0
GetFerret for Windows has five parts, one per item in the menu on the left of its window: Search, Duplicates, Safekeeping, Offload and Recycle. There is also the quick bar, which searches from anywhere.
2 Installing GetFerret
GetFerret for Windows runs on Windows 10 or 11, on 64-bit PCs.
- On your PC, open getferret.app/windows, enter your email and download the free trial.
- Open GetFerret-Setup.exe. It installs GetFerret for your Windows account and opens it.
3 Cataloging a drive
Plug in a drive while GetFerret is open and it catalogs it: it reads the name, size and date of every file and folder, so the drive stays searchable after you unplug it. The status line at the bottom shows the progress.
- Catalog a Drive or Folder… adds a drive or a folder by hand.
- Catalog Now brings a plugged-in drive up to date.
- GetFerret knows each drive by its own serial number, not its letter, so a drive that comes back as E: instead of D: is still the same drive.
4 Searching
On the Search page, type part of a file or folder name. You see every match on every drive, plugged in or not. Choose a drive on the left to search only that one, and use the kind menu to show only photos, videos, audio, documents or folders.
Choose a result to see it on the right. If its drive is plugged in you get a preview and Show in File Explorer. If not, GetFerret tells you which drive to plug in, and where it is stored.
5 Where a drive is stored
When you unplug a cataloged drive, GetFerret asks where you are storing it, such as "top desk drawer" or "shelf B, bin 3". Search results for that drive then say where to find it. Tick Don't ask for this drive again for a drive you unplug every day. To change a location later, choose the drive and use Where Is It Stored?…
6 The quick bar
While GetFerret is open, press Ctrl Alt Space from anywhere. A small search box opens over whatever you are doing. Type a few letters and press Enter to show the file in File Explorer, or to see which drive to fetch. Esc or clicking away closes it.
It is Ctrl+Alt+Space rather than the Mac's Option+Space because Alt+Space already opens every Windows window's system menu.
7 Duplicates
On the Duplicates page, choose the drives to look on and press Find Duplicates. A duplicate is a copy with the same name, the same size and the same content.
- Pick which drive's copy to keep, or let GetFerret keep the first one it found.
- Move Extra Copies to the Recycle reads the copy you keep and every extra copy in full before it moves anything. It never moves the copy you keep.
- Extra copies go to GetFerret's own recycle folder, not Windows' Recycle Bin, so you can put them back.
8 The recycle folder
Copies GetFerret moves out of the way wait in a hidden folder on their own drive, so putting one back is instant. GetFerret does not use Windows' Recycle Bin because memory cards, USB sticks and network drives do not have one.
- Put Back returns an item to where it was.
- Remove for Good… deletes it. It cannot be put back afterwards.
- Keep items for sets how long items wait before they are removed: 14 days unless you change it, or until you empty it yourself.
9 Safekeeping
Safekeeping shows the photos, videos and PDFs that exist in only one place, so you can see what would be lost if a drive died. Copies on other drives are confirmed by their content.
- Back Up At-Risk Files copies each at-risk file that is plugged in to an external drive you choose, into a GetFerret Backup folder, and reads every copy back to check it. Running it again only adds what is new.
- Check for Bit Rot Now reads files GetFerret has fingerprinted and lists any whose content changed while their size and date stayed the same.
10 Offloading a camera card
Offload copies a camera card, a drive or a folder to up to three places at once. Every file is fingerprinted as it is read and checked again at each destination, and a list of checksums is saved with the copies. Choose xxHash64 (fast, the usual choice), MD5 or SHA-256. The source is never changed.
11 Where your data lives
Your catalog is kept in %LOCALAPPDATA%\KeepersCode\GetFerret, in your own Windows user folder. It is encrypted with a key that only your Windows user account can unlock. Drive locations you type, such as "top desk drawer", are kept in a settings file in the same folder.
Uninstalling GetFerret leaves this folder in place, so a reinstall picks up where you left off. Nothing about your files is ever sent to us: not their names, not their contents, not your searches.
12 License & trial
GetFerret is free to try for 14 days, with everything unlocked. After that, search keeps working, and a one-time $49 license unlocks cataloging, duplicates, backups and offloads for good. One license covers up to 3 computers, Mac or Windows in any mix.
- Buy a license on getferret.app. Your key arrives by email.
- In GetFerret, choose License… at the bottom right of the window.
- Paste your key and choose Activate.
- To move a seat to another computer, choose Deactivate This PC in the License window first. Your catalog is not touched.
- The license works offline for up to 60 days between check-ins. If a PC goes longer, its catalog stays searchable, and connecting to the internet once unlocks everything else again.
13 Updates
GetFerret checks for new versions and downloads them in the background. When one is ready, the bottom of the window says so: choose Restart Now to finish. See what is new in each version.
14 Getting help
Stuck, or have an idea? We would love to hear from you. Email support@getferret.app. You can also reach the studio at keeperscode.com/contact.