The scan runs on your computer and reads only. It walks the drive, fingerprints every file by its contents, and builds a catalogue: what is there, how big, how old, what kind of thing it is.
Duplicates are matched byte for byte, never by name or size. Hard links are counted as the one file they are, and on filesystems where copies can share storage the report says what is recoverable at most rather than quoting a number it cannot stand behind.
A cleanup moves duplicates into a quarantine folder on the same drive, writing down each move before it happens. Nothing is deleted. One command puts it all back.
What it counts
Every function reports what it consumed, and only your plan turns that into money. Drives counts:
- GB scanned — counted, never billed
- drives — a plan limit, never a per-unit charge
- cleanups — a plan limit, never a per-unit charge