How to limit server resources used by Snoop-de-dupe

By default, Snoop-de-dupe is configured to handle most environments.  You can configure Snoop-de-dupe based on your resource requirements.  Resource limiting includes: worker thread priority, maximum CPU usage, and limiting write access to the hard disk
Open the Server Console and select the Snoop-de-dupe tab
Select the More link
Select the Set Resource Usage link
You can configure three resource groups
  • Worker Thread Priority – limit the priority of the worker thread which monitors duplicate files.  A lower priority allows Snoop-de-dupe to yield processing power to other Server processes
  • Limit Maximum CPU Usage – places a cap on the percentage of CPU usage available for use by Snoop-de-dupe.  The limit is 1% – 100%.  A smaller value allows Snoop-de-dupe to yield processing power to other Sever processes
  • Hard Drive Access – force Snoope-de-dupe to pause a specific number of milliseconds after flushing data to the hard drive.  A larger value allows Snoop-de-dupe to yield processing power to other Server processes
Note, all resource usage options are set in real-time.  Hence, you can configure settings to higher priority during the evening and then reconfigure them back to lower priority settings during the work day without any need to reboot your server or re-start any processes

How to manage multiple duplicate files with Batch Mode

Snoop-de-dupe makes it easy to manage large quantities of duplicate files with Batch Mode
From the main Snoop-de-dupe tab, select the Batch Resolve button to open the Batch Resolve window
A complete list of all duplicate files will be displayed in the upper-listbox
Select one or more files (you can hold the shift or control key to select multiple files)
Press the Add button.  All selected files will be moved to the lower-listbox
You can now press any action button: Delete All, Hard Link All, or Copy To Clipboard.  This action will be taken on all of the selected files
If you want to remove a file from the selected lower-listbox then simply select the file and press the Remove button.  The file will be moved back to the upper-listbox and will not be processed in any future batch action
Note: if the file you wish to delete or hard-link is not listed in the upper-listbox then the file is probably marked as an “original file.”  You can change the “original file” by selecting one of the duplicate files of that “original file” and pressing the “Set As Original” button.  This will swap the duplicate file and the original file and allow you to process batch actions

How to exclude specific files and folders from scanning

Snoop-de-dupe will automatically scan all files within the folders you select to watch for de-duplication.  You can configure Snoop-de-dupe to exclude certain files or folders by name.  You can also exclude files by minimum file size, maximum file size, and file attributes (e.g. hidden, system, read-only)
Select More Settings from the lower-middle section of the main screen
Select the Set Excluded Files link to open the set excluded settings dialog
Enter the name of one or more files/folders that you want to exclude from de-duplication and press the Add button.  To remove an exclude from the list, select the item and press the Delete button.
You can use the following wildcard characters when declaring file and folder names:
  • ? = a single character
  • * = any number of characters
EXAMPLES –
  • To exclude all files named folder.jpg, enter *\folder.jpg
  • To exclude all .ini files (such as desktop.ini), enter *.ini
  • To exclude Bob’s entire user share, enter d:\shares\Users\bob\* OR *\users\bob\*
  • To exclude all doc files that begin with the name ted and end with two characters, enter *\ted??.doc
  • To exclude all folders named backup, enter *\backup\*
HINTS –
  • The file/folder name you enter is not case-sensitive
  • If you remove an exclude from the list and want to force Snoop-de-dupe to re-scan a folder then use the Edit Watched Folders link to remove the folder, then re-add the folder again

How to manage hard-linking of files

If you’re running Snoop-de-dupe on WHS/SBS 2011 or later then you have the option to replace duplicate files with a hard-link.  Hard-linking a file replaces the file data within one file with a pointer to the duplicate data within another file.  Thus, hard drive space is re-claimed.
Note, if you hard-link “File A” to “File B” and then delete “File B” then “File A” will remain on your Server as you would expect. You never have to worry about “accidently” deleting a duplicate hard-linked file when you delete the file it has been hard-linked to
If C:\MyDocument.txt and C:\GoodStuff\Document.txt are duplicates and you replace them with a hardlink. Both file entries are still there, but they now point to the same data. Thus, any changes made to C:\MyDocument.txt are also reflected in C:\GoodStuff\Document.txt and vice-versa. This is because the two entries point to the same data. Another way to think of hardlinks is a person who has nicknames or aliases. If John Doe is also known as Doughman, he would answer to either name, and anything that happens to John Doe also happens to Doughman. So if Doughman breaks his arm, John Doe also broke his arm, because they are the same person.
More technical details about hard links

How to pause and resume Snoop-de-dupe scanning

Snoop-de-dupe automatically runs in the background as a low-priority process on your Server, watching for new and changed files and scanning for duplicates.  There will be times when you want to pause Snoop-de-dupe to limit the real-time processing effects on your server.  You can pause Snoop-de-dupe very simply
Open the Windows Server Console and select Snoop-de-dupe on the top tab
Press the Pause Operation link located in the lower-center of the dialog.  It will toggle to a Resume Operation lnk
Snoop-de-dupe will sit idle until you return and press Resume Operation

How to interpret results and take action on duplicate files

Now that you’ve installed Snoop-de-dupe you can view results and take action
Open the Windows Server Console and select Snoop-de-dupe from the main tab bar
If any duplicate files have been found to date then they will automatically be displayed in the top-most list box.  For example, this screen-shot shows that many duplicate JPG photos have been found on the server.  Note, only the first 20 duplicate files are displayed in the main list-view.  To view all duplicate files, select the Batch Resolve button
Once duplicate files have been found on your server, there are a few different actions you can take.  Double-click on any one of the master duplicate files in the top-most list box to open a new dialog displaying a list of all its duplicate files.  You will be giving the following options:
  • Delete Duplicate – this will delete the duplicate file which is currently selected in the list
  • Create Hard Link – this will replace the duplicate file which is currently selected in the list with a hard-link to save storage space (this feature is only available on WHS/SBS 2011)
  • Set As Original – this will replace the current file, as displayed in the Original File name text-box, with the currently selected duplicate file in the Duplicate Files list-box.  This does not affect the physical files on the server.  It simply lets you tell Snoop-de-dupe which file you want to keep as the “original file” and which file(s) you want to tag as “duplicate files.”  You cannot delete an original file using Snoop-de-dupe; only files marked as duplicates can be deleted
  • Ignore these duplicate files – check this box to ignore all of the duplicate files in the list and remove the duplicate from the master list.  This will take effect when the Exit button is pressed
  • Copy To Clipboard – copy the duplicate file list to the Windows clipboard for easier file management
  • View the contents of a file – you can double-click on any duplicate file in the list and the registered viewer (e.g. mspaint, notepad, Excel, etc) of that file type will open and display the contents of the file for your review.
After you’ve taken the appropriate action on the duplicate files you can press Exit to return to the master list
As a shortcut, if you want to ignore all of the master duplicate files currently displayed then press the Ignore these duplicate files button (located in the upper-left on WHS V1 and on WHS/SBS 2011).  Note, if another duplicate file is found in the future that matches a file you previously ignored then both files will be added back to the master duplicate list for your review.
A second option for managing duplicate files is the Batch Mode feature.  This feature is very useful if you have many duplicate files that must be resolved

How to configure Snoop-de-dupe

After you’ve installed Snoop-de-dupe, you can configure the software to automatically watch folders for duplicate files
Open the Windows Server Console and select Snoop-de-dupe on the main tab bar
The first time you run Snoop-de-dupe, a dialog will automatically be displayed so you can select which folders you would like to watch.  Add one or more folders to be watched
After you have added the folders you want to be watched then press the Exit button and Snoop-de-dupe will automatically scan your servers existing files.  Further, Snoop-de-dupe will automatically watch your system for new and changed files.  Whenever you wish to view the duplicate file list, simply open the Console and select the Snoop-de-dupe tab.  The current list of duplicate files will always be visible in the top-most list box.
As you can see, Snoop-de-dupe is very easy to configure and use!  It will run in the background, waiting for you to view the list of duplicate files at your convenience.
Now that Snoop-de-dupe is configured and running on your server, you can review how to interpret and take action on the duplicate list results

How to move the Snoop-de-dupe cache folder

Snoop-de-dupe automatically creates a caching folder on your Servers system hard drive.  Most users will never need to change this setting.  If you are an advanced user who would like to change the location of this folder then follow the following steps.  Please read all steps and make sure you understand the requirements before proceeding.  This feature is only for advanced users.
DO
  • read this entire page before starting
  • create the new cache folder in a location which is always available while your Server is running
DO NOT
  • attempt these steps if you are not absolutely certain what you are doing
  • create a new cache folder on a temporary storage device (e.g. a USB key) which can be removed from the server
Uninstall the Snoop-de-dupe add-in from your Server
RDP into your Server to perform the following steps
Open the Windows registry, via regedit.exe, and create a REG_SZ string value named “DataFolder” under the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\FileDeDupe\Settings.  Set the contents of the “DataFolder” value to the path you want to use as the new Snoop-de-dupe Cache folder.  As a reference, you can download this file and rename the file extension from .txt to .reg.  Running this .reg file on your Server will configure a cache folder in D:\Snoop-De-Dupe. Make sure the cache folder exists on your storage device (i.e. you must physically create the folder with Windows Explorer or a Command shell)
Copy your existing Snoop-de-dupe cache data from the old cache folder to the new cache folder you just created.  For Windows Home Server, the original cache folder is located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\FileDeDupe.  For WHS/SBS 2011, this folder is located in C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\FileDeDupe
Delete your old cache data from the original cache folder
Re-install the latest version of Snoop-de-dupe add-in on your Server
Open the Server Console and select the Snoop-de-dupe tab.  All of your previous settings will be available to you
That’s it!

How to install Snoop-de-dupe on WHS/SBS 2011 and Server 2012 Essentials

Installation of the Snoop-de-dupe add-in is the same as any “true” Windows Home Server add-in
Download the snoopdedupe.wssx installation file from the Purchase or Trial page
Copy the snoopdedupe.wssx file to your server or to a PC with the Home Server Connector installed
Double-click the snoopdedupe.wssx file to begin the installation process
After installation completes, launch the Dashboard and select Snoop-de-dupe on the upper tab bar
On first run, you will be prompted to enter your email address and order ID
Enter your email address and order ID exactly as they appear in your order confirmation email

How to install Snoop-de-dupe on Windows Home Server V1

Installation of the Snoop-de-dupe add-in is the same as any “true” Windows Home Server add-in
Download the whsdedupe.msi installation file from the Purchase or Trial page
Copy the whsdedupe.msi file into your \\server\Software\Add-ins folder
Open the Windows Home Server Console and select Settings | Add-ins | Available
After installation completes, the Console will automatically restart
Open the Console and select Snoop-de-dupe on the upper tab bar
On first run, you will be prompted to enter your email address and order ID
Enter your email address and order ID exactly as they appear in your order confirmation email