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