Multiple copies of files in my backup.

[Tom Johnson]

Hello.  My backup files contain duplicate copies of each file.  However, different files contain different numbers of duplicates.  Some are duplicated once.  I counted one file duplicated 35 times in the backup.  Another, duplicated 22 times.  (Obviously, this is taking up a lot of space.  I had gotten a "not enough space" message and had to change the backup drive to get enough space to recognize the problem.)

As a result of these multiple, duplicate files, I started out backing up a folder size of about 75G and ended up with a backup of 220G.

Got help?

[MichelBParis]

Similar behavior has been reported on Macs with Time Machine. Which OS and version are you using? Are those files photos or video clips?

[Tom Johnson]

Wow, you were fast getting back. I had no idea I would see a reply so soon.  Thank you.

I am on Windows 10. I have photos and videos.

[MichelBParis]

I am on Windows 10. I have photos and videos.

That does not help much. You are pretty much alone with that issue. The general idea is that some background process is fooling the backup process of the organizer. The organizer may 'import' files several times, which never creates so many dupes, or the backup process creates copies when it is fooled to think the dupes are on different drives. That seems to be the case for various backup utilities. It would be interesting to mention if you are using such backup utilities.

- are you storing your files on a conventional drive or a NAS?

- Do you use watched folders?

- Can you have a look at a series of dupes and examine where the organizer thinks they are located? Especially if they appear to be on different backup drives?

[Tom Johnson]

Just so you know, I am not deep in technical things, okay but light okay.

I'm not sure if you are wondering if I have duplicates in my PSE.  I don't have duplicate photos and videos in my PSE.  I updated my original post to say that I have about 75G in my file folders where I keep media for PSE; the backup created 220G in the backup folder. 

1.  ...if you are using such backup utilities.  I do use IDrive to run daily backups of my files to offsite storage.

2. Are you storing your files on a conventional drive or a NAS?  I am just using my E: drive on my PC Laptop PC.

3.  Do you use watched folders?  Don't think so; don't know what those are or how to do that.

4. Can you have a look at a series of dupes and examine where the organizer thinks they are located? Especially if they appear to be on different backup drives?  I only keep the files on my E: drive.  There may be some that sneak onto my C: drive.  Is E: drive considered a backup drive?  I use it to store all my files that are not system files.  I did my PSE backup to my C: drive.  I don't keep them there long - just until they get backed by iDrive.  I'm not sure how to check "where the organizer thinks they are located" - are you talking about the backed up files?

Thanks for your help on this.

[MichelBParis]

It's now clear for me that your issue is duplication in the backup folder, not in the catalog or in your media drive.

The structure of the backup folder makes it hard to find duplicates since the files are renamed. How did you find and count the series of duplicates? The common criteria are date_taken and file size in kilobytes.

You say the backup folder shows 220 GB for 75 only in the media source folder. How long did the organizer process last, several hours? Did iDrive process occur at the same time?

I am quite sure the backup is unusable for a restore now, but if you created a new test catalog and imported the renamed files from the backup folder, I believe the importer would skip all duplicates. The catalog.tly file in the backup folder is hard to decrypt... The catalog.buc should be a plain renamed copy of the catalog.pse18db database in your original catalog folder.