need some SERIOUS help for some bad problems. Somehow,
since I am a "newbie", I have duplicated the directory
tree on my hard drive. There is a lot of repeat listings
under different folder and file locations. I can tell
that this is taking up a lot of my memory, plus slowing
down the pc when it tries to find the right pathway. Does
anyone know of a freeware or shareware that will, first
of all, print out what all is in the directory and where
it is located, and also show which folders and
directories are duplications of each program and listing,
and what they should be under. Do you know of any
software that will "cure" the duplication and reset the
directory tree to its correct pathway? I have
tried "Kellys-Korner" nor did the 'help' section for XP
and did not find anything that refers to this directly.
Any help and assistance will be GREATLY appreciated.
Autumn
There are programs that kind find duplicate files but they will not tell
you where those files belong. They will tell you where each file that has
one or more copies is located at. Unless you know which is the "good" copy
and which is the "extra" copy, these tools won't help you much.
You cannot duplicate the same exact tree on the same drive.
You cannot duplicate folders at the same level of the tree as the originals
without renaming them. The system will automatically rename duplicates on
the same level to distinguish between them. The difference between the two
would be visible to you. Example: Folder and Folder(1) with Folder(1) being
the duplicate. Or it will warn you about the duplication and will not
create it.
It is possible with the slip of the mouse AND pressing the Ctrl key to
create duplicate folders at a different level of the tree. Unless you are
in the habit of pressing the CTRL key continuously, this is unlikely to
happen. But if it did, the results would just be an extra folder in a
different location. The folder contents would not be used by anything. They
would simply take up space.
In fact, it would be unusual for duplicates to cause any complications
other than taking up extra storage space on the hard drive. Storage space
is *not* the same as memory. Your system's memory is not effected by the
presence of extra copies.
If you have filled the hard drive to the point where there is very little
free space, that would be the only cause for a change in performance. You
can check the amount of free space available by right clicking on any hard
drive icon and selecting Properties. Also, if the amount of free space was
getting dangerously low, the operating system would notify you with an on
screen message.
In Windows XP, there are a lot of listings that are repetitious. This could
be very confusing to a new user but a closer look would show that they
really aren't the same. Each user account will have it's own Documents
folder, start menu, temporary internet files folder and so on. This is
normal.
My Documents is another thing in Windows Explorer and My Computer that will
appear to be listed multiple times but each listing is *not* a duplicate.
These are simply different representations of the document folder for the
user that is currently logged on. This is normal also.
I don't think I've helped you any with finding duplicates but may have
given you some answers about some things that are *not* duplicates even
though a first glance may make them look that way.
With being a "newbie," you need someone to sit next to you to see what
folders you are concerned about. They would then be able to see if these
are true duplicates or not. And should know what to do with the doubles if
any are found.
Or you could submit some examples of duplicates (include their paths,
please) and someone here will let you know what they can about those items.
