Duplicate File Problem

Hello everyone;

First things first Microsoft Windows Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631.4602).

So here is the problem, I had 14.5 GB (1668 MP3 Files) on my PC as well as the same amount backed up in the OneDrive.

I have been using Hibernation on my PC for about 6 months now with no problems, yesterday January 9th I woke my PC and turned on my Media player and to my horror ALL of my MP3's were gone from my PC's "C" drive.

I immediately went to OneDrive and found them there, waiting as a backup.

I cut the Music folder from the OneDrive in my File Explorer and pasted it back to my PC "C" drive where it had originally been, after it had done it's thing I opened the folder and to my HORROR everyone of my MP3's in it is now duplicated it self, so I now had 3,336 MP3's the original from my PC and the ones that were already there in OneDrive. (See attached Picture for clarity, duplicates are marked with a yellow star.)

When I looked at the OneDrive icon on my PC's taskbar EVERYTHING had uploaded there, even though it was already there.



So there is one more thing, I have a program that tells me how much space I have used on my PC since building it myself and on Wed Jan 8th it read 978 GB of my 2 TB C drive had been used.

That same program now reads 1,353 GB of space used, rough math tells me that there are 375 GB of unwanted duplicates (less the 14.5 GB of music) of something on my PC.

I have not bothered to go looking for what has been duplicated, I am so pissed off right now.

Words can not describe what I feel about Microsoft and their HORROR story of the new Windows 11 OS.

Since installing it last year 2023 in June I have had to reinstall Windows 11 5 times because of their incompetence in their programing.

This MAJOR screw up is the straw that broke the camel's back. I am done with OneDrive and the crap it has caused me.

What I would like to know is how can I use PowerShell to remove ALL of the duplicates that are now on my PC or do I have to go through another re - installation of this untested OS?

And by duplicates I mean files that have "Copy" beside the originals

If there is a way of removing ALL duplicate files of every kind from my PC in one sweep with PowerShell.

Step by step instruction with copy/paste commands would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for all the help that I may get.

Can you post a screenshot of the names of the duplicated files?

See if this helps (from a similar thread: Easy Way to Delete Duplicate Tracks Just alter the instructions there to delete files that have 'copy' as part of their file name.

You did a wise thing deleting OneDrive!

Windows 11 is not untested. You seek to blame MS for your own mistakes.

Your problem is a lack of understanding of how OneDrive works. The default for OneDrive is "Files On Demand". This means that all files in your OneDrive folder will be in cloud OneDrive and only downloaded to your PC "ON DEMAND" when you ask to use them. What you were seeing was perfectly normal OneDrive behavior.

I've used OneDrive for over 15 years and I turn "Files On Demand" OFF. The result is that all files in my local OneDrive folder are mirrored in cloud OneDrive in real-time, which is exactly the OneDrive behavior I want. Files are always in both places and always in total sync.

To have all of your files physically both locally and in cloud OneDrive, all you needed to do was simply turn "Files On Demand" OFF in OneDrive settings.

FreeBooter said:

Can you post a screenshot of the names of the duplicated files?

Click to expand...

As requested here is the screen shot:



This is obviously not my entire MP# collection I had to use Extra Large Icons in the view to show the "Copy".

TeeJay said:

I cut the Music folder from the OneDrive

Click to expand...

What caused the duplication is..... You don't "cut" a user folder from onedrive.

As far as the duplicate files Here are multiple ways of finding them. Find and Delete Duplicate Files on Windows PC: Step-By-Step Guide
Or use a 3rd party duplicate file finder like this one Duplicate File Finder

No matter what you do I advise you make a full system image first.
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The proper way to have handled it so you did not get into this mess was to first disable backup folder syncing for the Music folder
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/turn-on-or-off-onedrive-folder-backup-syncing-across-windows-11-devices.4321/

NOTE: ONLY IF FOLDER DOES NOT MOVE TO DEFAULT LOCATION DO THIS
If the Music folder location does not move to C:\users\yourusernamet, you could try option three in the tutorial below to restore the default folder location and move your files manually from Onedrive into the folder..

TraderGary said:

Your problem is a lack of understanding of how OneDrive works. The default for OneDrive is "Files On Demand". This means that all files in your OneDrive folder will be in cloud OneDrive and only downloaded to your PC "ON DEMAND" when you ask to use them. What you were seeing was perfectly normal OneDrive behavior.

I've used OneDrive for over 15 years and I turn "Files On Demand" OFF. The result is that all files in my local OneDrive folder are mirrored in cloud OneDrive in real-time, which is exactly the OneDrive behavior I want. Files are always in both places and always in total sync.

To have all of your files physically both locally and in cloud OneDrive, all you needed to do was simply turn "Files On Demand" OFF in OneDrive settings.

Click to expand...

No Gary you seem to have missed the entire point, they were already in the OneDrive or Cloud and they took all of them off my PC and now I have duplicates.

I have used Microsoft since Windows 95 and know how the system works.

This was caused by MS OS not me thanks for not responding anymore.

As I originally stated MS OS did this by itself, I did nothing but Hibernate my PC, also how do explain my PC going from 978 GB of used space to over 1383 GB of used space in less then a 12 hour period.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to use up that much space by me, my PC is not that fast, nor am I. That would mean I would need hundreds of connections for my one PC to be able to do that.

Have a nice day.

Here's a little PowerShell to delete files from the Music folder where the name contains - Copy. As it stands, it will not actually delete anything, only showing you what would happen if you ran it. If you want to actually delete, take the -WhatIf off the end.

The files in your Music folder were duplicated because you copied them from OneDrive. I don't know why Media Player did not see them. Did you check with File Explorer? That's why the duplicates have 'copy' in the name because the files were ALREADY there.

I suggest you go to the folder in Command Prompt and then enter DEL *copy.*

Just go to the topmost folder and search file explorer for and delete them all.
Make sure you search that exact phrase (including quotation marks) in case you just happen to have any album or song titles with the word copy in them.

Or use pseymour script above

Here is an article about how to find duplicate files with Powershell: How to Use PowerShell to Find Duplicate Files in Folders: Detailed Guide
It may be helpful for you.

Too late, so long to reply. Waiting since January, had my PC given a full examination for failed components and check Windows OS.

Components were good to go.

Windows OS totally corrupted beyond fixing, completely erased and formatted, and re-installed.

Problem cured.

Thank you for the response, sorry it took you 5 months to respond.

Enjoy the heat wave.