how to delete duplicated songs all at one time?

The script works with what iTunes called "Exact Duplicates" these tracks have the same Song Name, Album, Artist, Track Number and Disc Number. The "Duplicates" view shows songs which simply have the same Name. There are plenty of legitimate reasons why the same song title can appear in your library, even on the same album, without really being a duplicate. Exact duplicates should however be exactly the same song and there is no need to have more than one copy of those.

I notice, for example, that you have tracks listed from the Adele album 19 also repeated as 19 (Deluxe Edition). To clean up using the script you would first have to choose one "correct" album title and apply it to all of the tracks. (My preferences is to remove excess labels like Deluxe, Bonus Tracks and Live, but it's up to you.) If you're having to do that it may be easier to clean up by hand, but the script will preserve ratings, playlist membership, play counts, etc. which you may want to keep.

tt2

hey tt2... in performing this clean up my motherboard failed...

so back to square one (or worse). I now have 3 or 4 copies of everything on a different machine/server. two major concerns that I believe are relevant and within your scope.

1> none of the 3 or 4 dups of each file is showing any metadata within itunes. where do I find the copy of my original library that contained the files ratings, date added, play counts, etc... will I need to re_add those versions or is there a file that Im missing that adds my old info of this nature. i have my old hard drive connected and fumctional as a file list. i cannot run itunes directly from this drive any longer. but it should have my years of trying to rate songs and edit track spellings, etc... please advise... as of now every song says its brand new, some have the correct date but no ratings or play counts.

2> my second issue is identical to the string... however it is concerning my video library in itunes. I would like to have the same deduper options available for my video folder.

as of now I cannot even sync my ipad... because my library used to be 50 gb and now its over 120. i kept adding folders thinking that itunes would find the metadata I am concerned about.

....not going anywhere for a while?....

Hey,

OK so I recently moved my library of 15.000 songs to a new laptop and somehow not on duplicated them in the itunes library, but also in the directory.

I came across what seems to be perfect script for fixing this problem.. but me being somewhat of a n00b needs to ask: "How do I use the script?" When I click on the link it shows me the script but I didn't see any instructions on how to apply it.

Thanks for the heads up!

I guess one could clean up the dead links with another script, or lost & found playlists, but it wouldn't address "logical" dupes, nor preserve/merge the stats, playlist membership etc. that my DeDuper script does.

tt2

Hi All

I am having problems with duplicates. If i delete a duplicate then the remaining tune is not playable... it is as if they share the same source file but are showing on different rows.

Help!

Thanks

Hi turingtest2

Thanks. Is there any way to confirm if it is type 1 or type 2?

"Copy to iTunes media folder when adding to library" is not currently set - im not sure if this might have been set in the past? i really cant see how i would have done this.

Can i use your DeDuper script and see if it works - i.e. if it doesn't work (and is therefore type 2) will there be no detremental effects of running the script?

Thanks again

Hi

I have run the SyncToy. 5394 Successful, 70 failed (create folder) - i have had to cancel the process after this as i have insufficient space for the back up, i need to go get my external hard drive...

what is the impact of accepting this, running the dedupe? potential loss of 70 folders?

truth be told, i would rather lose a gret deal of the songs on itune as i can reinstall from CD - rather than have 100s of dupes! i need to have a clear out of all the songs at some point anyway.

thanks

If your iTunes library has dupes where the same file has been added from two separate paths the current version of my script won't know better and will treat them as physical dupes. It will clean one, sending to the trash, at which point the entry for the other becomes broken. As long as the files are on local drives (or you have a backup) it isn't too much of a problem since you can restore from trash or backup. When it would cause real problems would be if the files were stored on a network share in which case deleted files are not put in the trash but permanently erased.

I mention this because someone found out the hard way. 😟

tt2

thanks. i now have my ext hd so should be able to rerun with sufficient space, even though i assume ill have 70 folder create fails again... im prepared to live with any losses, if i need to reload some music then so be it - i just hate having dupes!

however, as per my last post, i was unable to complete back up... the synctoy completed - with the 70 fails, and then nero loaded and asked for a location, i did not have one with sufficient space, so i ended nero and went to get my ext hd which my friend had. ive restarted my laptop expeting to have to rerun the synctoy - as i had not completed it i expected to start from the beginning, however i notice from my drive that it must have done some copied because it has increased in size dramatically and has just a few GB remaining..

what do i need to do, complete, if so how do i do this? or restore my laptop to a few hrs ago to undo?

thanks!

What did you do with SyncToy the first time around? Did you backup to another folder within the same drive? If so delete the folder pair you created within SyncToy, delete the destination folder that has the copies (not the originals!), then backup again to the external drive. Once you have a backup go ahead and dedupe the library. Once you've tested your cleaned library and are happy that nothing is broken you update the backup with the changes by running SyncToy again. Use preview so you see how many files are going to be updated or deleted.

tt2

I cant see your last post on this thread to reply to..

What did you do with SyncToy the first time around? I followed the instructions and got to point of backup.

Did you backup to another folder within the same drive? yes. ok deleted both and will attempt again once connected ext HD.

I will probably have the same roblem with 70 created folder fails - what shall i do about that?

thanks for your support.

It depends why the folder creates failed. If there is an existing folder then it can't be created. SyncToy ought to know which folders it has created and not try to create the same folder twice, but having some experience with writing programs I know that things are never quite as easy as you expect them to be.

tt2

no problems creating folders with the ext HD... 🙂

i have run the exactduplicates (as on v11) - it has created a play list called "exact duplicates" - How do i now delete the duplicates and keep the original?

im not sure what phase it is at...

The script runs in four phases, the first identifies logical duplicates, multiple references to the same physical files, the second identifies distinct files with the same metadata and file size (physical duplicates), the third identifies files of different size with the same metadata (alternate duplicates). The final pass automatically removes all duplicates or optionally removes selected files from the different classes of duplicates with the physically duplicated files being placed in the Recycle Bin just in case you find you want to restore them later.

Ah, the ExactDuplictes script was written for the first build of iTunes 11 which forgot to include a Show Duplicates feature. This is now found by holding Shift and using View > Display Exact Duplicate Items. DeDuper is the script you want to run.

tt2

The deleted files should be in your recycle bin. Sort on Date Deleted and only restore those deleted in the right time frame. If that doesn't work delete the current SyncToy pair (otherwise it will want to replicate the deletions), then set it up again. This time a preview should show that it is going to copy the missing files back. Only proceed if the bulk of operations are new copies with a few overwrites representing the updated library files.

tt2