duplicate files

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Moderator: Mr_Noodle

duplicate files Mon Sep 18, 2006 10:49 pm • by srspring
Just trialing Hazel tonight. I'm sorry if this has been addressed before, but Hazel seems to have behavior I don't understand with regard to duplicate file names. Sometimes it moves duplicate files, and the finder seems to accept two files of the same name in the same destination folder. Other times Console says that it is skipping files that have the same name as a file in the destination folder. This has implications when handling downloads such as PubMed journal references that may always have names such as "citmgr_endnote" or just "citmgr" (even though they are different references).

What behavior should I expect in these cases?

Thanks
srspring
 
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Tue Sep 19, 2006 9:47 am • by Mr_Noodle
The way Hazel determines a dupe is by first comparing names that are generated by different programs (Safari, Firefox, etc.) when there is a file with the name already in existence. For instance, with Safari, if the original file is "file.pdf" then subsequent files would be "file-1.pdf", "file-2.pdf". Firefox uses a similar scheme with "file(1).pdf" and file(2).pdf".

After that, Hazel then actually compares the content of the "suspected duplicate" to the original to make sure they are the same file before removing. So, there will be times when you will see what looks like dupes but they are actually different so Hazel plays it safe and leaves it there.

As for your specific case. could you post some of the log messages you are seeing? In the example case of "citmgr_endnote" and "citmgr", Hazel will not see those as dupes.
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