Quick way to remove duplicate files in iTunes Library folder?

I "consolidated my iTunes Library", which caused iTunes to place duplicate mp3/mp4 files in my iTunes library folder (I assume it copied them all over from my backup drive) which has doubled the size of my iTunes Library folder.
Keep in mind, that iTunes actually shows only one copy of each song/video within the app. It's only that the actual files have been doubled on my hard drive. iTunes is only using half of those files.
Is there a way to quickly identify and delete the duplicated files on my hard drive that aren't being used by iTunes?

This information from Doug should help you decide what you can use.
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/duplicates.php

Similar Messages

Is there a fast way to remove duplicate files from itunes?

I relocated a lot of my music on my computer to a single folder so there would be less clutter. So far as I know there is no easy way to relocate all of my music without going through each song one by one, and I have a rediculous amount of music so this was simply not an option. Instead I dragged everything back into itunes from that folder. Now I have a large number of 'ghost' files in my itunes and I was wondering if there is a fast way to get rid of them all without selecting and deleting them all individually?

I actually have scripts for reconneting moved media, and I could have shown you how to move the library without breaking the links. Normally moving the entire iTunes folder and then shift-starting-iTunes does the trick. Sometimes it is possible to put a broken library back together again.
I'm working on a rebuild of my DeDuper script which will merge stats from missing files before deleting. It's been on the back burner for a while but the lack of show duplicates feature in iTunes 11 has prompted to have another look at the issue so with luck I'll get it done in the next few days. That would be one way to tidy up.
If you just want to remove all the dead tracks right now you can download and install iTunes Folder Watch. Point it at your iTunes Media folder, connect it to your .xml file and enable the option to Check for dead tracks on startup.
tt2

What is The correct way to remove duplicates from the iTunes library?

I have a 300GB external drive which over the last 5 years has got bloated with duplicate tracks.
If I use the show duplicates option, I see 10,479 songs totalling over 50GB. Now, those songs that are shown, do they include the original that they are a duplicate of, or are they JUST the duplicates?
I have been sorely tempted to select all and delete to the trash, but I want to be 100% sure I don't delete any originals. Also, there are some duplicate tracks that are genuine dupes, for example, I have an original LP with a particular track on it, but then that exact track appears on a compilation LP, so I don't want to remove the compilation LP tracks as then the compilation is incomplete.
I have Tidy Up installed, but I'm a bit wary to use it as I want to be 10% sure I do the right thing, it's a lot of money to lose, and I'm a DJ, so this is thousands of conversions from my vinyl collection and stuff purchased and ripped from CD.
I see many methods of getting rid of duplicates but no definitive answer for someone in my position.
Many thanks all!

Akuwa wrote:
This is supposed to be a fix to the result from SQL. Currently no access to the SQL code so we have to fix in he Java code...Then really, whoever said you couldn't change the SQL has absolutely no right to turn around and demand the fastest way to remove the duplicates in Java. It's almost certain that the fastest way to remove the duplicates would be for the SQL not to select them in the first place, so if you don't permit changing the SQL then it's clear you aren't interested in the fastest way.

Help: there is a way to delete duplicate files in itune?

every time when im importing music on my itunes is storing the files in the itunes music folder. now i have to backup this folder and the size is more than 80GB. i found that there are many duplications of songs. is there any easy way to delete duplicate files and songs that are unchecked from itunes playlist?
thank you

Robert Jacobson has written a duplicate removal script which you can download here:
http://mysite.verizon.net/teridon/itunesscripts/
You imply that your duplicates are unchecked. You can create a playlist containing unchecked tracks. This would allow easy manual deletion.
You need two playlists.
First create a smart playlist called "checked" containing checked items:
Uncheck "Match the following rule"
Check "Match only checked items"
Live updating checked
Next create a playlist with the following rule:
Playlist is not checked.
Match only checked items not checked.
Live updating checked
This second playlist should have all your unchecked tracks in it.
Then you can use shift del to delete the tracks from you library.

ITunes consolidation creates duplicate files in iTunes Media folder

Hi,
I recently downgraded from iTunes 11.0.2.26 to 10.7 to get around an AirPlay bug i see starting in 11.0.
As a result I need to rebuild part of my iTunes library and am seeing some strange behavior.
I have some Movie files currently in the iTunes Media folder (where iTunes is pointed for the media) -- when I drag and drop these into iTunes and do "Consolidate Library", iTunes creates 2 files (1 is a duplicate) in the Movie folder. For example, if I have a movie titled "HomeMovie" I see the following folders:
"Movies --> HomeMovie" and within the HomeMoview folder I see the following 2 files: HomeMovie.m4v, HomeMovie 1.m4v
There is only a single listing (HomeMovie) in the iTunes interface, pointing to HomeMovie 1.m4v.
Strange.
I can get around this by deleting HomeMovie 1.m4v. and pointing iTunes to HomeMovie.m4v, but this is not desirable.
"Copy files to iTunes Media Folder" is disabled.
I am also seeing this behavior when dragging and dropping files from an external Hard Drive.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Kevin

Hi,
I have been doing some testing on this subject and I agree that PSE does leave unwanted temporary files around.
I checked out PSE 9, PSE 10 and PSE 11 and they all leave the temporary files there. I'm assuming that the files are created as a safety measure for when the main file is updated but as you have found out, PSE doesn't remove them.
By reading other forum threads, I get the impression that Adobe aren't really interested in it as they feel we should tidy up our own file system. It's like taking a walk through the park and dropping some litter - do you pick it up or leave it for the park keeper to pick up. I was always told to pick it up.
I'm not sure whether you are aware, but there is another Adobe forum for bug reports and feeback. I think Adobe may look there more than they do on this forum. I searched that forum and found a similar question asked but nobody has answered. I have added my count and comments with a link to this thread. If you can, it might be good for you to add your count.
http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/photoshop_elements_organizer_leaves_ temporary_files
Sorry it's not an answer to your problem, but you are not alone.
Brian

Is there a way to "automatically" remove duplicates in an iTunes library?

I know you can show duplicates, but you have to go in and remove them by hand. I have two libraries that are "almost" similar, but I would like to combine them into one library. If I just copy over one on top of another, I will surely end up with a HUGE amount of dups. I don't want to have to clean up by hand.
I would like to remove "exact" copies.
Any ideas?
Thanks

Alfredo Jahn wrote:
I would like to remove "exact" copies.
in iTunes, hold the option key while selecting file > Show/Display (Exact) Duplicates.
select the ones you want to delete and hit the delete key.
there are 3rd party apps that claim to be able to deal with dupes. among those is TuneRanger.
other options include [_*Araxis Find Duplicate Files*_|http://www.araxis.com/find-duplicate-files> (free trial) and [Dupin|http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php] (commercial).
JGG

Duplicate files in itunes music folder with title 1.mp3

Can anyone tell me why there might be duplicate files with this number in my music folder? I'm interested to know what might cause this to happen.

Any help here? This question has been bugging me for some time. It's hard to believe that this seemingly simple task / question is so difficult to find a solution for. Please - if you know a way, I'd love to clear some space from my itunes music folder.

Deleting hundreds of duplicate files in Itune Library

how do I delete HUNDREDS of duplicate files that show up in my ITunes library? I guess I (or my teenagers) keep importing or adding the same files and folders back in somehow, and now I have 5 or 6 files of each song, hundreds in all. I can't delete these individually..... and the 'consolidate' thing seems to want to erase my mp3 library, I don't want that because I have an old Samsung/Napster that uses those. I just need to delete duplicate files in my Itunes library with one click. Any way to do that?

I had the same problem. I found many duplicates on my pc after moving files to an external hard drive. Some duplicates existed before this move but I did not worry about them. So, after a while my children were running out of space on their ipods so I used the "Show Duplicates" feature and deleted "the .....ing duplicates". Now my children tell me a great deal of their purchased music is missing and they are very annoyed. I told them that I thought Apple/iTunes spoke English and that Duplicate means just that, A Duplicate. This is extremely annoying. It seems like such a common sense fubar thing which is contrary to the awesome quality of the itunes/ipod in general. How do I get the songs we already *payed for* back on our computer? Or, are we screwed and in a spot where we must repurchase this music? Honestly, this is something I expect from microsoft, not Apple.

Removing computer file from ITunes Library

I accidentally added a folder on my computer to my ITunes Library in error. I can't seem to find where I'd go to "de-select" it. Every time I try to sync my IPod, it looks in that folder and locks up because it can not upload the file inside the folder . Can anyone help? Oh yeah, my computer is Windows Vista.
Cheers,
Mike

Find the track in iTunes. Right-click, Show in Explorer, and delete the file. Back in iTunes, highlight the track and hold Shift while you press the Delete key.

Alternate methods of removing duplicate files

Other than what appears in the help (which seems time consuming when you have to go through 9 gigs of songs) is there another way of removing duplicate files?

Do I understand that your music library contains two identical songs and you want to completely get rid of a duplicate so that the file itself won't be stored on the hard drive wherever you keep your actual music library files?
When I delete a duplicate, a second message box comes up and asks if I want to move it to the Trash. Yes isn't the default but Apple +M does it from the keyboard.

Is there any way to delete duplicate files en mas within the new itunes program?

I've just installed the new itunes program on my laptop. I used the scan for media option to find music. Problem is almost every entry and there's several hundred of them is duplicated and in some cases triplicated within the itunes media library.
Question ... Is there any way to delete duplicated files en mas withing the itunes library folder?
Please don't tell me that I'm going to have to do it individually as that may take days.
Thanks

Apple's official advice on duplicates is here... HT2905: How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library. It is a manual process and the article fails to explain some of the potential pitfalls such as lost ratings and playlist membership.
Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display duplicates as this is normally a more useful selection. You need to manually select all but one of each group to remove. Sorting the list by Date Added may make it easier to select the appropriate tracks, however this works best when performed immediately after the dupes have been created. If you have multiple entries in iTunes connected to the same file on the hard drive then don't send to the recycle bin.
Use my DeDuper script if you're not sure, don't want to do it by hand, or want to preserve ratings, play counts and playlist membership. See this thread for background, this post for detailed instructions, and please take note of the warning
to backup your library before deduping.
(If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed.)
The most recent version of the script can tidy dead links as long as there is at least one live duplicate to merge stats and playlist membership to and should cope sensibly when the same file has been added via multiple paths.
tt2

ITunes creating duplicate files under a hidden folder named "Volumes".

It seems my iTunes program is secretly making a duplicate file in a hidden folder called "Volumes" on my laptop hard drive. It's now maxxed out my drive and I need to both remove the "Volumes" folder and make sure it doesn't get created and happen again.
Details:
Using a Powerbook G4 with an 80gb drive. Using iTunes 8. The iTunes library program is in the usual place on the lap top hard drive but the music library folder, where all the files get saved to, is on an external drive labeled "Media".
Clicking normally and searching around my laptop hard drive, I do not see or am able to access the folder named "Volumes". But I know it exists as I ran a scan program called jdiscreport and it clearly shows a huge folder, 45gb, named "Volumes". There are also a few old flacs in the "Volume folder also. The iTunes duplicate files are in identically named folders as the external drive: iTunes Music located within Media, located within Volumes.
When I rip a CD in iTunes (or the iTunes-LAME program I sometimes use), the files do go to the proper external folder as expected and as I've set in the iTunes preferences section. So why is iTunes also saving the same thing to this mystery "Volumes" folder on the lap top hard drive? How do I get rid of this folder without wiping my drive? How do I stop it from continuing?
Help, I have 2gb of free space left!
Thanks, James

Hi I am having a similar issue, It all started when I tried to restore from the Time Machine and it threw a error back stating that there is no disk available. I was wondering how come and went to find out what is happening and was shocked to find out that actually my entire Macintosh HD has a duplicate copy inside the /Volumes folder. I went to the XTERM to investigate and found that the / (root) has a Users folder where all my stuffs like pictures, music, movies, documents reside and the same data or content is duplicated in the /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users folder
I first thought that it was only a link, but I later found that it is not a link and it is indeed a physical copy of all my User folders inside the /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users folder and actually occupying my Hard disk space.
I am not sure how this happened or how it is duplicating itself. I am also afraid to delete the stuffs inside the /Volumes folder as it might crash my system (it is already hidden - I assume it is hidden for some purpose). Please suggest any options, how I can get rid of these duplicated data and how to avoid such duplication in the future.
Thanks
Regards
Chelvam.S.T

What is the easiest way to remove duplicate contacts on my Iphone?

What is the easiest way to remove duplicate contacts on my Iphone and avoid them in the future?

There are apps that will locate and remove duplicate contacts, such as My Contacts Backup Pro. As for preventing them in the future, if you are syncing contacts both with iTunes and iCloud this will create duplicates. If you are, pick one and disable the other.

What is the simplest way to remove duplicates on both iMac and iPad2?

What is the simplest way to remove duplicate photos from both iMac & iPad2?

The implication here is that your music is only on the iPod, for if it is in iTunes, you need only do the restore. So you are really asking how you move the music from your iPod back into iTunes, so that when you restore it will go back to the iPod. Take a look at Para. 8 in this summary post I worked up.

Duplicate files in iTunes

I have copied my 4,000 mp3 files from a PC to the MAC folder and then added them to the iTunes library. Now I have 4,000 duplicate files in iTunes and I want to remove at least one of the two duplicates. Can anyone how I can do this without deleting them manually.
Thanks,
Henk.

here are some options:
_*How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library*_
_*http://www.araxis.com/find-duplicate-files/ (free trial)*_
_*http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php (commercial)*_
JGG

Quick way to remove duplicate files in iTunes Library folder?

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