PictureSafe – DeDuPPeR

DeDuPPeR Overview:

DeDuPPeR is a personal consolidation and backup application for content files. The word “content” is used to refer to files that will be present in the backup since DeDuPPer does not limit the backup to only pictures. A list of the included file extensions is provided below.

DeDuPPeR identifies content files and makes copies to a “target” directory or device. It NEVER alters or deletes content from the source directory.

DeDuPPeR identifies duplicate copies of the content and retains only one copy. This can significantly shrink the target directory size requirements, depending how many duplicate files are found in alternate directories or filed with different names.

DeDuPPeR has no automated recovery option. It is designed to allow the use of standard OSX tools to browse and recover files from the target. Indices and reports are accessible as standard text files and easily opened with a text editor. A master recovery report is included that can be easily sorted and used for cross-reference.

Try it. Explore, and send us your feed-backup. Don’t forget to get copies of your backups off site.


Best Practices:

•Use DeDuPPeR without custom prefixes
•When backing-up the “Picture” directory skip the iPhoto directory on the first pass
oStart by backing-up individual subdirectories to minimize runtimes
•Do some sample runs and explore the results to understand the outcome
•Use faster target devices
•Be aware of target device capacity
oOSX will automatically stage output to be sent a CD or DVD – you will need adequate space on your Mac to accommodate the staging
•Make the target device the final destination of your archive, as opposed to writing to a local directory and copying that directory to a CD or DVD. This will insure the URL links in the index point to the correct archive location.

 
Quick start guide:

•Identify a target disk or directory to receive your backup
oThe target must exist to allow DeDuPPer to select it using “Finder”
•Identify a source directory to be backed-up
oThe source must be a directory – individual files cannot be selected
oYou can select a source directory with only one file
•Start by selecting individual subdirectories to minimize initial runtimes

What DeDuPPeR does and how it works:

•DeDuPPeR is designed to travers directories on your system and make a copy only the “content” files only
•A list of the file types (extensions) is provided below.
•Anytime it finds an exact duplicate of a file previously moved to the target, it records the entry in a “RECOVERY” file and skips the copy process for that file.
oDuplicates are identified using a sophisticated hashing algorithm independent of the filename, its location or any date or metadata associated with that file.
oA hash-key acts as a unique identifier for the content file and is viewable in the MASTER-INDEX directory
oIn human terms the likelihood of calculating the same hash-key for two different files is greater than one in 10 thousand trillion.
oSee the special note below about “similar” content
•All information (indices) included on the target system are in standard text format and easily readable with a text editor
•All the content files are retained on the standard OSX file-system and accessible using “Finder”.
•The “RECOVERY.CSV” report includes a cross-reference of all the original filenames with their new identifier on the target device
•The recovery report is in CSV format and easily opened with at spreadsheet or text editor.
• You may run backups on the same directory multiple times without any impact on the indices
oIf the entry already exists it simply moves to the next file.