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> Right, but the concept is the same, "remove duplicates" in order to save storage space. The duplicates aren't removed, though. Nothing changes from the POV o
by CharlesW 2y ago
> Right, but the concept is the same, "remove duplicates" in order to save storage space.
The duplicates aren't removed, though. Nothing changes from the POV of users or software that use those files, and you can continue to make changes to them independently.
- vultour 2y agoDe-duplication does not mean the duplicates completely disappear. If I download a deduplication utility I expect it to create some sort of soft/hard link. I definitely don’t want it to completely remove random files on the filesystem, that’s just going to wreak havoc.
- sgerenser 2y agoBut it can still wreak havoc if you use hardlinks or softlinks, because maybe there was a good reason for having a duplicate file! Imagine you have a photo “foo.jpg.” You make a copy of it “foo2.jpg” You’re planning on editing that file, but right now, it’s a duplicate. At this point you run your “deduper” that turns the second file into a hardlink. Then a few days later you go and edit the file, but wait, the original “backup” file is now modified too! You lost your original. That’s why Copy-on-write clones are completely different than hardlinks.