Hello everyone!

[merlin]

Long time lurker, and first time poster. I've enjoyed reading the posts, and have gained alot of tips and tricks.

A little about me: I manage a small company's infrastructure, both voice and data systems. Basically, if it has power, I'm responsible for it.

Besides introducing myself, I also wanted to ask a question. Does anyone have any experience with a "File Duplicator Finder" program? In googling, I came across a couple of applications that may work but wanted your opinions first.

Basically, I have several copies of a document scattered across different file servers. I'd like to consolidate all files into a central repository, and only have a single iteration of the doc.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Holzster]

you have to watch those programs they go on date modified only a lot of the time & can delete the wrong one!!

I would do it manually - just work on it 10 minutes a day - I get in a week or 2 you will be done.

Holzster

[gunslinger]

This works well for me http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/File_Cleanup_Utilities/MMD_DupFinder.html

[tartis]

Microsoft Sharepoint will do this. It will not replicate between multiple servers without 3rd party software, but it will allow a web interface/portal for your docs. Users can share and post documents by department, or however else you would like to set it up.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/default.aspx

Shaerpoint will not find your duplicates, but help keep you from getting them in the first place. It is good for groups that need to share data, and work on common projects.

[merlin]

Thanks everyone for the response. I ended up using a portable app from easyduplicatefinder.com and it worked amazingly well. It analyzed the file data and not just the file name, which turned out to be very handy. I'd highly recommend the app.

Another program that I found extremely helpful is Renamemaster from joejoesoft.com.
This program saved me hours of work. It has an intuitive gui that allows you to rename multiple files all at once. Very handy when you have to append the same date onto multiple files.

Tartis,
Ironic you should mention Sharepoint. All of this "file cleanup " effort is in preparation for my deployment of Sharepoint server. Once I whittle away at the document management nightmare, I'll migrate all of our files onto Sharepoint. Should be fun.

Thanks again to everyone who responded.