In doing a scan for duplicate files on my desperately overcrowded 256 GB SSD C:-drive, I ended up with thousands upon thousands of BIAB files. Some of these can clearly be deleted (.wma files with same name and content) but there are others like .bt1 files which have different names but apparently the same content. What BIAB duplicate files can be deleted safely?

Welcome to the forum.

I share your concern; my boot drive is an SSD of the same size. I moved my RealTracks and RealDrums to another drive, and that's most of the size.

I wouldn't touch the .bt1 files. There isn't a way that I know to determine what they are matched with. Same for .ST2 and .XT2.

If your duplicate .wma files are on the C: drive, then I have to ask, how? That should not happen in the normal installation process.

Do you have the Audiophile version? If so, then all the .wma RealTracks may be deleted, though you have to do it manually or by writing a batch file; there is no command that I am aware of.

I have the Everything-edition, not the audiophile.
How do I move my realtracks and realdrums folders to another drive? Sure would be handy. Thanks for the info!

Move the folder, /BB/RealDrums to the new drive using the same name. Do the same for /BB/Drums

Then go into Preferences/RealTracks and look for a checkbox and new path to designate the new location. Do the same steps for Preferences, RealDrums.

Do remember though that if you move everything to a different drive, your desktop shortcut will still reference the old location, and you may need to set it to the new location, or create a new shortcut.

Are your duplicates "duplicates" or just files with the same name?

A search for the same file name duplicate wma files shows some 14000 on my laptop.
A search for identical content duplicate wma files shows about 820 on my laptop.

GHinch, that's what I was also wondering.

Because file extensions are often hidden by windows, it sounds like what might be seen as a duplicate is, in fact, not.

For example: if the extensions for the files "myfile.one" and "myfile.two" were hidden, they'd both show up as "myfile". In this regard, while they look duplicated at first glance, the different extensions indicate that they are not.

For the original poster to determine whether or not files are actual duplicates, s/he would need to doublecheck that Windows is properly showing all file extensions.

Both: some are completely identical, others have the same size and date but have one word difference in the name. Some styles are in two folders (the folder styles and a subfolder within that folder).

One word difference in the name sure doesn't make them identical

Windows doesn't support versioning, meaning that only one copy of a file with a unique name can exist in a folder. If you have two files in the same folder with the same name, they may look the same, but, believe me, they're not really the same! Be careful! Do you show or hide file extensions? Hiding file extensions is the Windows default, but it is - in my view - very bad practice.

Good call, everyone, about the need to show the file extensions when viewing and manipulating files in Windows.

I tend to forget not everyone is experienced moving files, nor has good tools. I use a nifty utility called Total Commander by Christian Ghisler. You can try it for free. But with great power comes great responsibility. The standard disclaimer applies: you need to know what you're doing, and keep a written record of the steps in case you mess up and need help. When copying files, don't delete files from their original location until you are SURE things are correct.

I was just leaving the house after writing the post.

The search I did was using the freeware Alldup. I didn't have it on the laptop so this morning I googled, downloaded and installed the software that is on my desktop for quite some time now.

The second search I did with the search method file content byte by byte. The 820 files are about 1.3 GB, that is if I delete half of them, it recovers only some 650 MB.

When it comes to look at your files, it doesn't hurt to set the explorer to show extensions. How? See here: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/software/how-show-or-hide-file-extensions-3341794/

Yes, before you do something stupid show some good sense and make a backup first.

Well, he said that he was specifically looking for wma-files. That excluded the extension. Other than that all the files have a unique name because they are in different folders and the folder name makes the entire filename unique.

But the question is: Folder1/MyFile.wma might have the content 0101 1010 and the Folder2/MyFile.wma might have the content 1010 0101 and the Folder3/MyFileTest.wma might have the content 0101 1010 just as Folder1/MyFile.wma and just as Folder4/MyFile.wma does.

Does he mean the name duplicates MyFile.wma or the content duplicates Folder1/MyFile.wma, Folder3/MyFileTest.wma, Folder4/MyFile.wma.