git-annex/doc/forum/Deduplication_in_direct_mode.mdwn
2014-10-28 08:12:02 +00:00

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Hi,
I'm using git-annex across a number of (indirect) repositories, making heavy use of deduplication for organizing files according to various different aspects.
Now I want to keep part of the files also on a VFAT device, which doesn't let me use indirect mode. In direct mode, however, git-annex "get" or "copy" places a separate copy of each file in the repository, whereas in indirect mode, it would just keep a single copy and maintain a number of (inexpensive) symbolic links. Since space on the VFAT drive is limited, I would like to just keep one, specific copy, not caring about the others. If I "drop" an unneeded copy of the file, it also gets replaced by the ASCII "link" in all other places that contained the same file. Therefore, I can either have multiple copies of the same data or none at all.
Imagine you have a bunch of photos sorted into a directories in meant to make it easy to find them (same file name means same file content):
./photo1.jpg
./photo2.jpg
./by-date/2014-10-27/photo1.jpg
./by-date/2014-10-28/photo2.jpg
./by-event/holiday-by-the-sea/photo1.jpg
./by-event/her-birthday/photo2.jpg
I want to keep a copy of ./photo?.jpg in the VFAT repository, but not the other (identical) files. How do I do that? Or is there really no way of doing this?
Thanks.