How to Easily Deduplicate Files On Linux Using rmlint!

In this video, I show you how to easily de-duplicate files on Linux using the rmlint utility!

Already filled up your disks or NAS? Chances are, you probably have lots of duplicated files that can be de-duplicated to save tons of space!

Rmlint is a tool that works across many filesystems on a per-file basis, and as the name suggests, it can clean up 'lint' on your drives including duplicate files, remove broken links, delete empty directories, and so on.

There are other ways to de-duplicate files, with some filesystems such as ZFS and BTRFS supporting smarter ways of deduplication also through CoW (copy-on-write) and linking individual extents, however, rmlint is convenient, widely supported, and flexible enough with many options regarding how you want to handle various types of lint. If you want to take it to the extreme, zfs can even do online de-deduplication as files are created if RAM usage isn't a concern!

I hope this video helps you clean up your drives!


Produced by Tony Tascioglu
tonytascioglu.com