Dupe results re-searching

Please check the FAQ (https://www.xyplorer.com/faq.php) before posting a question...
Post Reply
eso
Posts: 6
Joined: 03 Apr 2020 21:35

Dupe results re-searching

Post by eso »

Hello - I am a home user who has hoarded over 400 000 files many of which - I am finding out - are duplicates to the extent that, for example, the contents of a 32GB USB stick has been loaded onto and buried deep within an unorganised file structure more than once. Not being able to search folder names to quickly find such '32GB dumps' which are exact mirrors of other 'dumps' is thus a bit inconvenient but I am coping by searching for token single files within such folders but it's a bit of a 'long way around' - I don't understand why folder names can't be searched for.

OK, so one maddening aspect which I don't know the answer to is why, having searched through nearly 1TB of data on a SATA 1 USB drive (the only one big enough to consolidate all my data - yes, it is backed up to the cloud..), the search results re-search after I have lifted one duplicate off to open in a separate tab in order to analyse it's context (see above re folders) and then go back to open the other duplicate - dang, the results have gone and now I have to wait for the slow search to complete all over again. This has been going on for so long that I am now frustrated enough to write this post.

I have on occasion had the search results NOT re-search and I have absolutely no idea why - when I point the mouse to the search tab it says 'locked' but this doesn't appear to have any significance as re-searching suggests the results are not locked.

Solutions would be appreciated! Thank you :-)
Last edited by eso on 06 Apr 2020 22:07, edited 1 time in total.

highend
Posts: 13274
Joined: 06 Feb 2011 00:33

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by highend »

Configuration | Find and Filter | Find Files & Branch View | Find Files | [x] Cache search results
with a Maximum number of items cached (0 = cache always) = 0
is already used?
One of my scripts helped you out? Please donate via Paypal

eso
Posts: 6
Joined: 03 Apr 2020 21:35

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by eso »

The entry for cache was default set to 1000 so I have changed it to 0 and left the tick in the box to make it active. I found that if I didn't exit the whole program after OK-ing this change in configuration, the change was lost so it looks like clicking OK in configuration does not save changes??

Anyway, my dupes were found as per normal then I selected one to open in a new tab as before and when I went back, it started what i THOUGHT was a new search but then I noticed the words 'reading cache' just below and to the right of the dupes results window so maybe it wasn't searching again as I previously thought but reading the cache - but it is so slow as to be inconvenient and has not solved the original gripe.

I then went back into configuration and took the tick out of the cache box and this resulted in a re-search so that was no good and then trying again by ticking the cache box in configuration whilst changing the value from 0 to its maximum resulted in a maximum number of 99 999 and I have 224 125 dupes - so that wasn't going to work either - so I have set it back to 0 and now have the problem that everytime I select one found dupe for refocus in a new tab and then go back, it searches the cache again - which should NOT be necessary as I am not asking it to find anything it hasn't already found - sitting right there in the search results window looking at me.

When I did get this to not do this before - and i don't know how that happened - I am pretty sure this long drawn out re-searching of what I now know to be the cache - was not happening so whilst I am grateful for your suggestion, is there something else I can try?

eso
Posts: 6
Joined: 03 Apr 2020 21:35

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by eso »

I have since found out that if I search for individual named files and bring back several results, that I can open each of these in new tabs WITHOUT the search screen re-searching it's results - it only does it with dupes.

admin
Site Admin
Posts: 60357
Joined: 22 May 2004 16:48
Location: Win8.1 @100%, Win10 @100%
Contact:

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by admin »

The cache works with dupes:
dupescache.png
dupescache.png (29.71 KiB) Viewed 1095 times
However, in a search with a huge number of results a cached search might be slower than a fresh search. Cache is best in a large search with few results.

eso
Posts: 6
Joined: 03 Apr 2020 21:35

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by eso »

To Highend and Admin - thank you both for your respective replies.

I have since discovered - by searching one particular albeit large folder - that the dupes results still 're-search' or 're-cache' the cache but it was far, far quicker so perhaps the apparent slowness on 're-searching' or 're-caching' the whole drive is down to the sheer number of files the program has to 're-cache' when I come back to it from a tab but I still don't understand why, if no deletions or additions are taking place, the search screen re-searches/re-caches/whatever it's doing - I don't understand the necessity for it to do this...?

My workaround when dealing with the whole drive's search results is to choose a sufficient number of dupes which I want to inspect by 'opening containing folder in a new background tab' instead of 'Go to focused item in new tab' - the latter took me to the new tab immediately but when I came back to the search screen for the duplicate, it re-searched whereas with the former option, I can choose a certain number of dupes which open in a background tab without switching off the search screen results - this way I get to set up a selection of new tabs to work before switching away from the search screen (which then re-searches when I come back to it). It's clumsy but in the absence of any other solution, it's getting me by.

This may seem like 'nothing' to experienced IT people or experienced users but to a new home user completely unfamiliar with these principles and terms, not only is the whole program an overwhelming experience but so are the help pages too. Trying to look something up in technical help pages when one doesn't have a sufficiently generalised overview of basic principles and program capabilities means that people in my position know what they want to achieve task-wise but do not know how to turn that 'want' into action because the jargon and terminology required to use the help pages is unknown to them. That is not to say the program is anything other than a Ferrari - it is - but I am sat in the drivers seat with the engine idling trying to figure out how to put it into gear. I know it's a Ferrari but I'm darned if I can get the thing to move :-)

I shall persevere because I appreciate its potential and i don't expect it to be simplified just so that I can cope with it but some sort of guide that gives an overview of potential would be helpful :-)

Thank you :-)

highend
Posts: 13274
Joined: 06 Feb 2011 00:33

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by highend »

Something like https://www.xyplorer.com/product.php#features
There are quite a few links to further (text) resources there
Or:
https://www.xyplorer.com/highlights.php
https://www.xyplorer.com/tour.php
One of my scripts helped you out? Please donate via Paypal

eso
Posts: 6
Joined: 03 Apr 2020 21:35

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by eso »

Ah sarcasm, where would we be without it :-)

highend
Posts: 13274
Joined: 06 Feb 2011 00:33

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by highend »

What sarcasm? It was a reply to your
but some sort of guide that gives an overview of potential would be helpful
...
One of my scripts helped you out? Please donate via Paypal

eso
Posts: 6
Joined: 03 Apr 2020 21:35

Re: Dupe results re-searching

Post by eso »

The British can understand and use English in ways that are unknown to people who learn English as a second language or, to natural English speakers who are not from the British Isles (e.g. the Americans - which is why British and American humour is so different) - so if English is not your home language then you may very well have meant your reply in the way that you did but I - being British - interpreted it as sarcasm for a very particular reason associated with context and it's no good trying to explain it because we would be here all day. Suffice to say that if you did not mean it to be sarcastic then I apologise for the misinterpretation.

I was aware of the links you have indicated and they are still at too high a level for the newbie to the IDEA of file management as a whole and not just being a newbie to this particular program. That's my problem not yours so we'll leave it there. Thank you for your input :-)

Post Reply