Advance search for md5 values file list

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sk2107
Posts: 385
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2022 8:48 pm

Advance search for md5 values file list

Post by sk2107 »

Hello,

For me the most helpful feature in Everything is md5 property as it is so helpful to manage my files and keep my storage clean, now I wonder if it is possible to have something like "Search for a list of filenames" but the file contains md5 values. I tried
md5:<A1B0B53528EC8312C1B03A30A6AC9201|645A46D2B5417994EB4263A4CD3B649E|446C4C558A92816797E12E6F7D7159C2>
which is very nice but applicable for a resonable list.

I hope such feature could exist.

With lots of thanks
Regards
void
Developer
Posts: 19839
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Advance search for md5 values file list

Post by void »

Thanks for the suggestion sk2107,

a md5filelist1: file list slot is on my TODO list.
However, it would only work if you index md5 values, so I have been reluctant to add it..

sizefilelist0: exists, and maybe that could be used as a rough guide for finding duplicated files.
therube
Posts: 5711
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Re: Advance search for md5 values file list

Post by therube »

Curious.
How, why, are you wanting to going from md5 back to filename?

I could see if you had a list of name:hash,
& your disk went bad & you recovered files, that then lost their filenames (such that recovered files would have some "random" name), that if you then hashed the recovered filenames, you could use that hash to "recover" the original file name (assuming the hashes agreed to hash in your name:hash list).

But otherwise... ?
sk2107
Posts: 385
Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2022 8:48 pm

Re: Advance search for md5 values file list

Post by sk2107 »

It’s quite simple. Over the years, I’ve collected hundreds of thousands of images and videos stored across floppy disks, CDs, and external hard drives. I’ve gathered all of them into one location and developed several applications to create a clean, duplicate-free collection.

The first step is to remove duplicate files, regardless of their filenames. The next step (for images) is to identify and eliminate identical images, even if their MD5 hashes differ. Once the entire process is complete, I can safely create a backup and store a copy in my Google Drive.

That’s the general goal. However, my current request arises because I already have many copies saved randomly in Google Drive. Comparing them with local files using traditional methods would be resource-intensive and unreliable. To solve this, I used the Google Drive API to extract a list of files along with their MD5 values. This allows me to compare those hashes with the exported file list from Everything — and it works well.

Still, with the current request, I aim to save time by skipping the export-and-compare step entirely, enabling me to manage these files directly within Everything.

Hope this satisfies your curiosity.

Regards,
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