Two folders with identical (i.e., duplicate) names

Anonymous
2010-05-14T20:19:28+00:00

When I look at my drive E in the Windows Explorer, I have two folders named \Users in the root (using Vista with the lastest updates). When I look from a cmd box, I only see one.

I think the second one was created when I used Vista's robocopy to backup my C files onto E (e.g. "robocopy c:\Users\Steve e:\Users\Steve"), but (1) I didn't think you could end up with duplicate names in the same folder and (2) how can I specify which of the two files I want to copy files to?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2010-05-14T20:50:22+00:00

You can't have two folders with the same name in the same directory - something must be different (maybe an underscore at the end of one or something else).  I have no idea how or why this happened.  When you scroll through each of the folders are they identical in terms of contents (same folders, same files, you can open files from both folders,...)?  I'm not familiar with robocopy so I'm not sure if that was responsible (though it seems likely).  If  they are identical in all respects, just delete one and use the other one (or better, remame one to something else and save it elsewhere "just in case" - at least until you're sure the folder  you selected is working properly and there are no problems.  I'd give a month and then delete the other folder.

If you see only one in cmd then move some file to a different directory and then ccheck on Windows Explorer to see in which folder the change occurred (and verify it didn't occur in both).  Then you'll know which folder to use  and which to rename are indicated above.

I hope this helps.

Good luck.

Lorien - MCSE/MCSA/Network+/A+ --- If this post helps to resolve your issue, please click the "Mark as Answer" or "Helpful" button at the top of this message. By marking a post as Answered, or Helpful you help others find the answer faster.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-03-06T06:47:16+00:00

    see below

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-03-06T07:05:46+00:00

    I experienced the same problem when using Robocopy.  I was trying to backup my files in Windows 10 from C:\FamilyData to E:\Backups\FamilyData.  E:\Backups\FamilyData already existed and contained 300GB of data.  I was just trying to rerfesh my backup / mirror copy.

    ROBOCOPY created a second folder with an identical name.  So now I have two folders called:

    E:\Backups\FamilyData

    E:\Backups\FamilyData

    I have tried deleting the new folder, but ROBOCOPY always creates a new Folder. 

    Frustrating.  There must be something different about the names - but I can't find it.  Maybe a different dialect of English.

    I finally worked around the issue (not solved it).  I renamed the directory with 300GB of data in it to E:\Backups\FamilyDataKeep

    I then ran Robocopy to Backup c:\FamilyData.  ROBOCOPY created a new folder called E:\Backups\FamilyData.  I stopped the Powershell Script after just a few seconds.  I moved all the data that I wanted to keep from E:\Backups\FamilyDataKeep into E:\Backups\FamilyData.  I then deleted the now empty directory E:\FamilyDataKeep.  I then restarted my Powershell script.   All good.  

    Quite Bizarre.  This is not the first time I have seen this either with ROBOCOPY and Windows 10.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-04-22T05:38:16+00:00

    I had the same issue using Robocopy to backup my files to a USB Disk drive.

    When I looked at one of the folders using Powershell or a DOS Prompt - rather than in file Explorer I found the name of the Folder was different to what was displayed in Explorer.

    I had previously renamed the Folder from Users to FamilyData using Explorer.  When I looked at the file name using the command line and the "dir" command, I found that the Folder was still called Users.  

    This is an Old copy of Robocopy and Windows 10.

    The bug may have nothing to do with ROBCOPY - and evrything to do with Windows Explorer renamin of Folders on USB Drives.  Not sure.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-03T15:11:11+00:00

    This problem drives me nuts and yes I think that USB could be one cause of the problem.. I put a usb that I'm sure had mp3 music into my new laptop windows 10. The folders I saw on the usb went straight into my explorer causing duplicates.. desktop. documents and so on.. I can't delete them because then i cant open the original folder.. same thing happened on my previous laptop windows 7 but not from a usb stick.. can anyone help me to get rid of the duplicates.. { same content } .. Thank you

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