Hi to all,
It’s with a big pleasure that you explain a great method for reduce the files space on your harddisk and win a lot of free space with the Data Deduplication feature on Windows 8.1 & Windows 2012 Server !
First, what is Data Deduplication in detail ?
With Windows Server 2012 & Windows 8-8.1, there is a new cool feature, called Data Deduplication. Data deduplication involves finding and removing duplication within data without compromising its fidelity or integrity. The goal is to store more data in less space by segmenting files into small variable-sized chunks (32–128 KB), identifying duplicate chunks, and maintaining a single copy of each chunk. Redundant copies of the chunk are replaced by a reference to the single copy. The chunks are compressed and then organized into special container files in the System Volume Information folder. In addition, chunks are also compressed for further space optimization.
The result is an on-disk transformation of each file as shown in the picture below. After deduplication, files are no longer stored as independent streams of data, and they are replaced with stubs that point to data blocks that are stored within a common chunk store. Because these files share blocks, those blocks are only stored once, which reduces the disk space needed to store all files. During file access, the correct blocks are transparently assembled to serve the data without calling the application or the user having any knowledge of the on-disk transformation to the file. This enables administrators to apply deduplication to files without having to worry about any change in behavior to the applications or impact to users who are accessing those files.
Example on Windows 8.1 on my Desktop:
Before Data Deduplication Feature:
After Data Deduplication Feature activated !!!!!!
D: Drive 3,82 GB to 48,3 GB Hard disk Free space win !!!
E: Drive 12,5 GB to 24, 5 GB Hard Disk free space win !!!
F: Drive 610 GB to 620 GB Hard Disk free space win !!!
G: Drive 11 GB to 47 GB Hard Disk free space win !!!
How to enable the data deduplication on Windows 8.1:
Download Package files and for SCCM 2012 sources Here
Unzip to C:\
Launch this command on CMD prompt with admin right elevation:
dism /online /add-package /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-VdsInterop-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-VdsInterop-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-FileServer-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-FileServer-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~6.3.9600.16384.cab /packagepath:Microsoft-Windows-Dedup-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~en-US~6.3.9600.16384.cab
and type
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:Dedup-Core /all
You can check the data deduplication activation in Windows Features
Open a powershell prompt and type this under:
( e: is an example, change and indicate the drive where you want activate the data deduplication )
Enable-DedupVolume -Volume e:
Set-DedupVolume -Volume e: -OptimizeInUseFiles
To force start data deduplication, open a powershell prompt and type this under:
Start-DedupJob -Volume e: -Type Optimization
How to enable the data deduplication on Windows 2012:
For enable this feature on Windows 2012, select add and features wizard and install Data deduplication feature (shown under):
Bye
Michaël BERTUIT
Architecte Expert Microsoft
Michaël BERTUIT Passion for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 