Garbage in uploads folder

Question

I have massive number of files in my uploads folder. Is there a way of identifying those which are not linked to any post?

Note: some of those files are manually copied to uploads folder not via "media library"

Chip Bennett · Accepted Answer · 2011-04-19 19:52:45Z

up vote 1 down vote accepted

The easiest way would probably be:

1) perform a WordPress XML export ( Dashboard -> Tools -> Export )

2) import into a clean WordPress install ( Dashboard -> Tools -> Import )

At this point, everything in the /uploads directory of the clean install is attached. You can now:

3) backup/delete your original /uploads directory

4) copy over the /uploads directory from the clean install

answered Apr 19 '11 at 19:52

Chip Bennett
27.9k21861

	Would it be possible to automatically import all manually copied files (as if they were imported via media library)? So I can use built-in feature to detect unlinked files? – user3047 Apr 19 '11 at 20:04
	I don't understand your question. – Chip Bennett Apr 19 '11 at 20:08
	ok. At the moment half of the media files are imported regularly via medial library. I like that. I can go to dashboard->media->un_attached and manage my media files easily (find unattached files)... but the other half is manually copy/pasted into uploads folder so wordpress can't see them... so I can't use the un_attached option – user3047 Apr 19 '11 at 20:17
	This plugin lets you recreate your media library from uploads folder wordpress.org/extend/plugins/add-from-server – user3047 Apr 19 '11 at 21:25
	Now I need to get rid of duplicate attachments... hell – user3047 Apr 19 '11 at 21:49

1 Answer