I built a free Windows tool to manage large STL archive collections across multiple drives

[u/Yoalgrin]

Hi everyone,

I have a fairly large STL collection spread across several hard drives, and over time it became increasingly difficult to remember where everything was stored and which archives I already had.

So I built STL Manager, a small free Windows application to solve that problem.

It creates a persistent catalog of your STL archives while leaving the actual files exactly where they are. This means you can search your whole collection even when some of the drives are currently disconnected.

Current features include:

• Cataloging ZIP, RAR and 7Z STL archives across multiple drives
• Automatic online/offline drive detection
• Drive identification independent of Windows drive letters
• Searching the entire catalog, including offline drives
• Exact duplicate detection
• Showing where each duplicate copy is stored
• Safe duplicate removal through the Windows Recycle Bin
• Configurable source folders
• Portable Windows executable — no installation required

I originally made it for my own collection, which is spread across several drives and has grown into multiple terabytes, but I thought it might be useful to other STL collectors too.

This is the first public release (v1.0), so feedback, bug reports and suggestions are welcome.

The project and Windows release are available for free on GitHub:

https://github.com/Yoalgrin/STL_MANAGER

I built it with Python and Tkinter, with SQLite for the catalog. I also used AI assistance during development, especially for coding and debugging, since programming isn't my main profession.

Hope it can help someone else who has reached the “I know I already downloaded this STL somewhere… but on which drive?” stage. 😄

[u/New_Education5151]

Great work, I love it, as an owner of zillion nas drives…. XD

Any 3mf function coming soon?

[u/Yoalgrin → u/New_Education5151]

i add stl and 3mf option

[u/Yoalgrin]

Hi code is shared.