Storage space for replicants vs. duplicates

Hi,

today I have another question about storage space: Does anybody know if making duplicates to replicants saves any storage space?

Background: One of my databases imports all incoming email by an apple mail rule and extracts all attachments in parallel into another (sub-) folder. A lot of people attach images (scan instead of PDF) which are ridiculous big (up to 6 MB per image = page as PNG!). As conversation goes on these people re-attach all attachments multiple times to their answers or do not delete attachments when answering.

Thanks in advance

Replicants require almost no space (few bytes), duplicates almost as much as a unique files as duplicates have still their own files. But maybe you could use a smart rule to get rid of unnecessary duplicates?

Thank you very much for your answer.

Yes indeed, I have such a rule in place for incoming email right now but was wondering if any effect storage wise takes place.
The database info was reflecting nothing helpful for me.