There are some tiny files in <test-datasets>, but ...
# rnaseq
m
There are some tiny files in test-datasets, but ultimately you will want to check for a published dataset using exactly your library prep method and kit.
I have a very large difference in total sequences before deduplication
How did you assess this? Did you save the intermediate BAMs and quantify them? Or do you already see a sharp drop in alignment rates? The latter could indeed indicate an issue with UMI extraction.