2 pages with duplicate meta desc.

[Acorn]

First line - as opposed to an internal link do you mean? Why is that different? I ask because I don't know.
Second line - what would redirect to the htaccess?
Third line - I agree. Try 3 or 4 different 'solutions' and you'll get 3 or 4 different sets of results.

Chris,
First line - if you just Preview or Export locally, the link fails if you have no Internet or if the site does not yet exist.
Second line - include Redirect /index.htm /; the index.htm file URL is never accessed so only one page gets trawled.
Third line - most of the good stuff comes free with Google's WebMaster tools.

Don't overthink SEO: good content, small pages, named images, structure.

Acorn