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Moving files older than a certain date, but keeping folder structure

Hi team

I'm in need of a solution to move files older than 3months off the file server (Server 2008 (Not R2)) onto an external hard drive or network share. I'm by no means skilled in creating script commands, but from what I've read most of the solutions would mean removing the folders etc from the source when moving to the destination which isn't what I want to do.

I'm hoping when the files are moved, the file structure will effectively look identical in both locations making it easier to track down these files if required.

Is this something that can be done, or am I expecting too much?

Cheers

DTS-Tech

Asked: 2012-12-26

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2 Solutions

LVL 59

Darius GhassemCommented: 2012-12-26

You can use something like Robocopy ot Richcopy to copy all data off to another drive both of these have gui so you can use this without scripting

http://blogs.technet.com/b/ken/archive/2009/06/10/build-4-0-216-has-been-posted-to-the-microsoft-download-center.aspx

LVL 29

becraigCommented: 2012-12-26

This might help:

param ([string] $SourceFolder, [string] $DestFolder,  [string] $DDate);


write-host $sourcefolder
write-host $destfolder
write-host $ddate

if (!(Test-Path $SourceFolder)) 
{ write-host "Source $sourcefolder does not exist!" }
if (!(Test-Path $DestFolder)) 
{ write-host  "Destination $destfolder does not exist!" }


$FileList = Get-ChildItem $SourceFolder -recurse
ForEach ($FileObj in $FileList) {
if ($fileobj.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-$Ddate))
	{
write-host "$FileName = $FileObj.Name"
write-host "$fullpath = $FileObj.FullName"

$FileName = $FileObj.Name
$fullpath = $FileObj.FullName
write-host "$copypath = [regex]::Replace($Fullpath,'$SourceFolder','');"
$copypath = [regex]::Replace("$fullpath", "$SourceFolder",'');
$destpath = $DestFolder + $copypath

Copy-Item "$fullpath" "$destpath"


	}

				}

Open in new window

LVL 29

becraigCommented: 2012-12-26

I forgot to add usage :

script name (whatever you save it as .ps1)
script.ps1 -sourcefolder c:\sourcefolder -destfolder c:\destfolder -ddate40

That should do it.

LVL 29

becraigCommented: 2012-12-26

It seems I had an error in the script I posted: updating below-

param ([string] $SourceFolder, [string] $DestFolder,  [string] $DDate);
if ($SourceFolder -eq "" -or $DestFolder -eq "" -or $DDate -eq "")
{ 
write-host "
`t You failed to specify correct syntax
`n
`t Usage: script.ps1 -sourcefolder c:\folder -destfolder c:\folder2 -ddate 40 
" -fore red
}
else
{
if (!(Test-Path $SourceFolder)) 
{ write-host "Source $sourcefolder does not exist!" }
if (!(Test-Path $DestFolder)) 
{ write-host  "Destination $destfolder does not exist!" }

$FileList = Get-ChildItem $SourceFolder -recurse
ForEach ($FileObj in $FileList) {
if ($fileobj.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-$Ddate))
	{
$FileName = $FileObj.Name
$fullpath = $FileObj.FullName
$copypath = ($fullpath -replace [regex]::Escape($SourceFolder), '')
$destpath = $DestFolder + $copypath

Copy-Item $fullpath $destpath
	}
				}
}

Open in new window

Give it a go ...
If you need any extra functionality like not copying files already present etc let me know.

LVL 29

becraigCommented: 2013-01-03

Were you able to test this and did you have any additional questions ?

DTS-TechAuthor Commented: 2013-01-03

Sorry for the delay in the update, I haven't moved the files yet, but at this stage I think I'll end up using the Richcopy application due to the GUI. Though I do appreciate the script you've written out

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