[THIN] Re: OT - Tool to delete files not used in x months

2009/2/18 Angela Smith <angela_smith9@hotmail.com>:
> Hi
>
> Sorry for the OT question but Im hoping someone out there can assist. I
> need to find a tool that will delete files not accessed/modified in x months
> on a Windows 2003 File Server. It would also be great if it logged whatever
> it deleted. We have a server with heaps of old files that have not been
> accessed in years and I need to delete the old files. I had a look at
> Treesize Pro but Im hoping to find a better tool. The server in question
> has over 8TB of disk so Im hoping to find a decent reliable product that can
> handle such data volumes.
>

DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

Vista no longer updates the last accessed timestamp, and Win 2000,
2003 and XP (and possibly NT4, I don't quite recall if this was
introduced in SP4 or not) can be 'tweaked' to do the same. Check that
your build teams haven't implemented this tweak, as it is quite a
popular one, and can cause you problems if you're not expecting it:
http://blogs.technet.com/filecab/archive/2006/11/07/disabling-last-access-time-in-windows-vista-to-improve-ntfs-performance.aspx

Perhaps you should run your script in "logging only" mode for a while,
and write it so that it checks both the last accessed and last
modified timestamps, as well as the archive attribute on the file.

If possible, try to log the owner and location of each file when you
delete it, too.
This will help prevent Bob (the sales weasel) from phoning the
helpdesks and getting all of Alice's (payroll) spreadsheets restored
to his home drive.

--
AdamT
"I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be
grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life." - Phil
Connors
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