Powershell Script to Move Files to new server by last access date - powershell

Question

I'm new to Powershell. I have 80 servers that I need to connect to and run a Pshell script on remotely to find files recursively in one share by last access date and move them to another \server\share for archiving purposes. I also need the file creation, last accessed etc. timestamps to be preserved.
I would welcome any help please
thank you

Answer 1

You need to test this thoroughly before actually using it on all 80 servers!
What you could do if you want to use PowerShell on this is to use Invoke-Command on the servers adding admin credentials so the script can both access the files to move as well as the destination Archive folder.
I would suggest using ROBOCOPY to do the heavy lifting:
$servers = 'Server1', 'Server2', 'Server3' # etcetera
$cred = Get-Credential -Message "Please supply admin credentials for archiving"
$scriptBlock = {
$SourcePath = 'D:\StuffToArchive' # this is the LOCAL path on the server
$TargetPath = '\\NewServer\ArchiveShare' # this is the REMOTE path to where the files should be moved
$LogFile = 'D:\ArchivedFiles.txt' # write a textfile with all fie fullnames that are archived
$DaysAgo = 130
# from a cmd box, type 'robocopy /?' to see all possible switches you might want to use
# /MINAGE:days specifies the LastWriteTime
# /MINLAD:days specifies the LastAccessDate
robocopy $SourcePath $TargetPath /MOVE /MINLAD:$DaysAgo /COPYALL /E /FP /NP /XJ /XA:H /R:5 /W:5 /LOG+:$logFile
}
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $servers -ScriptBlock $scriptBlock -Credential $cred
If you want to do all using just PowerShell, try something like this:
$servers = 'Server1', 'Server2', 'Server3' # etcetera
$cred = Get-Credential -Message "Please supply admin credentials for archiving"
$scriptBlock = {
$SourcePath = 'D:\StuffToArchive' # this is the LOCAL path on the server
$TargetPath = '\\NewServer\ArchiveShare' # this is the REMOTE path to where the files should be moved
$LogFile = 'D:\ArchivedFiles.txt' # write a textfile with all fie fullnames that are archived
$refDate = (Get-Date).AddDays(-130).Date # the reference date set to midnight
# set the ErrorActionPreference to Stop, so exceptions are caught in the catch block
$OldErrorAction = $ErrorActionPreference
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
# loop through the servers LOCAL path to find old files and move them to the remote archive
Get-ChildItem -Path $SourcePath -File -Recurse |
Where-Object { $_.LastAccessTime -le $refDate } |
ForEach-Object {
try {
$target = Join-Path -Path $TargetPath -ChildPath $_.DirectoryName.Substring($SourcePath.Length)
# create the folder in the archive if not already exists
$null = New-Item -Path $target -ItemType Directory -Force
$_ | Move-Item -Destination $target -Force
Add-Content -Path $LogFile -Value "File '$($_.FullName)' moved to '$target'"
}
catch {
Add-Content -Path $LogFile -Value $_.Exception.Message
}
}
$ErrorActionPreference = $OldErrorAction
}
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $servers -ScriptBlock $scriptBlock -Credential $cred