Help with last modified backup

PowerShell Help
1

This is my first post, so please go easy on me… :slight_smile:

I was a network admin back in the Windows NT4 days (and had my MSCE) but transitioned into business and leadership roles (in technical capacities). While I have remained technical during this time, I have not had to do any large scale system administration and never learned things like powershell. I am getting back to my roots and recently started doing some network system administration again, so have been diving into powershell.

I have a server with a number of files I need to move from local storage to a backup SAN when they reach a last written time of 1 year. Both source and destination have drive letters mapped to the server. The source folder has both files and folders (these folders also may have files as well as their own sub-folders).

I wrote a one line powershell command that technically works, but not how I want it to. It is indeed copying the correct files, but its not creating the directory structure and its not moving folders (based on their last modified date). Here is my script:

$SourceFolder = “C:\AudioRecordings”
$DestinationFolder = “C:\AudioRecordingsBackup”

get-childitem -path $SourceFolder -Recurse | where {$.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-365)} | % { move-item $.FullName -Destination $DestinationFolder -Force}

I created a test directory structure with files and folders with manipulated timestamps:

Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 20D7-02AF

Directory of C:\AudioRecordings

08/14/2018 01:17 PM .
08/14/2018 01:17 PM …
01/01/2016 09:30 AM 0 1-1-2016.txt
01/01/2017 09:30 AM 0 1-1-2017.txt
01/01/2018 09:30 AM 0 1-1-2018.txt
08/14/2018 01:17 PM 6-10-2016
08/14/2018 01:17 PM 6-11-2017
08/14/2018 01:17 PM 7-14-2018
08/14/2018 01:17 PM 8-14-2018
3 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of C:\AudioRecordings\6-10-2016

08/14/2018 01:17 PM .
08/14/2018 01:17 PM …
06/10/2016 10:58 AM 0 6-10-2016.txt
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of C:\AudioRecordings\6-11-2017

08/14/2018 01:17 PM .
08/14/2018 01:17 PM …
06/11/2017 10:59 AM 0 6-11-2017.txt
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of C:\AudioRecordings\7-14-2018

08/14/2018 01:17 PM .
08/14/2018 01:17 PM …
07/14/2018 10:59 AM 0 7-14-2018.txt
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of C:\AudioRecordings\8-14-2018

08/14/2018 01:17 PM .
08/14/2018 01:17 PM …
08/14/2018 10:59 AM 0 8-14-2018.txt
1 File(s) 0 bytes

Total Files Listed:
7 File(s) 0 bytes
14 Dir(s) 146,092,548,096 bytes free

And here is the destination folder contents:

Volume in drive C has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 20D7-02AF

Directory of C:\AudioRecordingsBackup

08/14/2018 02:02 PM .
08/14/2018 02:02 PM …
01/01/2016 09:30 AM 0 1-1-2016.txt
01/01/2017 09:30 AM 0 1-1-2017.txt
06/10/2016 10:58 AM 0 6-10-2016.txt
06/11/2017 10:59 AM 0 6-11-2017.txt
4 File(s) 0 bytes

Total Files Listed:
4 File(s) 0 bytes
2 Dir(s) 146,092,052,480 bytes free

I know its something easy… Thanks in advance for your help!

2

Try using the copy-item cmdlet instead of move-item. Something along these lines.

get-childitem -path $SourceFolder -Recurse | where {$_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-365)} |
foreach { copy-item $_.FullName -Destination $DestinationFolder -Recurse -Container -Force}
3

Hi im3cpo,

I found this post a while back when I had to do something similar, you should be able to adapt it to your needs.

It explains about how to copy with the folder structure, you could add your date filter before the foreach to filter just the files you want.

4

Thanks for the help. Ironically, I kept plugging away and came up with something that works!

Get-ChildItem -Path $SourceFolder -Recurse | where {$_.LastWriteTime -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-365)} | Move-Item -Destination $DestinationFolder -Force

Feel free to make any suggestions on improvements and I will also check out the info others have provided.

Thanks everyone!